Why Candles?

This week, somebody was asking about why Catholics light candles, and I looked into it.

See, the interesting thing is that wax candles are a Western, Northern thing. The usual Biblical Old Testament lighting was oil lamps, and the Temple had the almond-tree-shaped lampstands that also used burning olive oil.

Most of the world has used plant oils, butter, or animal grease/oil lamps, as well as sometimes figuring out how to use petrochemicals. But in the West, there were beeswax candles developed. Well, the Romans also used taper candles, and wax torches. Officials were given the honor of having people carry tapers before them or after them.

When Christianity came along, and possibly within the first century or so, the church in Rome quickly started giving God honor with candles and tapers, as opposed to just using oil lamps. And from there, candles spread to the Eastern church as well. Emperor Constantine gave giant candles, “pillars of wax,” to the church he attended in Constantinople.

Not everybody liked candles. St. Jerome is annoyed by the heretic Vigilantius on a lot of topics. (And no wonder, because he worked for St. Septimius Severus, and then got to go on pilgrimage to Bethlehem where he was Jerome’s houseguest! But then he left suddenly without explanation, went home, and started doing all this heresy stuff, ignoring all his orthodox theological mentors.)

But he particularly disdains Vigilantius’ attack on popular piety and the use of candles during prayer vigils, or liturgically to give honor to the reading of the Gospel in churches. (Jerome calls candles “cereus,” wax, and “luminaria.”.) Jerome associates candles with joy as well as with honor and lighting the night. He also brings up several Bible verses, and asks that if people light candles to honor martyrs, “What do you lose by it?” [“Quid inde perdis?”]

So basically, all the Bible verses from the OT that talk about lamps and fire, tend to be transferred to candles in popular devotion in the West, and sometimes in the East. Lamps symbolize guidance from God. They are also used as an analogy for human reason and human life, from Job on. Since a candle’s wax visibly burns down, further and further, the association with human life is very natural.

Also, since ordinary laypeople were not able to use incense, candles seem to have taken on the Biblical significance of burning incense, being a symbol of prayers going up to God.

There’s probably a lot more to be said about candles.