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Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration and initiation into the church that was begun by Jesus, who accepted baptism from St. John the Baptist and also ordered the Apostles to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). According to the teaching of St. Paul, which draws an analogy with the death and Resurrection of Jesus, baptism is death to a former life and the emergence of a new person, which is signified by the outward sign of water (Catholic baptism involves pouring or sprinkling water over the candidate’s head). Baptism is understood, therefore, as the total annulment of the sins of one’s past and the emergence of a totally innocent person. The newly baptized person becomes a member of the church and is incorporated into the body of Christ, thus becoming empowered to lead the life of Christ. Nothing but pure natural water may be used, and baptism must be conferred, as Jesus taught, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is normally conferred by a priest, but the Roman Catholic Church accepts baptism conferred in an emergency by anyone, Catholic or non-Catholic, having the use of reason “with the intention of doing what the church does.” In the spirit of Vatican II, which acknowledged the validity of any baptism that is “duly administered as Our Lord instituted it” (Unitatis redintegratio [“The Restoration of Unity”]; November 21, 1964), the church has recognized as valid the baptisms of a wide range of non-Catholic churches.
As the sacrament of rebirth, in which the baptized person is made new and permanently sealed with the spiritual mark of belonging to Christ, baptism cannot be repeated. The Roman Catholic Church baptizes conditionally in cases of serious doubt of the fact of baptism or the use of the proper rite, but it no longer approves of the conditional baptism of miscarried or stillborn infants.
Two points of controversy still exist in modern times. One is baptism by pouring or sprinkling water on the head rather than by immersion of the entire body, even though immersion was probably the biblical and early Christian rite. The change almost certainly occurred during the spread of Christianity into Europe north of the Alps and the usual occurrence in early spring of the baptismal feasts, Easter and Pentecost. The Roman Catholic Church simply asserts that the symbolism of the bath is preserved by a ritual infusion of water.
The second point of controversy concerns the baptism of infants. There is no certain evidence of this practice earlier than the 2nd century, and the ancient baptismal liturgies are all intended for adults. There is, however, extensive testimony suggesting the introduction of infant baptism as early as the 1st century. The Apostle Paul compares baptism with circumcision, the Jewish rite initiating male infants into the religious community. Other early Christian writers provide evidence of the practice: Tertullian rejected it, thus suggesting its widespread use, and Origen spoke of infant baptism as an established practice. It became the norm by the 4th century and remained so until the 16th century, when various Protestant groups rejected it. It remains the practice of the Roman Catholic Church and many mainline Protestant churches.
The long-standing liturgy of infant baptism, however, indicates the importance of an independent adult decision; without this decision the sacrament cannot be received. The Roman Catholic Church accepts this principle by introducing adults (sponsors, or godparents), who make the decision for the infant at the commission of the parents and are given the responsibility of ensuring the child’s Christian upbringing. The responsibilities of parents and godparents have received great emphasis in the church’s rite of baptism for children, which was first promulgated in 1969 and subsequently revised. It is expected that, when they grow up, children who have been baptized will accept the decision made for them and will thus fulfill and validate the adult decision that was presumed.
Traditionally, one of the justifications for infant baptism was the popular and learned belief in children’s limbo (limbus infantium). Although discussed by theologians, including Aquinas, the doctrine of limbo was never formally pronounced by the church. From the 12th century, however, it was commonly believed that the souls of children who die unbaptized go to limbo, where they experience neither the torments of hell nor the joys of heaven. In the 20th century, belief in limbo became more rare, and the church taught that unbaptized infants are entrusted to the mercy of God and Jesus, who said
Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Confirmation
A sacrament that is conferred through the anointing with oil and the imposition of hands, confirmation is believed to strengthen or confirm the grace bestowed by the Holy Spirit at baptism. Apostolic precedent for the sacrament has been found in the Acts of the Apostles, chapters 8 and 19, in which St. Peter and St. Paul on separate occasions put their hands on already-baptized Christians to confer on them the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The sacrament was originally administered as part of baptism, as it still is in Orthodox churches, but gradually evolved into a distinct sacrament. As a result of its detachment from baptism, confirmation came to be delayed until later in life, so that in the modern church the minimum age for receiving it is seven; many dioceses, however, have established an older minimum age. The postponement of confirmation has led many Roman Catholic theologians to interpret it as a rite of passage from childhood, like the Jewish bar mitzvah ceremony. It is also understood as a rite in which Christians can confirm the commitment to the church made for them at baptism.
