Gaudete Sunday- ROSE vestments

From the ineffable Father Z of the WDTPRS blog-

"Gaudete Rose is coming; WDTPRS POLL

CATEGORY: "How To..." - Practical Notes, Classic Posts — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 11:16 pm

We know that blue is not the color for the season of Advent in the Latin Church.

But we also know that on one Sunday of Advent we can have a variation from purple/violet.

Therefore, confident in the principle behind the Latin adage repetita iuvant, let’s revisit a post from last year about Advent rose, or in Latin rosacea.
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Today priests can wear "rose" vestments.  Everyone knows this.

But I do get questions about what shade of "rose" this is.  What does "rose" mean?

Today I said Mass with rose vestments and to use true rosacea.

I am in good company in not wanting to wear pink, or confuse it with liturgical rose, or rosacea in Latin.

"But Father! But Father!", some of you are even now wildly typing.  "Surely you don’t wear pink, ...  ... do you?"

Nope, dear readers.  Fr. Z does not wear pink vestments, unless he must sacrifice for the greater good. 

I am comfortable with myself, after all.

[Though after that Harry Potter movie we know that pink is the new black… but I digress.]

Sure, for the sake of distinguishing Gaudete from other Advent Sundays, I have consented to putting on a pinkish vestment when I didn’t have a good clear choice.

The good outweighs the bad, in those cases.

However, liturgical rose really is a color.  And real priests always choose rosacea for Gaudete and Laetare.

"But Father! But Father!", some of you saying with furrowed brows.  "If rose isn’t pink, then what is it?"

Here are a couple examples of what this color is.  Keep in mind that on my monitor they look just right.  On your monitor, they might not be the same.  That said,...

Here is a vestment I shot in Rome in the sacristy of Gesu e Maria on the Via del Corso.  It is too spectacular for words.  Click on it to get a close up so you can see the color better.



I have a very nice, very old set of rosacea vestments I brought back from Rome.  They were given to me by an ultra-modernist priest who was getting rid of old stuff.  

Here they are.


And closer.  You can see the little Roman style pom pom on the corner of the burse.



Notice that rosacea, in both the versions I show here, are a little more on the orange side of pink, closer to salmon.
And now you will have a more discerning Catholic eye when Gaudete and Laetare roll around."

Yes, REAL MEN do wear pink, I mean Rose