“Um, Fr., is today something special? That’s an interesting vestment...” These are just a few of the comments regarding the vestments worn last weekend. No...I didn’t make a mistake. I wore *Roman Purple.*

Tyrian purple (aka Royal purple or Imperial purple) is a dye extracted from the murex shellfish which was first produced by the Phoenician city of Tyre in the Bronze Age. Its difficulty of manufacture, striking purple to red colour range, & resistance to fading made clothing dyed using Tyrian purple highly desirable & expensive. The Phoenicians gained great fame as sellers of purple & exported its manufacture to its colonies, notably Carthage, from where it spread in popularity & was adopted by the Romans as a symbol of imperial authority & status.

Tyrian purple became the color of kings, nobles, priests & magistrates all around the Mediterranean. It was mentioned in the Old Testament in the Book of Exodus. God instructs Moses to have the Israelites bring Him an offering including cloth “of blue, and purple, and scarlet” to be used in the curtains of the Tabernacle & the garments of priests. Jesus, in the hours leading up to His crucifixion, was dressed in purple by the Roman garrison to mock His claim to be ‘King of the Jews’.

The Roman Purple Vestments were brought to Patton approx. 10 years ago from a closed Lithuanian Church in the Diocese of Allentown, PA.