Purple, Violet and Vestments

NLM reader and Australian-based vestment maker, Michael Sternbeck of the Saint Bede Studio, has been keeping me abreast of a piece he was working on which studies the question of violet/purple.

Here is how he introduces the piece:

"A subject that has interested me for many years is the question of the colour of the vestments set down to be used in Advent and Lent: purple. Why, I wondered, were there so many variables to be found in this colour amongst vestments, ranging from pink to a dark blue? Recently, having watched a television program about the production of the purple dye as the ancients knew it, I thought that it was worth researching how these colours came to be used for Church vestments. So, this article is the fruit of my research on the use of the liturgical colour violet/purple."

I know we have many here interested in ceremonial protocol and vestment design, so, with that in mind, here is a link to part one of the piece:

www.saintbedestudio.bizland.com: The Liturgical Colour "violaceus" in the Roman Rite (PART ONE)

Part two is available on the same site as well.