What is the liturgical color today?
This page tells you the liturgical color today — the colour of the priest’s vestments and the altar cloths — and why. It names the day’s celebration (a Sunday, a solemnity, a feast or a saint’s memorial), the season and week, and shows the colours for the next two weeks. Choose Catholic for the Roman Rite, with the calendar of the United States or the General Roman Calendar, or Lutheran for the colours of Evangelical Lutheran Worship, which most Revised Common Lectionary churches follow closely.
Everything is calculated from the date of Easter and the rules of the church year, so it works for any date, past or future, and nothing is sent anywhere. For a month or a whole year at a glance, with every feast and memorial, see the Catholic liturgical calendar.
How to use the Liturgical Colour Today
- The Date starts on today; use the arrows, Today or This Sunday.
- Pick Catholic or Lutheran.
- For Catholic, choose the Calendar and whether Epiphany, Ascension and Corpus Christi are kept on Sunday, as in most of the United States.
- Read the colour, the celebration and the reason; tap any of the next fourteen days to see it.
- Press Copy to paste the colour and celebration into a bulletin or message.
Liturgical Colour Today features
The reason, not just the colour
Each day says why: the season, a feast of the Lord, a martyr’s red, Gaudete and Laetare rose.
Feasts and memorials
Solemnities, feasts and obligatory memorials of the General Roman Calendar, plus the proper days of the United States.
Rules of precedence
Sundays of Advent, Lent and Easter take priority, solemnities are transferred when they must be, and memorials in Lent become commemorations.
Lutheran colours
Blue Advent, white Transfiguration, scarlet Holy Week and red Reformation Day as in Evangelical Lutheran Worship.
The liturgical colours and what they mean
| Colour | Used for |
|---|---|
| Green | Ordinary Time (Catholic); the time after Epiphany and after Pentecost (Lutheran) — growth and hope |
| Violet (purple) | Advent and Lent — preparation and penance; also All Souls and funerals |
| Rose | Gaudete (Third Sunday of Advent) and Laetare (Fourth Sunday of Lent), optional |
| White or gold | Christmas and Easter Time, feasts of the Lord, of Mary, of the angels and of saints who were not martyrs |
| Red | Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Pentecost, the apostles and evangelists, and martyrs |
| Blue | Advent in many Lutheran and other Protestant churches |
| Black | Optional for All Souls and funerals; Ash Wednesday and Good Friday in some Lutheran use |
How the colour of a day is decided
The church year begins on the First Sunday of Advent, four Sundays before Christmas. Christmas Time runs to the Baptism of the Lord, then Ordinary Time until Ash Wednesday, 46 days before Easter (see the Easter date calculator). Easter Time lasts fifty days to Pentecost, and Ordinary Time resumes until Christ the King.
Within a season, a higher-ranking celebration sets the colour. In the Catholic calendar a solemnity or feast of the Lord can replace a Sunday in Ordinary Time, but nothing replaces a Sunday of Advent, Lent or Easter; if a solemnity such as St Joseph or the Annunciation falls on one, it moves to another day. An obligatory memorial sets the colour on an ordinary weekday — red for a martyr, white for other saints — but on a weekday of Lent or from 17 to 24 December it is only commemorated, so the colour stays violet.
Optional memorials are left out because the celebrant chooses whether to keep them. Your diocese, religious order or parish may also celebrate its own patron or dedication. The calendar was checked against the United States bishops’ published calendar for 2026, and every day’s main colour agreed.
Liturgical Colour Today FAQ
What is the liturgical color today for Catholics?
It is in the large box when Catholic is selected. Most days of the year are green (Ordinary Time); Advent and Lent are violet, Christmas and Easter white, and martyrs red.
What liturgical color is this Sunday?
Press This Sunday. Sundays in Ordinary Time are green, unless a solemnity or feast of the Lord falls on them.
What is the Lutheran liturgical color today?
Choose Lutheran. The pattern follows Evangelical Lutheran Worship: blue Advent, white Christmas and Easter, green after Epiphany and after Pentecost, purple Lent and red Pentecost and Reformation Day.
Why is the color rose on some Sundays?
Gaudete Sunday in Advent and Laetare Sunday in Lent may use rose, a lighter violet, as a sign of joy midway through the season. Violet is also allowed.
Is blue a Catholic liturgical color?
Not in the general norms. Blue for Marian feasts is a local privilege in Spain and some other places; Lutheran and other churches use blue in Advent.
Why does my parish use a different colour?
It may be keeping an optional memorial, its patron saint or a local feast, or using a permitted alternative such as black for All Souls. Your parish or diocesan ordo is the final word.