ASK KEVIN
Answers to FAQs about Sacred Liturgy, Music, and Art

QUESTION: Why are the candles of our Advent Wreath white instead of purple and pink?

GENTLE READER: I have heard this question from several people this year. It is a good question, though the vehemence with which some have asked it indicates a strong attachment to a custom that is relatively recent. The liturgical color of Advent is indeed purple or violet, and before the Second Vatican Council rose vestments were worn on the Third Sunday of Advent (named "Gaudete Sunday" after the Latin entrance antiphon—heard in only a couple of parishes in our diocese during the last 50 years!) Rose vestments are still permitted on this Sunday, but they are optional. It is to this tradition that dyed candles belong. However, violet and rose candles are by no means required or universal:

"Customarily the Advent Wreath is constructed of a circle of evergreen branches into which are inserted four candles. According to tradition, three of the candles are violet and the fourth is rose. However, four violet or white candles may also be used" ( Book of Blessings 1510).

The reason this year's Advent Candles are white is both aesthetic and practical. There is a noble clarity about a natural or bleached candle made of beeswax, not masked by a cosmetic attempt to corrolate them with liturgical vestments and paraments. Also, it is impossible to procure dyed candles of a size and scale appropriate to our large church space. It may be possible to find large enough candles with purple and rose wax decorations, but the cost for each would be as much as that of a Paschal Candle. Of course, some folks may suggest other adornments such as colored ribbons, but the artists entrusted with this year's design decided against such accretions. I stand behind those judgments. The result is a beautiful, noble devotional appointment made of natural materials, well-coordinated with the altar and narthex arrangements—all first-rate and worthy of the Divine mysteries celebrated in this holy place.

As always, I encourage reflection and feedback from all parishioners on the visual and musical arts offered in and around the sacred liturgy, all of which seek to glorify God and to sanctify the faithful. However, we need to approach the Sacred Mysteries with a spirit of openness to receive through our external senses the graces God seeks to impart to us, and to allow our interior senses to be formed in faith.

I hope I have adquately answered your question so that you will no longer have to worry about what "isn't," but that you will be free to contemplate what "is," and that God will bless you in your prayer within his house.

Happy Advent to you and yours!