In the completed ritual system of the medieval Church, as still
preserved in the Roman Catholic communion, the use of ceremonial
lights falls under three heads. (1) They may be symbolical
of the light of God’s presence, of Christ as “Light
In the Roman Catholic Church.
Dedication
of a church.
At Mass and choir services.
of Light,” or of “the children of Light” in conflict with
the powers of darkness; they may even be no more
than expressions of joy on the occasion of great festivals.
(2) They may be votive, i.e. offered as an act of worship (latria) to
God. (3) They are, in virtue of their benediction by the Church,
sacramentalia, i.e. efficacious for the good of men’s souls and bodies,
and for the confusion of the powers of darkness.[1] With one or
more of these implications, they are employed in all the public
functions of the Church. At the consecration of a church twelve
lights are placed round the walls at the twelve spots
where these are anointed by the bishop with holy oil,
and on every anniversary these are relighted; at the
dedication of an altar tapers are lighted and censed at
each place where the table is anointed (Pontificale Rom. p. ii.
De eccl. dedicat. seu consecrat.). At every liturgical service, and
especially at Mass and at choir services, there must be at least
two lighted tapers on the altar,[2] as symbols of the presence
of God and tributes of adoration. For the Mass the
rule is that there are six lights at High Mass, four at a
missa cantata, and two at private masses. At a Pontifical
High Mass (i.e. when the bishop celebrates) the lights are seven,
because seven golden candlesticks surround the risen Saviour, the
chief bishop of the Church (see Rev. i. 12). At most pontifical
Sanctuary lamps.
Symbol of the Real Presence.
functions, moreover, the bishop—as the representative of Christ—is
preceded by an acolyte with a burning candle (bugia) on a candlestick.
The Ceremoniale Episcoporum (i. 12) further orders that a
burning lamp is to hang at all times before each altar, three in front
of the high altar, and five before the reserved Sacrament,
as symbols of the eternal Presence. In practice, however,
it is usual to have only one lamp lighted before
the tabernacle in which the Host is reserved. The special symbol
of the real presence of Christ is the Sanctus candle, which is lighted
at the moment of consecration and kept burning until
the communion. The same symbolism is intended by
the lighted tapers which must accompany the Host
whenever it is carried in procession, or to the sick and
dying.
As symbols of light and joy a candle is held on each side of the deacon when reading the Gospel at Mass; and the same symbolism underlies the multiplication of lights on festivals, their number varying with the importance of the occasion. As to the number of these latter no rule is laid down. They differ from liturgical lights in that, whereas these must be tapers of pure beeswax or lamps fed with pure olive oil (except by special dispensation under certain circumstances), those used merely to add splendour to the celebration may be of any material; the only exception being, that in the decoration of the altar gas-lights are forbidden.
In general the ceremonial use of lights in the Roman Catholic Church is conceived as a dramatic representation in fire of the life of Christ and of the whole scheme of salvation. On Easter Eve the new fire, symbol of the light of the newly risen Christ, is produced, and from this are kindled all the lights used Tenebrae.throughout the Christian year until, in the gathering darkness (tenebrae) of the Passion, they are gradually extinguished. This quenching of the light of the world is symbolized at the service of Tenebrae in Holy Week by the placing on a stand before the altar of thirteen lighted tapers arranged pyramidally, the rest of the church being in darkness. The penitential psalms are sung, and at the end of each a candle is extinguished. When only the central one is left it is taken down and carried behind the altar, thus symbolizing the betrayal and the death and burial of Christ. This ceremony can be traced to the 8th century at Rome.
On Easter Eve new fire is made[3] with a flint and steel, and blessed; from this three candles are lighted, the lumen Christi, and from these again the Paschal Candle.[4] This is the symbol of the risen and victorious Christ, The Paschal Candle.and burns at every solemn service until Ascension Day, when it is extinguished and removed after the reading of the Gospel at High Mass. This, of course, symbolizes the Ascension; but meanwhile the other lamps in the church have received their light from the Paschal Candle, and so symbolize throughout the year the continued presence of the light of Christ.
At the consecration of the baptismal water the burning Paschal
Candle is dipped into the font “so that the power of the Holy
Ghost may descend into it and make it an effective
instrument of regeneration.” This is the symbol of
baptism as rebirth as children of Light. Lighted tapers are also
Baptism.
Ordination, etc.
Funeral lights.
placed in the hands of the newly-baptized, or of their god-parents,
with the admonition “to preserve their baptism inviolate, so that
they may go to meet the Lord when he comes to the wedding.”
