I have a question about the blessed candles for the Three Days of Darkness

I have been to two candlemasses today and have received blessed candles from candlemass. I have heard that they will be the only source of light during the Three Days of Darkness but my question is. How will we light them?

If they’re the only source of light then striking a match wouldn’t work as that would produce light and that would mean the candles are not the only source of light.

I know I sound silly asking this but I have been pondering on it a bit today. Could someone please shed some light on this (that pun wasn’t actually intended)

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Oc it’s been awhile, but what is the three days of darkness and when does it start?

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OP- acquiring blessed candles in preparation for the Three Days of Darkness - is this taught in your parish? I have only seen it mentioned on the internet.

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  1. The Three Days of Darkness is a private revelation, and while the revelation to Blessed Anna Maria Taigi falls in the “approved” category (please note that later variations do not), Catholics are not required to believe it and it may contain errors or material that is symbolic rather than literal.

  2. From a practical standpoint, do you really think God would make a match not work to light a candle for his faithful who needed a light?
    Sometimes you need to rely on your common sense when reading this prophecy stuff.

I wouldn’t get too hung up on the Three Days of Darkness if I were you. I am alarmed by the websites that use it as a hook to sell survivalist gear.

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The three days of darkness is not a required teaching of the Catholic Church. It is based on private revelation. I recommend living the holiness that God calls us to live and not worry about something that may or may not happen in our lifetimes.

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There is no foundation for this myth. Padre Pio did not say this.
It is credited to him falsely by many people.

You are correct that it has nothing to do with St. Pio, but the approved private revelation comes from Blessed Anna Maria Taigi.

Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769–1837) is the most known seer of the Three Days of Darkness and describes the event in this way:

There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy. All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.[2]

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You use matches. It says the blessed candles will be the only source of light not flame.
Now that gives me something else to worry about.
Seriously though, live your life the way God wants, the best you can and God will ta k e care of the rest.

Light the candle and remember that the light of Christ enlightens everyone.

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Is this her direct writings or that of someone else attributing this to her.
What and where is the original and autograph.

There is a lot of disagreement that this three days darkness or any darkness beyond what is spoken of in the Bible, can accurately be recounted or attributed to an original source due to the nature of it.

‘most known seer’ as quite a few are attributed to
have discussed this , and this is a source of a lot of doubt.

A blessed or saint can still be so without being discredited as such by purported private visions.

Googling reveals a lot of the discourse on this and the authenticity of the many seers who are attributed as being involved in the three days of darkness prophecies.

Most claim the candles will only burn if they are beeswax. A lot of this talk of candles came about before the days of torches and batteries and glowsticks.

The prophecies very between opening windows to look out, and completely blocking out the doors and windows to even a sliver of outside views.

The prophecy originated with Blessed Anna Maria Taigi.
There is no issue with Blessed Anna Maria Taigi’s words being attributed to someone else; we’re not discussing Blessed Anne Emmerich here.

If you want to dig into it deeper, please feel free to research it yourself. I am simply pointing out that the Three Days of Darkness did not originate with the alleged and probably false attributions to Padre Pio (or various other unapproved revelations such as those of Marie-Julie Jahenny), but rather with an actual approved private revelation.

Further, I already explained to the person in an earlier post in the thread that we are not bound to believe in such approved private revelation, that it may be in error and/or may be symbolic rather than literal, and that I personally would take it with a grain of salt. I don’t think any more needs to be said on it.

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This is not an official Catholic teaching.

There is no reason you have to believe in this, and it seems to take away your peace, so leave it aside.

I never knew that the prophecy was falsely attributed to Padre Pio. There was another thing that I read about Padre Pio.

A few weeks back I made a thread on Saint Philomena and several times I have read that Saint Padre Pio attributed Saint Philomena as the Wonder-Worker of the 19th century or something to that effect. There’s a vatican source here that supports Saint Padre Pio’s stance on Saint Philomena Saint Philomena - Information on the Saint of the Day - Vatican News

I’m just wondering though, if Saint Padre Pio never actually predicted the Three Days of Darkness then would he have falsely said this about Saint Philomena too? It is a Vatican News source that supports what Saint Padre Pio said so I’m not entirely sure myself.

This is what I am asking, how do we know this particular set of words is hers.

Thank you, I have already done so in the past and have found many variations and inconsistencies in the days of darkness. A saint or blessed is still a saint or blessed regardless of who attributes what prophecies to them. Padre Pio is a saint and many have attributed this to him as well. It was discovered that he never stated this.

No we are not.
However we are free to question each and every prophecy attributed to different saints over the millenia.
I also think there is a little confusion here in approved private revelation and the path of a Blessed because of her life and works.

It is important that people know this particular prophecy is not set in stone, nor has been validated by the Church in any way as such.

It is more fruitful reading the prophecy in the Old and New Testament. There is so much and all about our salvation and the Blessed Lord God, Jesus Christ.

This is where confusion starts to set in. These great men and women are saints , declared by the Church or on the road to sainthood. They are not declared so because of any prophecies attributed to them, But rather by their lives and works and willingness to sacrifice their way for God’s way.
That is why they are our examples.

Padre Pio said something very nice about St Philomena.
# Devotion remains

The “dear little saint” of the Curé d’Ars, as he called St Philomena, was also found a devout client in Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio). He called her the “little princess of Paradise,” and to those who dared question her existence, he replied that doubts were the fruit of the demon. Padre Pio said, “You can say that she was not called Philomena – but this saint has worked miracles, and it was not the name that did them!”

To this day, Saint Philomena intercedes for many souls and the numerous faithful who visit her shrine to pray before her relics. She is considered the patroness and protectress of newlyweds; and she has often given the joy of motherhood to women who had been sterile.

As can be seen in reading this from your news source, Padre Pio is stating what a wonderful saint St Philomena is, and how she sometimes works miracles.

  1. Padre Pio is often alleged to have said things. He’s a very popular saint, and lived a long time, so stories of what he said about this and that abound. I would take all of them with a grain of salt unless you have a credible source quoting Padre Pio. Many things that Padre Pio allegedly said have no reliable source. (Same for other popular recent saints such as Mother Theresa - she has many quotes attributed to her that she did not say.)

  2. Vatican News is a reliable source about Catholic topics. Also, a legitimate, well-written biography of Padre Pio, released in book form with footnotes, is a reliable source. Therefore, if those sources quote Padre Pio as having said something, he probably did.

Not all quotes on the internet are factual. I certainly will trust the Vatican News source though.

But as for the Three Days of Darkness being attributed to a premonition from Saint Padre Pio. I think one quote here applies very well.

“The problem with quotes on the internet is they’re often not true” - Abraham Lincoln

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The person of whom you are speaking now (author of “Poem of the Man God”) is Maria Valtorta, and none of her revelations have been approved by the Church, nor is she likely to ever be beatified, so her alleged revelations would be unapproved private revelations and cannot be discussed here.

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I demand a source for this quote.

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I first became aware of it with Padre Pio and it has been linked also to Garabandal and to the place in Japan where the Virgin Mary appeared.