The confirmation rite is a relatively simple ceremony that is traditionally performed during the mass by the bishop, though modern liturgical renewal has empowered pastors of parishes to confer confirmation. The service includes a homily, usually on the meaning of the sacrament, followed by the renewal of the vows of baptism by the confirmands. The bishop raises his hands over those taking confirmation and prays for the bestowal of the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit (according to Isaiah 11:2–3, wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord). He then anoints the forehead of each confirmand with chrism (holy oil consecrated at the Maundy Thursday service) and says Accipe signaculum doni Spiritus Sancti (“Be sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit”). The rite concludes with the eucharistic service and blessing of the congregation. The recipient of confirmation, who is presented by a sponsor, traditionally takes a “confirmation name” that will remind the confirmand of this sacrament. Many confirmands choose the name of a saint whose qualities they admire.
The Eucharist
The Eucharist (from the Greek for “thanksgiving”) is the central act of Christian worship; also known as Holy Communion and the Lord’s Supper, it is practiced by most Christian churches in some form. Along with baptism it is one of the two sacraments most clearly found in the New Testament, and along with baptism and confirmation it is one of the sacraments of initiation. The Roman Catholic Church distinguishes the Eucharist as sacrifice (mass) and sacrament (communion).
The rite was instituted by Jesus and is recorded in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) and in the letters of Paul. According to the Evangelists’ account, Jesus established the practice at the Last Supper, a traditional Passover seder, when he blessed the bread, which he said was his body, and shared it with his disciples. He then shared a cup of wine with his disciples and told them “this is the blood of my covenant, which is poured out for many.” According to St. Luke, Jesus called on his followers to repeat the ceremony in his memory, and it is clear that the earliest Christians regularly enacted it. Originally, the Eucharist was a repetition of the common meal of the local group of disciples with the addition of the bread and the cup signifying the presence of Jesus. During the 2nd century the meal became vestigial and was finally abandoned. The Eucharist was originally celebrated every Sunday, but by the 4th century it was celebrated daily. The eucharistic formula was set in a framework of biblical readings, psalms, hymns, and prayers that depended in form somewhat on the synagogue service. This remained one basis of the various liturgies that arose, including the Roman rite.
The sacrificial character of the Eucharist is derived from the sacrament’s relation to the death of Jesus. According to the Gospel accounts, Jesus spoke of himself as a sacrifice, possibly foreshadowing his imminent sacrifice on the cross. He used bread and wine to symbolize his body and blood, possibly reflecting contemporary Jewish usage of bread and wine as sacrificial elements, and gave them to his disciples so that they could share in his sacrifice. The theme is clearly elaborated on in St. Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews, and the sacrificial character of the Eucharist was widely accepted by the early Christians. Roman Catholic theology preserves the early understanding of the Eucharist as a sacrifice in its teaching on the mass, and it has firmly insisted that the mass repeats the rite that Jesus told his disciples to repeat. The rite is the memorial of the original sacrifice of Christ. It is an effective commemoration of his death that also makes present the sacrifice on the cross; during the mass
the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner. (Catechism of the Catholic Church; 1992)
Roman Catholics believe in the real presence, an issue that has dominated Catholic-Protestant controversies about Holy Communion. The celebrated term transubstantiation is defined as the change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, even though the physical appearance of the offering remains unchanged. Roman Catholic teaching, which was developed during the Middle Ages and supported by later councils and popes such as Paul VI, applies Aristotelian categories to explain the mystery of Christ’s literal presence in the sacramental bread and wine. This teaching of the real presence is intended to emphasize the intimate relationship between Jesus and the communicant. Although Catholic theologians developed new ways to interpret the mystery of the sacrament of the Eucharist in the period after Vatican II, the doctrine of transubstantiation remains the fundamental understanding of all Catholics.
