Are you ready to pray with beauty in the Second Edition of the Liturgy of the Hours? Ascension’s Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition breviary set is designed to maximize beauty, meaning, and usability, featuring an expanded set of ribbons--not five, not six, but eight--in the full array of liturgical colors.

Marking Your Prayers With Meaning

Ascension asked, and Liturgy of the Hours devotees responded: more ribbons. The typical five or six in a breviary were not enough to track the many hours, propers, commons, and hymns. It was time to expand the number of bookmarks available, so Ascension decided to level up to eight.

The number eight is theologically significant: it represents resurrection, eternity, and a new beginning in the order of grace. Scripture begins with a seven-day cycle of Creation ending on Saturday, the seventh day on which God rested. From this, the number seven represents completion and perfection. Fast-forwarding to the New Testament, Christ rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, the first day of the week but also the eighth day because it follows day seven, the Sabbath. In this light, the number eight represents our fulfillment, renewal, and new life in Christ.

The number eight appears elsewhere in Scripture to symbolize a rebirth or transformation. In the Old Covenant, the circumcision of male children eight days after birth brought them into a new identity as part of God’s chosen people. Noah entered the ark with seven family members so that eight persons were spared from the Great Flood to begin the human race again. The feast of Tabernacles, an important pilgrimage feast for God’s people, lasted a full seven days and concluded with a sacred assembly on the eighth day. When Solomon’s temple was built, the liturgies to dedicate it lasted eight days. The number eight also influences how we still build our places of worship today. In Catholic architecture, an an octagonal shape is often used in the design of churches and baptismal fonts, merging the circle that represents heaven with the square to symbolize earth.

In keeping with this symbolism, the eight ribbons in your copy of the Liturgy of the Hours can be a reminder of the renewal and transformation offered in the Church’s official rhythm of prayer. By turning to God at these designated hours of the day, we bring our whole selves to God. The psalter steeps us in truths about God’s loving providence that fortify us in times of spiritual struggle. Most importantly, the Liturgy of the Hours unites us in intercession and shared prayer with the entire universal Church around the world and across time as it is prayed by the clergy and members of the faithful day in and day out.

Same Pattern, Personalized Experience 

The eight Liturgy of the Hours ribbons will appear in the same color order in each of the four volumes, but you get to choose how to place them. You may decide to use particular colors to mark certain sections, or you may want to place a ribbon at a certain page that someone else may not feel the need to mark. With eight colors to choose from, there is plenty of room for variability.

The Colors of Your Prayer: Revealing the Liturgy of the Hours Ribbons

Eight colors, one liturgical journey. Here’s the order and the meaning behind the colors of Ascension’s new Liturgy of the Hours ribbons, carefully and intentionally chosen to enhance your prayer. The ribbons will appear in the following order, from front to back, in each of Ascension’s four Liturgy of the Hours volumes:

1. Straw (White/Gold) – Feasts

Straw stands for the white and gold of feast days, particularly the two highest points of the liturgical year: Christmas and Easter. The vestments a priest wears at Mass on these feast days may be entirely gold or perhaps white with gold detailing. This combination conveys festivity, victory, and praise.

2. Burgundy – Pentecost & Martyrs

This robust shade of red represents the Lord’s passion, the Holy Spirit, the sacrifice of martyrdom. It is the color of a priest’s vestments and the altar linens on:

• Palm Sunday

• Good Friday

• Any feasts of the Lord’s sufferings or cross

• Martyrs feast days (including most of the Apostles)

3. Bridal White – Christmas & Easter

White is the color of rejoicing for the Church, the Bride of Christ. The color of purity, light, innocence, joy, and triumph, white represents the celebration and glory of the greatest moments in the liturgical year: the Nativity of Christ and his Resurrection. It is reminder that Christ became incarnate on earth to save us from sin and death, and his victory means that we belong to God. White is also the liturgical color at Mass on feast days and solemnities. Some of the occasions when white is the priest’s vestment color include: 

• Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the entire Christmas Season
• Easter Vigil, Easter Sunday, and the Easter Season
• Feast of the Annunciation, Feast of the Archangels, any days for Our Lady, angels, and non-martyr saints
• Holy Thursday
• Feasts for Christ (except his passion)
• Trinity Sunday
• Corpus Christi Sunday
• All Saints day
• Nuptial Masses
• Requiem Masses for baptized children who died before the age of reason

4. Cypress – Ordinary Time

Calm and somber, this shade of dark green reflects the color that defines most of the liturgical year––the time from Pentecost to Advent, and between Christmas and Ash Wednesday. Green is the color of Ordinary time, signifying hope, growth, and eternal life. The priest wears green vestments for Mass on many Sundays of the liturgical year and on weekdays that only have optional memorials or no scheduled commemoration.

5. Rose Gold – Gaudete & Laetare Sundays

This regal shade might look like pink, but it is properly known as rose gold. It shows up twice during the Catholic Year: on the third Sunday of Advent and the Fourth Sunday of Lent. With this color, we receive joy and gladness as a little reprieve from the penance and preparation of these seasons.

6. Mulberry – Advent & Lent

Deep, warm, and rich, the mulberry ribbon represents the reflective purple of Advent and Lent. These two liturgical seasons are focused on humility, simplicity, and repentance as we prepare our hearts to encounter Christ more deeply on the most important days of the Catholic year: Christmas and Easter. The four weeks of Advent are marked by a note of hopeful expectation of Christ’s birth, while the forty days of Lent have a more solemn focus on Christ’s sufferings leading up to Holy Week.

7. Saxe – Mary & Marian Feasts

Blue graces all things Marian. This ribbon is a gentle shade known as saxe, a light blue with a tint of gray that received its name from its origin in Saxony, Germany. This peaceful, contemplative color mirroring the sky and the ocean is designed to remind us of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who among her many titles is Queen of Heaven and Star of the Sea. Although blue vestments are not permitted in the Latin rite without special permission, priests might wear white vestments with blue accents on days dedicated to Our Lady, including:

• The Feast of the Annunciation on March 25th (sometimes moved if coinciding with Holy Week or the Easter Octave)
• The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15th
• The Feast of the The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 15th
• The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7th
• The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God on January 1st
• The Solemnity of Immaculate Conception on December 8th
• Other Marian occasions depending on local traditions and observances

8. Black – Requiem 

A priest may don this solemn color for very specific occasions: All Souls Day, Masses for the dead (also known as funeral Masses or Requiem Masses), and in some cases, Good Friday. Although it may be used in the Traditional Latin Mass more often than in the Novus Ordo, the Catholic symbolism of this color is timeless. It represents sorrow and mourning, communicating the message of memento mori (in Latin, “remember your death) to remind us that our life on earth is mortal and temporary.