What do the Colors in Holy Cards Mean?

The symbolism of color in early religious art was significant. As with other symbols, nothing was included by accident; everything had a purpose, a message to convey.

You already experience color symbols if you attend Mass regularly. The color of the priest’s vestments, of candles and cloths on the altar, all relate to the Church’s liturgical year. Some other time we’ll talk about the importance of celebrating different milestones and seasons in our lives, but suffice it is to say that the Church guides our faith formation by dividing the year into various “times”. Each “time” includes specific theological feast days and scripture passages that deepen our understanding of our faith and how it affects our lives each day.

Advent is the first season and begins near the end of November with the first (of four) Sundays of Advent. The color is purple because purple symbolizes penitential actions, doing things that increase our holiness such as prayer and charity towards others. In this way, Advent presents itself as a “mini-Lent”. Just as we clean our homes when we know we will have guests, we think about what we must do to clean our souls to welcome Jesus into our lives. It reminds us of this each Sunday when we light the first, second, or fourth candle (all purple) on the Advent Wreath.

Advent is also a season of joyful anticipation as we await the memorial celebration of Jesus’ first coming to earth, His birth. That is why we burn a pink (rose color) candle on the Third Sunday of Advent; because the celebration is nearing.

Christmas is the second season. The liturgical color is white, symbolizing the holiness and purity of Jesus. Gold infers Jesus is King of all creation.

Ordinary Time* begins the Monday after the January 6^th, the Feast of the Epiphany. Green is the color because it represents nature, rebirth and freedom from bondage that Jesus offers us. This section of Ordinary Time* lasts until Ash Wednesday.

Lent begins Ash Wednesday. The liturgical color is purple because this is a time of serious repentance, of increased prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Lent ends with the beginning of the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday).

We celebrate Easter with white, the symbol of purity, innocence and chastity. White is a symbol for Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus.

Pentecost Sunday marks the end of Easter. It celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Mary. It is the birthday of the Church because it is the day the Apostles preached, people of all languages understood what they said and they came together as believers, thus forming the Church. The color of Pentecost is red because of the fiery passion instilled in the Apostles by the Holy Spirit that produced so many converts. Red also symbolizes the blood of Jesus and the martyrs who are loyal to God.

Black with red—devil

The feature holy card today includes pink carnations. Carnations symbolized marriage. (I don’t think they do now, but more about plant symbols at another time.) Pink indicates the nearness of that marriage, while the white carnations indicate purity. Many Scriptures compare our union with God to a wedding feast.

Catholics believe Jesus gives Himself in the Holy Eucharist. Thus, the red cross (Jesus) on the host indicates the Presence of Jesus, not simply a reminder of Jesus. The sky with opening clouds near the chalice and host also infer that Holy Communion and everlasting life in heaven are both a union with Jesus.

Black—mourning, death, temptation

Some remaining colors and their multiple interpretations include:

Pale Yellow—corruption, treachery

Azure—Mary’s color; azure was an expensive pigment and so early holy card artists reserved it for paintings of Mary.

*Ordinary does not mean uninteresting. Far from it. There are dozen of Bible stories and saints celebrated during “ordinary” time. Ordinary Time comes from the Latin ordinarius which refers to the counting of things in order. In the Catholic Church the Sundays are numbered beginning after Epiphany. The number is not used if there is a feast day or during the five liturgical seasons. In 2021, for example, January 6 falls on a Wednesday. The following Sunday (January 10) is the celebration of The Baptism of the Lord. The next Sunday (January 17) is the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Next week: Symbolic Shapes. Hope you’ll join me.