changes to
gold, rising to be the symbol of divine Love, the radiant allegory of
eternal Wisdom.

"Violet, finally, when it appears as the distinctive colour of
prelates, divests itself of its usual meaning of self-accusation and
mourning, to assume a certain dignity and simulate a certain pomp.

"On the whole, I find only white and blue which never change."

"In the Middle Ages, according to Yves de Chartres," said the Abbe
Plomb, "blue took the place of violet in the vestments of bishops, to
show them that they should give their minds rather to the things of
Heaven than to the things of earth."

"And how is it," asked Madame Bavoil, "that this colour, which is all
innocence, all purity, the colour of Our Mother Herself, has disappeared
from among the liturgical hues?"

"Blue was used in the Middle Ages for all the services to the Virgin,
and it has only fallen into desuetude since the eighteenth century,"
replied the Abbe Plomb; "and that only in the Latin Church, for the
orthodox Churches of the East still wear it."

"And why this neglect?"

"I do not know, any more than I know why so many colours formerly used
in our services have been forgotten. Where are the colours of the
ancient Paris use: saffron yellow, reserved for the festival of All
Angels; salmon pink, sometimes worn instead of red; ashen grey, which
took the place of violet; and bistre instead of black on certain days.

"Then there was a charming hue which still holds its place in the scale
of colour used in the Roman ritual, though most of the Churches overlook
it--the shade called 'old rose,' a medium between violet and crimson,
between grief and joy, a sort of compromise, a diminished tone, which
the Church adopted for the third Sunday in Advent and the fourth Sunday
in Lent. It thus gave promise, in the penitential season that was
ending, of a beginning of gladness, for the festivals of Christmas and
Easter were at hand.

"It was the idea of the spiritual dawn rising on the night of the soul,
a special impression which violet, now used on those days, could not
give."

"Yes, it is to be regretted that blue and rose-colour have disappeared
from the Churches of the West," said the Abbe Gevresin. "But to return
to the monastic dress which delivered brown, grey, and black from their
melancholy significance, does it not strike you that from the point of
view of emblematic language, that of the Order of the Annunciation was
the most eloquent? Th