As a result of Vatican II, the church sought to restore to the Eucharist the symbolism of Christian unity that the sacrament clearly has in the New Testament. Originally, the symbolism was that of a community meal, an accepted symbol of community throughout the whole of human culture. Roman Catholic efforts to restore this symbolism have included the use of vernacular languages and the active participation of the laity. As a means of symbolizing unity, the ancient rite of concelebration—i.e., several priests or bishops jointly celebrating a single eucharistic liturgy—was restored by Vatican II, which also emphasized the corporate nature of communion as well as the important role of the laity in eucharistic celebrations. The practice of celebrating the Eucharist in an informal setting—i.e., in private homes or classrooms—was instituted in some places as a way of drawing the laity more intimately into the rite.
Church law obliges Roman Catholics to receive Holy Communion at least once a year (during the Lent-Easter season) but encourages them to take it at mass every Sunday, on feast days, and even every day. In this way the faithful can receive the many benefits of the Eucharist. In addition to strengthening community, frequent communion also strengthens contact with Jesus Christ and allows the faithful to participate in Jesus’ sacrificial work. Finally, the Eucharist focuses attention on the ultimate goal, the return of Jesus Christ. Communion is the anticipation of the coming glory of heaven.
Reconciliation
The name of the fourth sacrament, reconciliation, or penance as it was once known, reflects the practice of restoring sinners to the community of the faithful that was associated with the earliest discipline of the penitential rite. Those who sinned seriously were excluded from Holy Communion until they showed repentance by undergoing a period of trial that included fasting, public humiliation, the wearing of sackcloth, and other austerities. At the end of the period, they were publicly reconciled to the church. Although there were some sins, called mortal sins—e.g., murder, adultery, and apostasy—for which certain local churches at certain times did not perform the rite, this did not mean that God did not forgive but only that good standing in the church was permanently lost. Elsewhere it was believed that the rite of penance could be performed only once; relapsed sinners lost good standing permanently. Rigorist sects that denied the power to forgive certain sins were regarded as heretical. The penitential rite involving strict discipline did not endure beyond the early Middle Ages, and there can be no doubt that it was too rigorous for most Christians. In the opinion of many, it did not reflect the forgiveness of Jesus in the Gospels with all fidelity.
It is impossible to assign an exact date of origin for “auricular confession”—i.e., the confessing of faults by an individual penitent to a priest—but it was most likely developed in the 6th century by Irish monks and introduced to the Continent later by Irish and Anglo-Saxon monks. This is the penitential rite that has endured into modern times. It was rejected by most of the reformers on the ground that God alone can forgive sins. The Roman Catholic Church claims that the absolution of the priest is an act of forgiveness; to receive it, the penitent must confess all serious (mortal) sins and manifest genuine “contrition,” or sorrow for sins, and a reasonably firm purpose to make amends. Following Vatican II, the church began to emphasize penance as a process of reconciliation with the church and as a means of obtaining pardon from God. The priest is seen as a healer aiding in the process, and the penitent sinner is called to conversion and correction of his or her life.
Indulgences, which caused such controversy at the beginning of the Reformation, represent neither instant forgiveness to the unrepentant nor licenses of sin to the habitual sinner. Rather, they are declarations that the church accepts certain prayers and good works, listed in an official publication, as the equivalent of the rigorous penances of the ancient discipline.
Anointing of the sick
This sacrament was long known in English as “extreme unction,” literally rendered from its Latin name, unctio extrema, meaning “last anointing.” It is conferred by anointing the forehead and hands with blessed oil and pronouncing a prayer. It may be conferred only on those who are seriously ill or who have been seriously injured, or on elderly people who are experiencing the frailties of old age. Seriousness is measured by the danger of death, but imminent death, however certain, from external causes—such as the execution of a death sentence—does not render one apt for the sacrament. It may be administered again during the same illness if the illness worsens. Its effects are described as the strengthening of both soul and body. An ancient rite that continues Jesus’ ministry of healing, the sacrament is directed against “the remains of sin.” Although this is a poorly defined phrase, it was long ago recognized that serious illness saps one’s spiritual resources as well as one’s physical strength so that one is not able to meet the crisis of mortal danger with all one’s powers. In popular belief, anointing is most valuable as a complement to confession or—in case of unconsciousness—as a substitute for it.
