Vestments: Varieties of Viridi (Green)

In a previous article we spoke about the pastel shades that were often seen in the eighteenth century vestment work and in other articles we have have discussed variants on the liturgical colour rose. Today I thought we would expand our considerations in this regard to look at variations of the liturgical colour green -- which is the most varied of any of the other liturgical colours.  

Some might well wonder what the point of such an exercise is and, frankly, it is very simple; there is frequently a lack of awareness about this and insofar as that is the case this can stunt the pursuit of new vestment commissions and make many vestments look very much the same because of a lack of variety. Far from being a matter of one or two shades, green is a liturgical colour that can range from that which has more bluish or more yellowish understones, from very dark shades to very bright one's or, alternatively, to those that are very soft and pastel in nature. While these all count as green, liturgically speaking, they impart a very distinct character to a vestment. 

The illustration immediately above helps to show a bit of that to which I refer, however even these three examples are insufficient to show the complex variety that has existed and which can exist where green is concerned. 

To aid our readers in categorizing these types, I have subdivided them into three categories or classifications: 1. Bright/Luminous. 2. Soft/Pastel. 3. Dark.  As with any system of classification it has it limits as one could easily subdivide these yet further. That said, the idea is to simply present some high level categories that might be useful those making and commissioning vestments. 

With that in mind, let's begin.

1. Bright / Luminous

By this classification I intend to refer to those colours of green which have a certain vibrancy and luminosity to them. This type can come in more yellowish greens we might refer to as "lime" or those which I would tend to call emerald green. This first example below gives an example the lime green to which I refer:

While this example would fall more into an emerald green:

19th-20th century

A few more examples in no particular order:

19th-20th century

20th century

18th century

19th century

18th century

II. Soft / Pastel

Our second category falls into what I call soft or pastel. These are muted colours which can, once again, have more yellowish or bluish varieties but share a common characteristic of being soft and muted in nature.  These greens could be subdivided into mint greens (in the case of those more bluish) or chartreuse (in the case of those more yellowish). 

18th century

Early 18th century

18th century

18th-19th century

Early 18th century

18th century

18th century

III. Dark

The final category are those greens which are quite dark, ranging from what we might call "hunter green" in the darkest instances to "forest green" for those slightly less dark. 

18th century

19th century

20th century

19th century

18th century

18th century

18th century

19th century

Even with all of these examples this is still only the tip of the iceberg where green vestments are concerned, however it will perhaps give our readers some sense of the variety that exists. 

Unlike the matter of prelatial attire (e.g. the specific red to be used by cardinals, the purple for bishops and so on), in the matter of liturgical colours the Church has not specified any particular shade, leaving the door open to a legitimate variety.