Christians worldwide see purple during Lent.

“The paraments, or coverings, on our Communion table are purple. When I wear a robe, my vestments are purple,” said the Rev. Jim Bertoti, pastor of St. Peter’s Reformed Church, 314-320 E. Grandview Ave., Zelienople.

“It was the color of the kings in Biblical times. We use that as a form of showing our reverence to the king since Jesus is king of kings and lord of lords,” Bertoti said.

The Rev. Eric Park, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church, 200 E. North St., said the particular boldness of the color came from a dye made from a very rare sea snail. Clothing made using that dye was exorbitantly expensive.

“Purple became the calling card for the wealthy, the powerful and the things of royalty,” Park said. “By the time of Jesus, purple was already established in the cultural consciousness as the color associated with royalty.”

“The fact that the Roman soldiers put a purple cloak on Jesus is significant,” Park said. “It was an act of mockery as though the soldiers were ridiculing the idea that this broken and crucified Jesus would ever be king of his people.”

The Rev. Ron Maquiñana, pastor of St. Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church, 608 High St., Freeport, said purple also is a liturgical color in the Catholic church.

He said, “Usually it is the shade that was sorrow for Lent, especially for celebrating the passion, suffering and death of Jesus. This color makes us think of what Jesus did for us.”

He said it’s also a reminder of penance, sacrifice and preparedness.

There is purple in the altar cloths at St. Mary, and it is a tradition there to have a cross draped in purple outside the church. The color shows up in Maquiñana’s chasuble and stole.

“The chasuble is the robe. The stole is hanging on our shoulder,” he said.

“The whole season of Lent is to be one of reflection and repentance,” said the Rev. Jocelyn Johnston, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, 353 Fifth St., Freeport, where an indoor cross will have a purple drape.

“(Purple is) mostly in the paraments, the linens that cover the altar, the pulpit and the lectern, and also in the stole that I wear,” said Johnston.

“We’re not highly liturgical,” said the Rev. Dana Opp, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Portersville, 1297 Perry Highway, Portersville. “We don’t have pulpit scarves or stoles.”

“We’re not obligated to use (purple),” he said. However, there is a cross with a purple shroud inside the church.

Opp said purple also can be a somber color. He said when it was first used for Lent, it signified the days when Jesus was going to Jerusalem to die but to claim his kingship.

First United Methodist Church, uses purple for the altar cloth, the church bulletin colors and banners. It can be used for clergy robes and stoles, too.

Many United Methodist churches use a purple cloth on the cross, but Park said it is the choice of the First Church congregation for the cross to be unadorned.

“I teach my confirmation class (seventh and eighth grade) every year about the liturgical colors of the church,” Bertoti said. “Sadly, I think it gets lost over the years as they don’t see the value of the symbolism. Perhaps if they embraced the symbolism of purple being that of ‘royalty’ and Jesus being the king of kings and lord of lords, it might restore the sense of awe and reverence that he so rightly deserves.”

Trinity Lutheran Church in Freeport will look different after today’s Maundy Thursday service.

“We strip the altar and remove all the paraments and books. For Good Friday the chancel is left empty,” Johnston said. “We bring it all back in our Saturday service.”

Bertoti said Thursday services at St. Peter’s Reformed Church use purple. Services Friday will use black.

“We use black as a symbol of sorrow and death because he was crucified,” Bertoti said.

On Good Friday, the liturgical color for St. Mary will be red.

“It’s the one that is designated for the passion of our lord,” Maquiñana said.

For the Saturday night vigil service, the color will change to white.

“The royal color for us is gold or white,” Maquiñana said.

For Easter, Bertoti said his church will use white and continue to use it until the beginning of Pentecost on May 15.

“White is associated with life and the Resurrection,” Park said. “Lent gives way to the celebration of new life that we believe the rest makes possible.”

“Always the goal is to create worship experiences that are multisensory. The changing of colors calls to mind liturgical rhythms and patterns that usher people more deeply into the presence of God,” Park said.

“The movement from purple to black to white, calls to mind this rhythm, this pattern from death to life,” Park said.

“The colors help draw us into the whole celebration of passion week,” Bertoti said. “We’re all very visual. When we can see the beautiful purple brocade it lends to the celebration of passion week. It’s just beautiful. I am not a traditional kind of guy, but that I love.”