People sometimes wonder why real candles are still used as devotionals in church when electric candles cost less and are not messy. This seems a far-off echo of the criticism addressed to St. Jerome in the fourth century by the heretic Vigilantius, that great numbers of candles were lighted in church even while the sun was still shining.
Candles have another uses besides the original one of providing illumination. King Alfredthe Great (849, ruled 871-899), for instance, measured time by them, enclosing them in horn lanterns so that the wind should not make them burn irregularly. Sometimes the old monks colored them variously or indented them at regular intervals and could then see to read and could also estimate the time spent in reading.
St. Jerome gave another reason. He told Vigilantius that candles were lighted at the Gospel not to dispel darkness, but to express Christian joy. For the Church adds beautiful symbolism to many of the objects employed in her services, Why not? Our Divine Lord taught her in most effectual pedagogy, “Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt 5:15-16).
Shakespeare seems to have caught the symbolism of that lesson in his The Merchant of Venice. Approaching her home in the darkness of late evening, Portia saw, while still far from home, the candle’s light gleaming in her hall, and made the Scriptural application: “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.” She personifies the little candle, as it were an alert watchman—his” beams, she says.
Still another symbolism! They are consumed in the service of others. “Thus” said a spiritual director of St. Sulpice, “should the priest be like a candle, consumed wholly in the service of other people.”
They are also emblematic of the clear light of faith, the aspiring gleams of hope, that burning zeal of charity; of innocence, as when the baptized catechumen is given a lighted candle; as a good example, as in Our Lord’s comparison already quoted; of Christian joy, as St. Jerome pointed out; of fervent, continuous prayer, as when the devout, having knelt at a shrine, light a votive candle before departing; and finally, of Our Lord, the “light of the world” (John 9:5).
While candles have been used by the pagans in their worship, they are in themselves indifferent things. The Church, a wise Mother of souls, endowed them with new spiritual meanings undreamed of by Jew or pagan.
Candles for liturgical use are to be made of material that can provide a living flame without being noxious or smoky and that does not stain altar cloths and coverings.
To safeguard authenticity and the full symbolism of light, electrical candles are banned. It is most unfitting that electric vigil lights be used for devotional purposes. In the United States, oil lamps may be used only in the case of the sanctuary light.
Adapted from Catholic Customs and Symbols by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Hugh T. Henry, Benziger Brothers, Inc. New York, 1925, pp. 66-69. Dictionary of the Liturgy by Rev. Jovian P. Lang, Catholic Book Publishing CO., New York, p. 79.