Candles to Mary and Joseph

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Ikon

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What is the significance, if any, in the sizes of candles and the colors of the votives? Also, is there any accepted order in which to light them?
(As you can tell, I’m new to the Church. Pardon me if this seems silly but I am curious)

Thanks
 
Ikon said:
What is the significance, if any, in the sizes of candles and the colors of the votives? Also, is there any accepted order in which to light them?
(As you can tell, I’m new to the Church. Pardon me if this seems silly but I am curious)

Thanks
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Hello! Welcome, Ikon! I, too, am a convert from Anglicanism. Congrats on finding your way to the True Church!

As far as I know, traditionally, candles to Mary are in blue glass, and to Jesus are red, and to other saints yellowish-brown glass. But this is by no means the same in every Church. Most Churches I see, have red votives for Mary, Jesus, or any of the saints. As to their size, I don’t know… well this is all I know about it.
 
It’s pretty simple, really. Whoever designed the church or buys the candles decides what color goes where. There is no official instruction on what color to use for what devotion, although, as some have noticed, blue is associated with Mary and red with Jesus - sometimes! In our parish, they’re all red.

And, as you may have guessed by now, there’s not an order in which one should light the candles, either.

The lighting of devotional candles is not an official liturgy of the Church, but rather a private devotion, and, as such, is subject to little, if any regulation outside of the fire code.

Betsy
 
Thanks for the helpful information - you both confirmed what I thought was correct. Sometimes, though, there are aspects of Catholic spirituality that are more profound than they appear at first glance. I realize that there are no monitors running around enforcing private devotional practices but I like to follow accepted practice whenever possible.

Thanks again and Merry Christmas. (That ‘Happy Holiday’ tripe gets to me about now.)

Bill
 
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