Thus, too, as “children of Light,” candidates for ordination
and novices about to take the vows carry lights
when they come before the bishop; and the same idea
underlies the custom of carrying lights at weddings, at the first
communion, and by priests going to their first mass, though none
of these are liturgically prescribed. Finally, lights are placed round
the bodies of the dead and carried beside them to the
grave, partly as symbols that they still live in the light
of Christ, partly to frighten away the powers of darkness.
Conversely, the extinction of lights is part of the ceremony of
excommunication (Pontificale Rom. pars iii.). Regino, abbot of Prum,
describes the ceremony as it was carried out in his day,
when its terrors were yet unabated (De eccles. disciplina,
ii. 409). “Twelve priests should stand about the bishop,
Excommun-
ication.
holding in their hands lighted torches, which at the conclusion
of the anathema or excommunication they should cast down
and trample under foot.” When the excommunication is removed,
the symbol of reconciliation is the handing to the penitent of a
burning taper.
As a result of the Reformation the use of ceremonial lights was either greatly modified, or totally abolished in the Protestant Churches. In the Reformed (Calvinistic) Churches altar lights were, with the rest, done away with entirely as popish and superstitious. In the Lutheran Protestant Churches. Churches they were retained, and in Evangelical Germany have even survived most of the other medieval rites and ceremonies (e.g. the use of vestments) which were not abolished at the Reformation itself.
In the Church of England the practice has been less consistent. The first Prayer-book of Edward VI. directed two lights to be placed on the altar. This direction was omitted in the second Prayer-book; but the “Ornaments Rubric” of Queen Elizabeth’s Prayer-book seemed again Church of England. to make them obligatory. The question of how far this did so is a much-disputed one and is connected with the whole problem of the meaning and scope of the rubric (see Vestments). An equal uncertainty reigns with regard to the actual usage of the Church of England from the Reformation onwards. Lighted candles certainly continued to decorate the holy table in Queen Elizabeth’s chapel, to the scandal of Protestant zealots. They also seem to have been retained, at least for a while, in certain cathedral and collegiate churches. There is, however, no mention of ceremonial candles in the detailed account of the services of the Church of England given by William Harrison (Description of England, 1570); and the attitude of the Church towards their use, until the ritualistic movement of the 17th century, would seem to be authoritatively expressed in the Third Part of the Sermon against Peril of Idolatry, which quotes with approval the views of Lactantius and compares “our Candle Religion”
- ↑ All three conceptions are brought out in the prayers for the blessing of candles on the Feast of the Purification of the B.V.M. (Candlemas, q.v.). (1) “O holy Lord, ... who ... by the command didst cause this liquid to come by the labour of bees to the perfection of wax, ... we beseech thee ... to bless and sanctify these candles for the use of men, and the health of bodies and souls....” (2) “... these candles, which we thy servants desire to carry lighted to magnify thy name; that by offering them to thee, being worthily inflamed with the holy fire of thy most sweet charity, we may deserve,” &c. (3) “O Lord Jesus Christ, the true light, ... mercifully grant, that as these lights enkindled with visible fire dispel nocturnal darkness, so our hearts illumined by invisible fire,” &c. (Missale Rom.). In the form for the blessing of candles extra diem Purificationis B. Mariae Virg. the virtue of the consecrated candles in discomfiting demons is specially brought out: “that in whatever places they may be lighted, or placed, the princes of darkness may depart, and tremble, and may fly terror-stricken with all their ministers from those habitations, nor presume further to disquiet and molest those who serve thee, Almighty God” (Rituale Rom.).
- ↑ Altar candlesticks consist of five parts: the foot, stem, knob in the centre, bowl to catch the drippings, and pricket (a sharp point on which the candle is fixed). It is permissible to use a long tube, pointed to imitate a candle, in which is a small taper forced to the top by a spring (Cong. Rit., 11th May 1878).
- ↑ This is common to the Eastern Church also. Pilgrims from all parts of the East flock to Jerusalem to obtain the “new fire” on Easter Eve at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Here the fire is supposed to be miraculously sent from heaven. The rush of the pilgrims to kindle their lights at it is so great, that order is maintained with difficulty by Mahommedan soldiers.
- ↑ The origin of the Paschal Candle is lost in the mists of antiquity. According to the abbé Châtelain (quoted in Diderot’s Encyclopédie, s.v. “Cièrge”) the Paschal Candle was not originally a candle at all, but a wax column on which the dates of the movable feasts were inscribed. These were later written on paper and fixed to the Paschal Candle, a custom which in his day survived in the Cluniac churches.
