CANDLES. - They are the most common and obligatory means of liturgical illumination in religious functions. According to current prescriptions, candles must be of wax, that is, made wholly or for the most part from the product of bees of the same name (Decreta authentica S. R. C., n. 4147). Candles of stearin are therefore forbidden (ibid., 3063; 3376, 3), of tallow (ibid., 2865), nor may electric lamps be used in their place (ibid., 4257, 5). Precise prescriptions, notwithstanding contrary abuses, regulate the number of candles in liturgical functions. For the private Mass of a bishop there must be at least two, but there may also be four (Caerem. Episc., 1, 29, 4); for a pontifical Mass six (ibid., 2, 11, 1), to which a seventh is added behind the cross when the one pontificating is the diocesan bishop (ibid., 1, 12, 12; Decr. 235, 8; 1131, 1; 2274, 6). For the private Mass of one who is neither a bishop nor less, neither fewer nor more than two (Missale Rom. Rubricae Gener., 20; Decr.
441, 567, 1051, 1125, 1131 etc.), for a solemn Mass, the Caerem. Episc. (1, 12, 24) gives as sufficient four or even two for simple feasts and ferias, but in fact common usage, the Missale Rom. Ritus celebr. Missam, 4, 4 and the Caerem. Episc. (1, 12, 11) arrange or prescribe six; for a sung Mass without ministers, there must be four (Decr. 1470, 2; 3377, 1); this number may be retained also for a conventual or parochial Low Mass, or for a Mass that takes the place of the solemn one on a feast day (Decr. 3697, 7; 3059, 7, 9; 3065).
For the exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a minimum of six candles is required (Decr. 1992; 4257, 2); for the same in solemn form, twelve are required (Decr. 3480) or twenty (Instructio Clementina, 6, in Decreta authent. S. R. C., IV, Rome 1900, p. 22).
The use of candles in the liturgy is connected to the history of liturgical illumination, of which it was certainly a principal element. Christian archaeological monuments reveal almost exclusively not so much a use as a funerary symbolism of candles, which signify eternal light (G. Wilpert, La fede della Chiesa nascente, Vatican City 1938, p. 283) in which the deceased participate (F. Cabrol, Cierges, in DACL, III, col. 1618) and glory, which likens them to the great of the earth (Senatoriae videlicet sunt dignitatis, St. Jerome, Adv. Vigil. 6: PL 23, 359). It is known in fact that the emperor in his appearances was accompanied by lighted candles.
The first, but not exclusive, motive for the liturgical use of candles, as of light in general, is the need to brighten the environment, as St. Jerome notes (Adv. Vigil., 7: PL 23, 361). This, however, does not exclude the symbolic meaning, natural to light, for which candles were lit at the Gospel iam sole rutilante... ad signum laetitiae demonstrandum (St. Jerome, op. cit., 1). This festive sense is often noted by ecclesiastical writers, who remark on the multitude and size of the candles (Eusebius, Vita Constantini, 4, 22; Prudentius, Peristephanon, 2, 72; id., Cathemerinon, 5, 20; Paulinus of Nola, Carmina, 14, 100; Etheria, Pere-
(phot. Alinari)
CANDELABRUM - Bronze candelabrum, work by A. Vittoria (1524-1608). Venice, Museo Civico Correr.
grinatio ad loca sancta, 24, 4; 7, 9). Soon, it seems, behind a popular form of devotion, Vigilantius reproaches the Christians for it (St. Jerome, Adv. Vigil., 4 and 7), although it was derived from analogous pagan usages (St. Jerome, ibid.; Cicero, De officiis, II, 8; Ammianus Marcellinus, Rer. Gestarum, XXII, 14; Tertullian, De idololatria, 15; Lactantius, Divin. Instit., VI, 2) that also worried the ecclesiastical authority (Synod of Elvira, ch. 34; Mansi, II, 11). Candles and luminaria in general were used as a sign of worship for the martyrs (Acta Martyrum selecta, ed. O. von Gebhardt, Leipzig 1902, pp. 127-29). Although used abundantly also during the liturgical cult, candles were only an element of illumination, or of honor rendered to the Pontiff and to the Gospel, never of direct eucharistic cult until the 12th-13th century, when they began to be placed on the altar. Several times and in different places the Church had to intervene to prohibit superstitious uses as regards the use and the number of candles.
For archaeology: v. CERO; for the blessing of candles: v. PURIFICAZIONE.
Bibliography2 works
Salvatore Marsili