Walter Alison Phillips

“ The passion for symbolism extracted ever new meanings out of the candles and their use. Early in the 6th century Ennodius, bishop of Pavia, pointed out the three-fold elements of a wax-candle (Opusc. ix. and x.) , each of which would make it an offering acceptable to God; the rush-wick is the product of pure water, the wax is the offspring of virgin bees, [14] the flame is sent from heaven. [15] Clearly, wax was a symbol of the Blessed Virgin and the holy humanity of Christ. The later middle ages developed the idea. ”

“ 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” with the “Gentiles Idolators.” ”

“ On the case being appealed to the Privy Council, this particular indictment was dismissed on the ground that the vicar, not the bishop, was responsible for the presence of the lights, the general question of the legality of altar lights being discreetly left open.
The custom of placing lighted candles round the bodies of the dead, especially when “lying in state,” has never wholly died out in Protestant countries, though their significance has long been lost sight of. [22] In the 18th century, moreover, it was still customary in England to accompany a funeral with lighted tapers. ”

“ Vigilantius, a presbyter of Barcelona, still occupied the position of Tertullian and Lactantius in this matter. “We see,” he wrote, “a rite peculiar to the pagans introduced into the churches on pretext of religion, and, while the sun is still shining, a mass of wax tapers lighted.... A great honour to the blessed martyrs, whom they think to illustrate with contemptible little candles (de vilissimis cereolis) !” ”

“ In Greece the Lampadedromia or Lampadephoria (torch-race) had its origin in ceremonies connected with the relighting of the sacred fire. Pausanias Greece
and Rome. (i. 26, § 6) mentions the golden lamp made by Callimachus which burned night and day in the sanctuary of Athena Polias on the Acropolis, and (vii. 22, §§ 2 and 3) tells of a statue of Hermes Agoraios, in the market-place of Pharae in Achaea, before which lamps were lighted. Among the Romans lighted candles and lamps formed part of the cult of the domestic tutelary deities ”

“ In this connexion it is worth pointing out that the homily against idolatry was reprinted, without alteration and by the king’s authority, long after altar lights had been restored under the influence of the high church party supreme at court. Illegal under the Act of Uniformity they seem never to have been. The use of “wax lights and tapers” formed one of the indictments brought by P. Smart, a Puritan prebendary of Durham, against Dr Burgoyne, Cosin and others for setting up “superstitious ceremonies” in the cathedral “contrary to the Act of Uniformity.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ Their use at funerals is illustrated by Eusebius’s description of the burial of Constantine, [9] and Jerome’s account of that of St Paula. [10] At ordinations they were used, as is shown by the 6th canon of the council of Carthage (398) , which decrees that the acolyte is to hand to the newly ordained deacon ceroferarium cum cereo. As to the blessing of candles, according to the Liber pontificalis Pope Zosimus in 417 ordered these to be blessed, [11] and the Gallican and Mozarabic rituals also provided for this ceremony. ”