For 40 days every Lenten season, purple linens adorn the altar, and priests don violet chasubles for Mass and Stations of the Cross services. Behind the practices, traditions and liturgies of Lent are a wealth of spiritual traditions and theological reasons for this 40-day spiritual journey that Catholics enter into as a period of fasting and penance to prepare to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord.

Royal Hue

While the Alleluia and Gloria may disappear after Ash Wednesday, the purple (violet is the preferred term) appears for altar cloths and vestments, as it “denotes affliction and melancholy” according to The Catholic Encyclopedia.

Father Bryce Sibley, a professor at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, has studied liturgical colors as a hobby. He shared that tradition commonly attributes the Church’s use of the color purple, as it is often associated with royalty and is also a spiritual symbol.

“Purple is the color of the emperors and the kings and becomes a symbol of penance. That’s why we use it during the penitential seasons,” Father Sibley said. “It is also used based on the fact that Jesus, who is the King during his passion, was clothed in purple cloth.”

But Father Sibley raised a peculiar predicament: At the time of Jesus’ death, purple was a very expensive dye to use; only one shade existed — Tyrian purple, from the Tyre region. “To make one ounce of this purple dye, you had to harvest the gland from a quarter of a million Murex snails that could only be found in the Dead Sea,” Father Sibley explained. “As a result, this dye was as expensive as silver and gold, so only the wealthiest, most powerful people could wear it or even afford it.”

This raises the question: Why would Roman soldiers use this expensive clothing on a convict sentenced to death? “When I read about all this, it totally made the Scripture account different. We just take the color for granted and see it as a symbol of penance,” Father Sibley said. “But with this new knowledge: Where would the soldiers have gotten this cloth? They couldn’t have afforded it. They would’ve stolen it from somewhere and then putting it on this bloody body would completely ruin it and destroy its value.”

Father Sibley proposes that the use of purple demonstrates the full extent of the mockery that Christ endured — reflecting that the Roman soldiers wanted to make a fool of Christ.

“Using purple garments shows how unreasonable sin is and the extent to which people will go to mock the faith and that the mockery often goes beyond anything reasonable,” Father Sibley said. “There is paradox though that even in our sin and our desire to distort the image of Christ, there’s still a way to give him glory.”

It should be noted that the color rose makes a brief appearance during this season — on Laetare Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, a hopeful reprieve to look ahead to Easter amid the austerity.

Ashes and (No More) Alleluia

It all begins on Ash Wednesday, when Catholics are marked by ashes to begin the penitential season.

Franciscan Father Patrick Whittle, a professor of sacraments and liturgy at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, explained that this practice dates back to the early Church, when public confession and penance were common.

“In the early Church, when somebody sinned gravely, reconciliation involved a period of penance that started with being marked with ashes,” Father Whittle explained. “Since confession and penance have become individualized, the whole Church now embraces Lent as a time of penance so that everybody is marked with ashes as a sign of their repentance and the call to conversion.” The tradition also has biblical roots, Father Whittle explained.

“This practice also goes back to the Old Testament, where we see at different points the people of God mark themselves with ashes and put on sackcloth as a sign of repentance.”

In addition to the ashes on Ash Wednesday, the Church forgoes singing the Alleluia and Gloria until Easter, continuing a long-standing tradition. “It goes back to the early Roman practices of not singing at all during the Lenten season, of toning down the celebratory part of the liturgy,” Father Whittle said.

“We tone down the words and hymns that are more praise and celebratory within the liturgy, so that we can enter into this season of penance and sorrow.”

The Stations of the Cross

As Catholics journey towards Calvary, they undertake many particular practices and devotions during the Lenten season. One of the most common is the Stations of the Cross.

This popular Lenten practice began in the late 1200s, when Franciscans began this devotion to commemorate and meditate on the Lord’s passion. Now, it has become a popular Lenten practice.

“As a Lenten discipline, the stations are preparing our hearts to celebrate the Triduum,” Father Whittle said, referencing Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. “It is a meditative practice as we journey with Christ in his Way of the Cross, knowing what he has done for us and the gift that his passion and death is.”

Praying the Stations of the Cross helps one to meditate on Christ’s passion and death in a vivid and real way.

“The stations engage our senses and set our hearts toward Good Friday; they set our lives toward Good Friday,” Father Whittle said.

“Praying the stations joins us, in this season of repentance and sorrow, to the cross of Christ and helps us to see in the cross our salvation.”

Susanna Spencer, a mother of four, theological editor for the popular site Blessed is She and Register contributor, has found great comfort in praying the Stations of the Cross.

“When we pray the stations, we unite with Christ’s suffering,” Spencer told the Register.

“In doing so, we can prepare for Good Friday and Easter Sunday.”

Fasting and Almsgiving

Beyond the colors and devotions of the season, Catholics adopt penitential practices such as fasting and almsgiving.

While penitential practices can be undertaken at any time, Catholics are encouraged to use Lent as a time of preparation and detaching oneself from worldly desires.

Carolyn Pirtle, the director of Notre Dame’s Center for Liturgy, said that Lent is a time to intentionally re-center our spiritual lives to prepare for the Resurrection.

“​​Taking up a penitential practice is actually something that can be done at any time,” Pirtle told the Register. “That said, Lent is a special time of intensive preparation; therefore, we give greater attention to penance during this season as a way to help us detach from our desires, our agendas, and our tendency to make ourselves the center of the universe and instead focus more intentionally on our relationship with God.”

Lenten practices should not be seen as a Catholic new year’s resolution; rather, Pirtle shared, they should be seen in a sacred context.

“The Church calls us to spend these 40 days in prayer, fasting and almsgiving because these disciplines are the path by which we return to the Lord with our whole hearts,” Pirtle said.

“Lent is not a program of self-improvement; it’s a sacred time when we can grow in holiness and prepare to celebrate the gift of redemption won for us in Christ Jesus with hearts and minds made pure.”

Fasting does not have to be an individual practice, however; it can be done in a community. Spencer shared that fasting should be done within the home, the domestic church.

“As a family of believers, we are the domestic church; it’s like a mini version of the Church but is where we experience being Catholic and how to live as a Christian,” Spencer said. “During Lent we do all these practices that connect us to the whole Church through undertaking penances and remembering that the Lord became a man to die for us.”

“By doing these practices as a family, kids are able to see the importance and learn why we fast or why we pray the Stations of the Cross.”

Every Lent, the Spencers undertake a family penance and discern individual ways to fast during the season. “We usually give up sweets as a family because we all have a sweet tooth. It’s just a way for the kids to learn and form the habit that Lent is a time of sacrifice,” Spencer explained.

“During Lent, we can make these acts of penance in union with Christ suffering and then that brings us back into a full union with God.”