The Rebellious Child and the Divine Example
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Blue, for a Catholic, the first image that comes to mind is the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that is right, blue is the traditional color associated with her. That is also the reason why blue used to be a feminine color than being a color associated with boys today, especially for gender reveal and baby shower parties.
That being the case, the Eastern tradition includes blue with its liturgical colors. Blue is worn during liturgies of the feasts of the Theotokos, the Greek title for Mary which means “god-bearer.” Surely, the Roman Rite also includes blue in its liturgical colors, right? But no. I cannot find good sources that explain why, but it is simply not included in the Roman Rite. Instead, white vestments are used for the feasts of the BVM, however those vestments can have blue motifs and trimmings, since they are only regarded as decorative elements in the vestment rather than a liturgical color.
Then, why do we see priests vested in blue colors? That is where the Cerulean Indult comes in. In the past centuries, Spain has given a strong emphasis and devotion to the Immaculate Conception, that is why Pope Clement XIII, in 1760, permitted Spain to use light blue vestments in its liturgies. Finally, it was approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1864 the right of Spain to use Cerulean vestments.
Cerulean is a type of blue officially granted to Spain to use it as a liturgical color for the Immaculate Conception. Historically, blue was sometimes associated with purple and even black, because there are instances that purple can be seen with tones of blue, or even very dark blue colors as black. This led to the indult to specifically use cerulean as the privilege granted to Spain, it was basically used as we refer today as sky blue used to paint the sky back then.
As centuries went by, the indult was extended to former colonies of Spain. This was when these nations gained independence, the privilege was lost. However, due to the strong Spanish liturgical heritage brought by the colonizers, the First Provincial Council of Manila petitioned to Rome, leading to the extension of the indult not only to the Philippines but the other former Spanish colonies.
In the Philippines however, there seems to be a confusion in this indult. Priests would normally vest cerulean at feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary outside of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Although it seems that there is no official statement or address coming from any ecclesial authority concerning this, the indult that was granted only specified the use of cerulean vestments in the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
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