PASCHAL CANDLE. - It is a large candle, artistically decorated, blessed on Holy Saturday and placed upon a candlestick (often an artistic one, called the Paschal candlestick) on the Gospel side of the high altar until the feast of the Ascension. It is also used in the rite of the blessing of the baptismal font on the vigil of Easter and Pentecost. The Paschal candle must be lit during Solemn Masses and at Vespers during the Easter season; it is extinguished after the Gospel of the Solemn Mass of the Ascension.
ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE PASCHAL CANDLE. - The derivation of the Paschal candle from the daily synagogue custom of lighting a lamp at nightfall with a formula of blessing, or from the similar practice in the basilica of the Anastasis in Jerusalem described by the pilgrim Egeria (c. 383–88), or, in any case, from the lighting of the lamp at the beginning of the primitive evening liturgical office (Lucernarium), is not proven.
The use of the Paschal candle is part of and derives directly from the solemn illumination of churches on the vigil of Easter, which St. Augustine calls the “mother of all vigils” (*Sermo* 219), as is evident from the text of the Exultet itself (q.v.), which recent studies attribute to St. Ambrose. From Eusebius we know that Constantine had not only the church but the entire city illuminated on this vigil (*De vita Constantini*, IV, 22), and St. Augustine movingly describes the grand effect of the Easter vigil illumination. The practical needs of the liturgy, namely the need to have a light in the sanctuary that would last all night, led to the use of an exceptionally large candle placed in the center of the choir, which by the 4th century was the object of a special blessing accompanied by a poetic encomium of its material and symbolism. Testimonies to this *Laus cerei* (Carmen cerei, *Praeconium paschale*) are found in St. Jerome (Letter to the deacon Presidio of Piacenza, 384) and in St. Augustine (*De civitate Dei*, XV, 22), who is said to have composed a similar encomium. From this it may be concluded that the special use of the Paschal candle, toward the end of the 4th century, was widely diffused in Italy, and perhaps in Africa. It is then found in Spain and the Gauls.
It is not easy, however, to outline its concrete history, since customs and rites varied according to the Churches. Let us follow the paschal candle (c. p.) through Roman usage. The *Liber Pontificalis* (I, p. 225) attributes to Pope Zosimus a *constitutum* according to which he would have granted permission to bless the paschal candle to the suburban churches, which suggests that in Rome the custom of blessing it was not yet introduced. Indeed, the *Ordo Romanus* attributed by Fr. Silva-Tarouca to John, "archicantor" of the Vatican Basilica (680), does not mention the paschal candle but simply speaks of candles to be blessed, perhaps identical to the two torches mentioned in the Ordines known as of St-Amand and of Einsiedeln (9th century). In these two Ordines as well, there is no mention of the paschal candle, but only of two torches (faculae), which, as attested by the Ordo of St-Amand, at all times of the year always follow the pope in his functions. They are carried by two regional subdeacons, who, on Holy Saturday, emerge with the pope from the sacristy, stand near the pulpit during the readings, then descend to the font, where, at the appropriate time, they immerse them in the baptismal water, and then follow the pope in the consignation and in the Mass.
The *Ordo Romanus*
I (nn. 32 and 39, partly revised in the 9th century) speaks of the fire to be kept on Holy Thursday to be preserved in a lamp until Holy Saturday (at the time of Pope Zachary there were three lamps). Then, on Holy Saturday, the great paschal candle is immediately lit from this lamp, it is carried in procession into the church, but without chant, and placed before the altar on a large candelabrum. The Praefatio follows, that is, the paschal preconium, and then from the great paschal candle the two torches are lit, which then accompany the pope in the various rites. The appendix (n. 9) repeats the matter more concisely, but as bearers of the two torches it names two notaries. The sacramentaries of the same period (9th century) inform us that the paschal candle was blessed with the prayer *Veniat*, currently in use for the blessing of the five grains of incense. But the text itself still reveals itself today, despite some unfortunate adaptations, as intended to bless the great lit candle (*incensum* — lit), and which, after the function, was broken into pieces and distributed to the faithful as a sign of blessing. When the word *incensum* in ecclesiastical language became exclusively used for incense in the strict sense, the formula *Veniat* was used in the early Middle Ages to bless the five grains.
Meanwhile, the custom arose of lighting, outside the church, a great fire, kindled by a flint, with which the paschal candle was then lit. Indeed, in Ordo XII of the chamberlain Cancellieri (1888, then Honorius III), we learn that the new fire was placed on top of a long reed, carried in procession, singing three times *Lumen Christi*, to the paschal candle, which was immediately lit and placed on its candelabrum. In Ordo XIV of Cardinal Gaetano Stefaneschi (1311), the *harundo* appears for the first time, measuring 3½ cubits, with a triple candle.
The so-called Roman Pontifical of the 12th century also contains the rite of Ordines Romani XII and XIV, but with a particularity: the deacon, before singing the paschal preconium, cuts into the paschal candle a cross, the letters alpha and omega, and the year. This seems to have been a particular custom of the Lateran Basilica, as can be inferred from the Ordo of Cardinal Prior Bernardo (before 1176). In other churches, especially in France, the list of the year’s feasts was incised. At Rome, however, as the Venerable Bede relates, it was customary to carve the festal calendar on a large candle which remained exposed throughout the year, on the occasion of Christmas. The dimensions of the paschal candle have always been considerable: the *Exultet* calls it a "column," but in the Middle Ages they were sometimes so enormous that it had to be lit from the ceiling.
The paschal candle, although originating from practical needs, immediately acquired a symbolic interpretation, as is evident from the oldest texts of the paschal preconium: it was compared to the risen Christ, to Christ the Light, set in relation to the pillar of fire that guided the people of Israel through the Red Sea, an image of Baptism and of the liberation of the Christian people. On the symbolism of the paschal candle, see Amalarius (*De ecclesiasticis officiis*, I, 18: PL 103, 1033; ed. J. M. Hanssens [Studi e Testi, 139], Vatican City 1948, pp. 111–113), John Beleth, and William Durandus.
The custom of inserting the five grains of incense into the paschal candle is of medieval origin; they are mentioned in the Sacramentary of Ratold (10th century), and by the time of Micrologus (after 1086) their use was already common.
John Beleth, in his *Divinorum officiorum explicatio* (chapters 105–109), written after 1165, refers to the insertion of the five grains of incense into the paschal candle, but does not mention their blessing; he does, however, refer to the blessing, in addition to the paschal candle, of two other smaller candles, to symbolize the two Testaments. William Durandus (d. 1296), in his well-known *Rationale divinorum officiorum* (VI, 80), which summarizes all the liturgical and symbolic doctrine of the Middle Ages, is still unaware of the blessing of the grains of incense, symbols of the spices used by the pious women and of the five wounds of the Lord. See Plate LXXXII.