Altar Candles

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fan312

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I have a question;

In my local parish, we’ve had oil altar candles. While watching a mass celebrated by the Holy Father in St. Peter’s Basilica, I saw that the candles were wax.
Is there a choice between oil and wax?

Also, we have an oil Paschal candle.
Is this liturgically correct?
 
They’re a lot cheaper than beeswax but oil candles smell bad and drip like crazy. Beeswax smells nice, burns slow, and does not drip.

We wouldn’t use cheap altar cloths or plastic chalices and patens. We shouldn’t use cheap candles on God’s altar either.
 
We had oil candles at my previous parish. Oil is not cheap. And ours had no odor.
They always look perfectly formed, and the Sacristan never has to scrape wax off the followers or the altar cloths.
I liked them very much. Beeswax however, is very expensive. Worth it, of course if you like real candles, but I don’t see how one is less worthy than another.
Throughout history places have been illuminated by oil lamps. Churches too.
 
By oil candles I assume we are talking about the oil lamps that are merely shaped like a candle rather than an actual candle made from oil (i.e. paraffin)?
 
Boy_Wonder said:
They’re a lot cheaper than beeswax but oil candles smell bad and drip like crazy. .
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I find it hard to visualise an oil candle that does this. The ones we use in our parish certainly don’t smell, nor do they ‘drip like crazy’, as the oil is contained in a removable sealed tube which is placed within a plastic candle. Sealed apart from a protruding wick, I mean. (Actually, an extremely resourceful member of our sacristan has found a way of drilling a hole in the tubes, so that they can be refilled - much cheaper than buying more already filled).

It sounds like your parish should research alternatives.
 
Concerning the Paschal Candle

From Paschalis Solemnitates (82c)

The paschal candle should be prepared, which for effective symbolism must be made of wax, never be artificial, be renewed each year, be only one in number, and be of sufficiently large size so that it may evoke the truth that Christ is the light of the world. It is blessed with the signs and words prescribed in the Missal or by the Conference of Bishops.
 
Boy_Wonder said:
They’re a lot cheaper than beeswax but oil candles smell bad and drip like crazy. Beeswax smells nice, burns slow, and does not drip.

We wouldn’t use cheap altar cloths or plastic chalices and patens. We shouldn’t use cheap candles on God’s altar either.
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They shouldn’t if you are using the right oil for them. We got oil candles in my my parish and they don’t smell and they look the same and the only thing you need to do with them is just top up with oil ever so often
 
Is this really the only word we have from the USCCB on the subject? Perhaps my diocese has granted a special derogation from the norms. It would make sense because we are in the desert. My parish uses liquid-paraffin candles, even for the sanctuary and Paschal lamps.

However, one of the first things our new pastor changed when he came in 2004 was replacing electric votive lamps with little wax tealights. This works great, we have a volunteer couple who go through every day and cull the burned lamps, collect the money and deploy new ones, and they’re popular, especially with the Spanish-speaking community.
 
pianistclare said:
sigh.
I’ve always like the oil candles. They don’t make a mess, no odor, and they always look pristine. No wax scraping to be done by the Sacristan.
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I dunno. Oil is for lamps, (bees)wax for candles. The one isn’t the other. If you make a candle shape, but make that shape be, in actuality, a lamp, then you don’t really have a candle, do you? And if the Church calls for candles, shouldn’t you have a candle, not just something that only looks like a candle?

Just my opinion… 🤷
 
Gorgias said:
I dunno. Oil is for lamps, (bees)wax for candles. The one isn’t the other. If you make a candle shape, but make that shape be, in actuality, a lamp, then you don’t really have a candle, do you? And if the Church calls for candles, shouldn’t you have a candle, not just something that only looks like a candle?

Just my opinion… 🤷
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I know. But my past pastor like that they were less work for the Sacristan, and always looked pristine. He like to have a perfectly balances and tasteful altar. 😉
 
pianistclare said:
I know. But my past pastor like that they were less work for the Sacristan, and always looked pristine. He like to have a perfectly balances and tasteful altar. 😉
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That’s why I like them as I got lode of othere things to do
 
The use of oil lamps destroys the significant sign value of beeswax candles. Like freshly-cut flowers, wax candles are a sacrifice. They burn away to nothing and then they are gone. They are the product of the toil of God’s creatures, the bees. While candles themselves are something of a technology, they bring us close to nature. An oil lamp doesn’t give the same visceral closeness to nature as wax candles. And that is why the Church requires them.
 
Gorgias said:
I dunno. Oil is for lamps, (bees)wax for candles. The one isn’t the other. If you make a candle shape, but make that shape be, in actuality, a lamp, then you don’t really have a candle, do you? And if the Church calls for candles, shouldn’t you have a candle, not just something that only looks like a candle?

Just my opinion… 🤷
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Few candles are actually made from bee’s wax.

Most solid candles are made from paraffin which is the byproduct of refining oil (petrolium, coal, shale) Oil candles (lamps if you prefer) use liquid paraffin which is nothing more than highly refined mineral oil. Liquid or solid, they are both oil based.

Some places sell 51% beeswax candles to satisfy purists while keeping costs low.

-Tim-
 
Question - is it ever permissible to have electric candles at the altar? I am just wondering.
 
eatpraylove11 said:
Question - is it ever permissible to have electric candles at the altar? I am just wondering.
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I’m pretty sure electric candles at the altar are not allowed, since the meaning of a candle is the flame itself, and the flame is absent.
 
TimothyH said:
Some places sell 51% beeswax candles to satisfy purists while keeping costs low.
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Well, it’s more than “some places” – church supply companies all sell them. And many churches buy them, in order to have ‘real’ candles… 😉
 
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