Three Chasubles for Holy Thursday

While there is no actual rule about this, generally we are accustomed to seeing symbols of the Passion, including the crucifixion itself, most commonly found on liturgical colours like violet or black. This makes sense since those times of the liturgical year have a particular association with those themes and symbols. The colour which we are perhaps least likely to associate these symbols with is white/gold -- which is primarily associated with festal times of the liturgical year. While I would emphasize once again that there is no actual rule about this, just associations, there is one particular time of the liturgical year when this colour and theese symbols do more obviously collide: Holy Thursday.

Holy Thursday, of course, commemorates the institution of the Eucharist by way of the Last Supper, but it also is connected to the stripping of the altar, Gethsemane and the barrenness of Good Friday. In that regard, the mixture of the colour of white with the Passion and Crucifixion is especially appropriate on this day.  All the same, such vestments are relatively rare so I wanted to share three examples for our readers' edification on this Holy Thursday. I'd invite you to consider how these vestments would integrate into the rest of the Sacred Triduum, and in particular the events of Good Friday.

The first example comes form Krakow, Poland (courtesy of Nicola de Grandi) and includes an image of the Crucifixion as well the vinegar and gall offered to Christ on the Cross and the scourges by which he was scourged.

Krakow, Poland

The next example, whose location presently escapes me, shows an image of Christ after he was mocked and scourged, similarly including various symbols associated with the judgement and scourging of Christ, as well as the cock that crowed after the third denial of St. Peter.

Unknown

Finally, coming from Lithuania, is our last example which includes the same sorts of symbols as the previous two vestments, but this time includes the veil of Veronica as its primary symbol:

Vilnius, Lithuania

One can well see how vestments as these provide for a celebratory quality in relation to the Commemoration of the Lord's Supper, while also maintaining a focus on the other events of the Triduum.

Tomorrow, we will consider some vestments which are particularly apropos to Good Friday.