Anointing is not the sacrament of the dying—it is the sacrament of the sick. The New Testament passage to which the Roman Catholic Church appeals for this rite (James 5:14–15) does not envisage a person beyond recovery. Postponement until the patient is critically ill (in modern medical terms) means that the sacrament is often administered to unconscious or heavily sedated patients even though the church urges that the sacrament be given, if possible, while the person is still conscious.
Marriage
The inclusion of marriage among the sacraments gives the Roman Catholic Church jurisdiction over an institution that is of as much concern to the state as it is to the church. The church claims complete jurisdiction over the marriages of its members, even though it is unable to urge this jurisdiction in modern secular states. The sacrament in Roman Catholic teaching is administered by the spouses through the exchange of consent. The priest, whose presence is required, is an authorized official witness; in addition, the church requires two other witnesses. Marriage is safeguarded by a number of impediments that render the marriage null whether they are known or not, and the freedom of the spouses must be assured. This means that the Roman Catholic Church demands an unusually rigorous examination before the marriage, and this in turn means that it is practically impossible to marry on impulse in the Catholic church. All of this is for the purpose of assuring that the marriage so contracted will not be declared null in the future because of some defect.
The rigid Roman Catholic rejection of divorce, which is based on the teachings of Jesus, has been a major cause of hostility toward the church in the modern world. Absolute indissolubility is declared only of the marriage of two baptized persons (Protestants as well as Catholics). The same indissolubility is not declared of marriages of the unbaptized, but the Roman Catholic Church recognizes no religious or civil authority except itself that is empowered to dissolve such marriages; this claim is extremely limited and is not used unless a Roman Catholic is involved. Declarations of nullity, however, should not be confused with divorce nor be thought of as a substitute for divorce.
In Amoris laetitia (March 19, 2016; “The Joy of Love”), Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation on the family, he urged priests and bishops to take a more welcoming, and less judgmental, attitude toward homosexuals, single parents, and divorced people who have remarried but have not obtained an annulment, indicating in the latter case that such Catholics might be permitted to receive Holy Communion through the guidance of a priest. He did not, however, lift their formal exclusion from the sacrament.
The onerous conditions that Roman Catholicism formerly imposed upon non-Catholic partners in “mixed” marriages have been relaxed significantly since Vatican II, particularly regarding written promises that the children will receive religious education in the Roman Catholic faith. The church’s former rigidity toward such marriages has also largely disappeared. They may now be celebrated in church during the mass, and a Protestant minister or a Jewish rabbi may share the witness function with the priest. Most dioceses forbid weddings between two Catholics to take place outside of a church without permission from the local bishop.
In the Roman Catholic Church, marriage is between a man and a woman; this was reaffirmed in Amoris laetitia. In December 2023, however, Francis issued the controversial Fiducis supplicans (“Supplicating Trust”), a declaration that allows for the blessing of same-sex couples under the condition that such blessings not be administered during rituals or liturgies. The declaration made clear that such blessings were not to be interpreted as official church recognition of same-sex unions or a change in church teaching on the matter.
Holy orders
This sacrament confers upon candidates the power over the sacred, which means the power to administer the sacraments. The Latin church had long recognized four minor orders (porter, lector, exorcist, acolyte) and four major orders (subdeacon, deacon, priest, bishop). The minor orders represented church services rendered by persons not ordained. In 1972 Pope Paul VI issued the apostolic letter Ministeria quaedam (“Certain Ministries”), which abolished the major order of subdeacon and all minor orders and created the lay liturgical ministries of lector and acolyte. Only the major orders are held to be sacramental, but they are regarded as one sacrament within which a tripartite hierarchy of sacramental effects is administered separately.
