Candles

CANDELE. — They are the most common and obligatory means of illumination in the liturgy of religious services. According to current prescriptions, c. must be made of wax, that is, made wholly or for the most part from the product of the bees bearing the same name (Decreta authentica S. R. C., n. 4147). Candles made of stearin are therefore prohibited (ibid., 3063; 3376, 3), as are those made of tallow (ibid., 2865), nor may electric lamps be used in their place (ibid., 4257, 5). Precise prescriptions, despite contrary abuses, regulate the number of candles in liturgical services. 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 celebrant is the diocesan bishop (ibid., 1, 12, 12; Decr. 235, 8; 1131, 1; 2274, 6). For the private Mass of one who is not a bishop, neither fewer nor more than two (Missale Rom. Rubricae Gener., 20; Decr. 441, 567, 1051, 1125, 1131, etc.); for the solemn Mass, the Caerem. Episc. (1, 12, 24) gives four, or even two, as sufficient for simple feasts and ferias, but in practice common usage, the Missale Rom. Ritus celebr. Missam, 4, 4, and the Caerem. Episc. (1, 12, 11) arrange for or prescribe six; for a sung Mass without ministers, there must be four (Decr. 1470, 2; 3377, 1); this number may also be retained for a conventual or parish low Mass, or for a Mass that takes the place of a solemn Mass on a feast day (Decr. 3697, 7; 3059, 7, 9; 3065).

For the exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament, at least six candles are required (Decr. 1992; 4257, 2); for the same exposition in solemn form, twelve (Decr. 3480) or twenty are required (Instructio Clementina, 6, in Decreta authent. S. R. C., IV, Rome 1900, p. 22).

The use of candles in the liturgy is connected with the history of liturgical illumination, of which it was certainly a principal element. Christian archaeological monuments reveal almost exclusively, rather than a use, a funerary symbolism of candles, which signify eternal light (G. Wilpert, La fede della Chiesa nascente, Città del Vaticano 1938, p. 283), in which the dead participate (F. Cabrol, Cierges, in DACL, III, col. 1618), and glory, which makes them resemble the great ones of the earth (Senatoriae videlicet sunt dignitatis, s. Girolamo, Adv. Vigil. 6: PL 23, 359). Indeed, it is known that the emperor, when he appeared in public, was accompanied by lighted candles.

The first, though not exclusive, motive for the liturgical use of candles, as of light in general, is the need to illuminate the surroundings, as s. Girolamo observes (Adv. Vigil., 7: PL 23, 361). This, however, does not exclude the symbolic meaning naturally belonging to light, on account of which candles were lit at the Gospel iam sole rutilante... ad signum laetitiae demonstrandum (s. Girolamo, op. cit., 1). This festive sense is frequently noted by ecclesiastical writers, who mention the multitude and size of the candles (Eusebio, Vita Constantini, 4, 22; Prudenzio, Peristephanon, 2, 72; id., Cathemerinon, 5, 20; Paolino Nolano, Carmina, 14, 100; Etheria, Pere-

grinatio ad loca sancta, 24, 4; 7, 9). Soon afterward, it seems, behind a popular form of devotion, Vigilantius reproached Christians for it (St. Jerome, Adv. Vigil., 4 and 7), although it had derived from analogous pagan practices (St. Jerome, ibid.; Cicero, De officiis, II, 8; Ammianus Marcellinus, Rer. Gestarum, XXII, 14; Tertullian, De idololatria, 15; Lactantius, Divin. Instit., VI, 2), which also concerned ecclesiastical authority (Synod of Elvira, chap. 34; Mansi, II, 11). The candles and lights 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 they were also used abundantly during liturgical worship, the candles were merely an element of illumination, or an honor rendered to the Pontiff and the Gospel, and never an act of direct Eucharistic worship until the 12th–13th century, when people began to place them on the altar. On several occasions and in different places, the Church had to intervene to prohibit superstitious practices concerning the use and number of the candles.

For archaeology: V. CERO; for the blessing of candles: V. PURIFICAZIONE.