Covering Statues: Questions Answered

Catholic Answers:
Q: Can you explain the custom of covering the crosses and images in the Church during Lent? Is this allowed?

A: This custom is one that, except for the Triduum, the Church leaves for local bishops’ conferences to decide. Paschales Solemnitatis provides that on the Saturday before the fifth Sunday of Lent:

The practice of covering the crosses and images in the church may be observed if the episcopal conference should so decide. The crosses are to be covered until the end of the celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday. Images are to remain covered until the beginning of the Easter Vigil (PS 29).

In his book Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year, Msgr. Peter J. Elliott explains that this custom "helps us to concentrate on the great essentials of Christ’s work of redemption."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has decided not to observe this custom; therefore, it is not permitted in the United States:

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops has never voted to continue the practice of covering crosses and images and so the practice, in accord with the rubric of the sacramentary, has not been permissible for the past twenty-five years. Individual parishes are not free to reinstate the practice on their own (Committee on Liturgy Newsletter, April 1995, 31:14).

On Holy Thursday, though, crosses are to be covered after Mass. This is something that the Vatican has not left to the discretion of national bishops’ conferences:

It is fitting that any crosses in the church be covered with a red or purple veil, unless they have already been veiled on the Saturday before the fifth Sunday of Lent (PS 57).