Ordination is conferred only by the bishop; the rite includes the imposition of hands, anointing, and delivery of the symbols of the order. The power of the sacred peculiar to the bishop is shown only in the sacraments of confirmation and orders. Ordination can neither be repeated nor annulled. Priests who are suspended from priestly powers or laicized (permanently authorized to live as laymen) retain their sacred power but are forbidden to exercise it except in emergencies. The priest is always ordained to a “title,” meaning that he is accepted in some ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Lectors and acolytes are instituted by a bishop or by the major superior of a clerical religious institute. Following a calling of the candidates, instruction, and prayer, lectors are presented with a Bible and acolytes with a vessel with bread or wine. For many years before Vatican II, the diaconate was a transitional office before deacons “ascended” to the priesthood. This changed in 1967 when Pope Paul VI restored the permanent diaconate (with the powers to baptize, preach, and administer the Eucharist), to which both married and single men are admitted.
Following Vatican II, much theological discussion was devoted to such issues as the ordination of women as priests or deacons, which is a divisive issue within the church and between the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian denominations. Catholic women do serve in various roles, as lectors, eucharistic ministers, marriage tribunal officers and altar servers, and a large number of women are lay chaplains. Many traditionalist Catholics, however, saw the advent of altar girls in 1994 as merely the first salvo in the battle for the complete ordination of women, and John Paul II made it clear to dioceses and bishops that they are under no pressure to use altar girls. Some nuns have also pushed for a larger role in a more “inclusive” church, and some of them have even gathered in groups to administer the Eucharist to one another at the risk of excommunication.
Liturgy
Cultic worship—a formal system of veneration—is so universal in religion that some historians of religion actually define religion as cult. Cultic worship is social, which means more than a group worshipping the same deity in the same place at the same time. A cult is structured, with a division of sacred personnel (priests) who lead and perform the cultic ceremonies for the people, who are in a more distant relation with the deity. The sacred personnel are designated by the choice and acceptance both of the deity and of the worshipping group. The words and actions of the cultic performance are divided into roles assigned to the leaders and to the worshippers. It is the tendency of cultic worship to replace spontaneity, which it once had, with set and even rigid forms of words and acts. These are preserved by tradition, and they generally have a sacredness that is based on the belief that the directions for cultic worship came ultimately from the deity.
The mass
Roman Catholic liturgy has its roots in Judaism and the New Testament. The central act of liturgy from earliest times was the eucharistic assembly, the commemorative celebration of the Last Supper of Jesus. This was set in a structure of liturgical prayer. During the first six centuries of the Christian church, there developed a rich variety of liturgical systems, many of which have survived in the Eastern churches. In the Western church the Latin liturgy appeared fully developed in Rome in the 6th and 7th centuries. The Roman liturgy was adopted throughout western Europe from the 8th century. In the same period, however, liturgy developed in Frankish territories, and the Roman rite that emerged as dominant in the 10th century was a Roman-Frankish creation. The Roman rite was reformed by the Council of Trent by the removal of some corruptions and the imposition of uniformity. After Trent the Roman see was the supreme authority over liturgical practice in the entire Roman Catholic Church.
By the 11th century, Roman liturgy had acquired the classic form that it retained up to Vatican II (1962–65). The fullness of the liturgy could be witnessed only in some cathedrals, collegiate churches, and monastic churches. The full liturgy included the daily celebration of the solemn high mass and the recitation of the divine office in choir. The solemn high mass was entirely sung and was performed by at least three major officers (celebrant, deacon, and subdeacon), assisted by many acolytes and ministers; the low mass was spoken and conducted by a single priest and a server or two. Except during the penitential seasons of Advent and Lent, the altar was decorated, and numerous candles (used in the Middle Ages for light rather than for ornamentation) and incense were employed. Singing and chanting were accompanied by the organ and in modern times even by orchestral music. Indeed, Mozart once complained that the archbishop of Salzburg compelled him to compose a mass without the resources of a full symphonic orchestra.
In the early church the first language used for the liturgy was Aramaic, the common language of Jews in Palestine. As Christianity spread the liturgy was performed in other local languages. Latin replaced Greek as the official language of the Roman church after it was introduced by Pope Victor I in the 2nd century, and it did not become the language of the Roman rite until the 6th century. In many other faiths, sacred languages are archaic forms of the vernacular. Jewish people have always made a genuine effort to learn some Hebrew, the language of scripture; the English of the Authorized Version of the Bible became the language of prayer in many Protestant churches. By contrast, the effect of the use of Latin, it has been argued, was to make the liturgy the preserve of the clergy and to make the laity essentially passive. This was countered by efforts to use sound and spectacle in the performance of the solemn liturgy. For centuries the canon of the mass, the central eucharistic formula, was recited by the celebrant inaudibly, with his back to the people, and the elevation of the host and chalice and the ringing of the bells to signal the consecration were the only means of communicating to the people that the pivotal point of the mass had arrived; the canon of the mass was a kind of verbal “sanctuary” that the laity were not even supposed to hear.
