Another question: How does Italy have so many cardinals? I think they said that almost a quarter were Italian, which seems strange if it’s based on geography.
Italy has so many cardinals because it not only has diocesan bishops and archbishops, but it also has the Curia, and the heads of most of the departments are cardinals.
Feast days of martyrs. And Lenten Purple and Advent Purple are supposed to be different shades (one’s more pinkish, but I can’t remember which), but many churches use the same for both.
A deep red or maroon is appropriate during Holy Week. Carmine red, the normal color, is used on the feast of Pentecost, in token of its commemorating the Holy Spirit coming “like tongues of fire,” and on feasts of martyrs.
Christmas = the 12 days, Dec. 25-Jan. 6 Easter is the seven weeks from Easter Sunday to Pentecost. And it’s feast days of non-martyr saints for which white is appropriate.
One final thing: On Good Friday the altar, pulpit, etc. should be bare, and the clergymen wear sombre black, usually an unadorned cassock. Crosses and such are draped with a black veil if they cannot be removed. Because it’s a color used only one day a year, it usually gets overlooked in the list.
I take it you do not mean actual liturgical vestments and robes, but rather cassocks, the traditional long, buttoned-up priestly garment . In that case , Cardinals can wear for “everyday” work their regular Bishop’s black cassock, accessorized with red items representative of their title, rather than the full-red-on-red formal get-up. For truly “high ritual” ocassions, such as are coming up in the next three weeks, you will also see them wearing a red-and-white combination.
If you need to economize, as most churches do, use purple or violet for both.
Properly Lent is purple for penitence, while Advent is either a bluish purple (traditional) or Royal Blue (increasingly common modern usage) heralding the coming of a King. On the third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday*) and the fourth Sunday in Lent (Refreshment Sunday), when the fasting rules are relaxed, the proper color is a pink with a slight purlish tinge, but almost nobody has special vestments for that day; it’s usually commemorated by “disposables” like paper and candles being tinted pink.
- Note the T. Gaudere Sunday is the feast commemorating the typoes in religious publications, such as the Wicked Bible.
At our parish we have a lovely set of rose coloured vestments for those two Sundays. They’re quite old, but in very good nick, since they get so little use.
And the Fourth Sunday in Lent is known as *Laetare * Sunday, after the first word of the Introit for the day.
Black vestments are also worn on All Souls’ Day (2 November) in the traditional Roman rite. As well, they’re worn for requiem masses.