Advent Wreath

[Phemie]

Followup
I found “A Book of Blessings” on Amz—.com which is apparently out of print, listing the author as CCB. The date is from 1981. Since the Book of Blessings wasn’t approved until 1984, this obviously refers to something else. Prior to that, the book was called “The Roman Ritual,” so if the CCB printed a book in 1981 called “A Book of Blessings” they couldn’t have anticipated that 3 years later, Rome would change the title of the Roman Ritual to “B of B” (at least I doubt they would have–maybe they had advance notice; but the point is that they could not possibly have printed an 84 text in 81). Still looking

That sounds like the book we have. I think 1981 is the date I noticed today when I was looking for all the things I’m used to seeing in a ritual book – and didn’t find.

I was asking those questions because that book and the recently published “Blessings and Prayers for Home and Family” ****are the only two books used in my parish. I’ve never seen the priests use anything else and there is no other book of blessings among our ritual books – or among the ritual books available from the CCCB.

 

[FrDavid96]

That sounds like the book we have. I think 1981 is the date I noticed today when I was looking for all the things I’m used to seeing in a ritual book – and didn’t find.

I was asking those questions because that book and the recently published “Blessings and Prayers for Home and Family” ****are the only two books used in my parish. I’ve never seen the priests use anything else and there is no other book of blessings among our ritual books – or among the ritual books available from the CCCB.

Phemie, I don’t want to hijack this thread (any more than I already have), so I’ve started a new one on this topic.

 

[Digitonomy]

So, to not “like” the advent wreath seems to me a reaction that isn’t based on history – Luther picked up on a practice in his experience (mostly Catholic) and used it as a teaching tool (whose meaning transcends Catholic-Protestant differences) for the season of Advent.

Do you have a source establishing that Luther used Advent wreaths? I have not seen that claim before.

Thomas723:

I would add as an academic that Wikipedia isn’t necessarily a reliable source. A better source is in the post above mine, showing that the wreath isn’t a Protestant invention, but rather a Christian tradition that predates that time.

I’ll go along with your caution about Wikipedia, but I’m not convinced the other article is more accurate. I imagine that Father Saunders is well-read in certain fields, but the article is apparently taken from a book of 100 of his columns - doubtless some were on topics about which he had no special knowledge. If he had cited some sources for his account, it would have been helpful.

While this thread is more focused on the liturgical use and rules of Advent wreaths, I started a thread on the Spirituality forum exploring the history of the wreaths.

History of Advent wreaths