The abandonment of Latin as a result of Vatican II in the 1960s excited deep antagonisms. Some Catholics cherished the Latin liturgy and regarded it as the symbol of the timeless and changeless Roman Catholic Church. Others believed that the restoration of the vernacular would restore to the liturgy two functions that it had in the early centuries: to instruct converts and to confirm members in their faith. Although most Roman Catholics came to accept the vernacular mass approved at Vatican II, a minority group, the so-called Catholic traditionalists, rejected the reforms of Vatican II and remained devoted to the Latin mass. The best-known figures in this movement were Gommar De Pauw in the United States and, especially, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in Switzerland.
These disagreements, often referred to as “liturgy wars,” continued into the 21st century. During the papacy of Benedict XVI (reigned 2005–13) some concessions were made for those who preferred the traditional Latin mass. Notably, the missal was revised in 2011 in order to reintroduce some of the mystery and spirituality that more traditionally inclined Catholics claimed had been lost in the post-Vatican II translations. In 2022, however, Pope Francis (reigned 2013–25) placed limitations on the celebration of the Latin mass that caused consternation among traditionalists.
The divine office
The divine office, also called the liturgy of the hours, is a form of public worship consisting of psalms, hymns, prayers, and other writings. Recurring at various times during the day and night, it is intended to sanctify the life of the Christian community. The divine office was a legacy to the clergy from the monks. From the earliest times, monks assembled several times daily for prayer in common. This practice developed into set common prayer at stated times each day:
- matins or vigils at midnight
- lauds at first daylight
- prime at sunrise
- terce at mid-morning
- sext at noon
- none at mid-afternoon
- vespers at sunset
- compline before retiring
The divine office consisted basically of the chanting of the Psalms (in a weekly cycle), the recital of prayers, and the reading of the Scriptures (to which were later added selections from the writings of the Church Fathers, probably instead of a homily given by one of those present). Together with the mass, the office has been the only “official” prayer of the Roman Catholic Church; all other prayer forms are “private,” even if several hundred people recite them together. For this reason, clerics in major orders since the Middle Ages have been obliged to recite the divine office, or “breviary,” privately if they are not bound to attend the office in choir. It was long recognized that there is an inconsistency in the private silent reading of a prayer structure that is intended for choral chanting. Vatican II recommended a reform of the canonical hours, which included simplifying their observance, encouraging participation by the laity, and restoring the practice of singing the hours in groups.
The liturgical year
The liturgy has traditionally been arranged in an annual cycle that is a reenactment of the saving events of the life, death, Resurrection, and glorification of Jesus Christ. The events are reenacted as an assurance that the saving act will reach its eschatological fullness, and the liturgy is an expression and a support of the Christian hope. The cult of the saints is an intrusion into the liturgical cycle, and it has been much reduced in the contemporary liturgical reforms.
The liturgical season begins with Advent, a time of preparation for the Christmas holiday. After Christmas the first of two periods of Ordinary Time follows and continues until Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, a time of penitence leading to the Paschal Triduum, the period beginning on Holy Thursday and ending with the evening prayer on Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday marks the start of the Easter season, which continues as a time of celebration until Pentecost Sunday, some 50 days later. Pentecost (commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples) marks the start of the second period of Ordinary Time, which continues until the Advent season begins anew.
The color of the priest’s outer garments reflects the liturgical season or day: white or gold is worn for Christmas and Easter; purple is worn for Advent and Lent, except on the third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) and the fourth Sunday of Lent, the midpoint of the penitential seasons, when pink is worn as a sign of hope and joy; red is worn for Good Friday, Palm Sunday, and Pentecost and on the feasts of martyrs; green, another symbol of hope, is worn for the rest of the liturgical year; and white is worn for funerals as a symbol of life instead of mourning.
