Lighting of Candles Prior to Mass

[Angel_Bradford]

What do you mean by “Sometimes he doesn’t make it back before the priest and it has to be done again”?

 

[AlbertDerGrosse]

As far as I know, whatever procedures are required would be in the GIRM.

Since the lighting of candles occurs outside of the liturgy proper, why would the GIRM have anything to say about it? I’d imagine this is rather a matter of custom and wouldn’t necessarily differ between the two forms of the Mass anyway.

The following two quoted posts illustrate how most servers are taught to light and extinguish the altar candles in the EF, and at least at my dual-form parish we maintain the custom for the OF as well. This is also how many liturgically traditional parishes of Anglican and Lutheran patrimony light/extinguish candles, so it’s quite ecumenical!

When my husband was an altar server nearly seventy years ago, he was taught to light the candles nearest the tabernacle first then work out from those, and at the end of Mass, do this in reverse. IOW. the Tabernacle is honoured with lighted candles for as long as possible. This might just have been a quirk of the priest’s though.

Same thing here, and to start first on the right hand side or, as it was called then, the Epistle side

Both of these principles apply simultaneously, and they are performed in reverse when extinguishing the candles. One lights the candles on the right side of the tabernacle/crucifix first, starting with the one closest to the tabernacle/crucifix and working outward, then (s)he lights the ones on the left, again beginning with the one closes to the tabernacle/crucifix. (S)he would extinguish the ones on the left before the right, and would begin each side with the one farthest from the tabernacle/crucifix working inward.

Order of lighting (taken from an Episcopal Church website):

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[whatistrue]

Since the lighting of candles occurs outside of the liturgy proper, why would the GIRM have anything to say about it?

Hence my update in a later post. Bottom line is that, if there is no instruction from above (Vatican, Diocese, or Parish), then there isn’t a requirement. If there is then it needs to be followed.

 

[phil19034]

Check with the Archconfraternity of St. Stephen. They are the worldwide archconfraternity / guild that promotes proper Altar Server techniques.
https://guildofststephen.org

Before Vatican II, the below PDF was their manual (and the one they still use for the EF). In it, they specific lighting from the middle out (on the Epistle side first) and then from the middle out on the Gospel side (see page 11). To extinguish the candles, it must be done in the exact reverse order.

https://catholicparishesofborehamwood.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Altar-Servers-Handbook.pdf

In regards to what they say for the Ordinary Form, you will need purchase their post Vatican II version of the handbook, as I can’t find a PDF version

You can order an used, post Vatican II version of their handbook on Amazon here (for only $3.95 used as of Nov 16, 2020) :

https://www.amazon.com/St-Stephens-Handbook-Altar-Servers/dp/0852442777

You can also buy the book on their website from the UK: https://guildofststephen.org/shop.html

 

[SJstl]

AlbertDerGrosse and phil19034,

those are great responses, maybe then there truly is a “correct” method? I’ll certainly check with the Guild of St Stephen and their resources.

being accurate and methodical is not an indication of anxiety. It just means that if there is a procedure, a method or a rubric, or policy, even a tradition, one would want to give respect where respect is due.

 

[phil19034]

If you get a copy of their post Vatican II handbook, please let us know what they say (or don’t say) regarding the lighting of candles.

 

[SJstl]

will do phil

 

[phil19034]

SJstl:

yes, except those 40 pairs of eyeballs watching you doing it

No one cares how you like the candles. Really.

I’ve never done it, there is a need for it occasionally, I want to be confident in doing it right

There is no right or wrong. You just light them. It sounds like you have an awful lot of anxiety about this, why don’t you talk to your pastor?

While this may be true at majority of parishes, what you write here isn’t accurate 100% of the time.

If a parish has a Chapter of the Archconfraternity of St. Stephen (Altar Server Guild of St. Stephen), then they very well might care about the candle lighting order.

As per one of my previous posts, I know St. Stephen’s Altar Server Guild cares 100% about the order of lighting the candles when serving before/after the Latin Mass.

I’m not sure if the candle lighting requirements have changed since Vatican II (as I don’t have a copy of the post Vatican II version of their manual), however, I do know that some parishes in England (who do not celebrate the Latin mass) place the PDF version of the pre-Vatican handbook on their website for the servers.

So there is at least two parishes in England, that do not celebrate the Extraordinary Form, who care about the order of lighting candles.

God Bless

 

[JerryZ]

Hmmm, good question having attended churches on both sides of the pond if my recollection is correct it seems that the sequence is the same everywhere.
Perhaps… Nope there is actually a manual for the office of the Sacristan: Sacristy Manual it spells out all the duties that the Sacristan has.

Peace!

 

[phil19034]

Hmmm, good question having attended churches on both sides of the pond if my recollection is correct it seems that the sequence is the same everywhere.
Perhaps… Nope there is actually a manual for the office of the Sacristan: Sacristy Manual it spells out all the duties that the Sacristan has.

Peace!

What does the Sacristy Manual say?

 

[Anesti33]

It apparently hasn’t occurred to anyone to say “ask your pastor”. Your pastor is the primary liturgist in your parish. If he cares about the order of candles then you should care. Otherwise, don’t. It is useless for you to go groveling around the Internet digging up dusty old manuals that have nothing to do with your pastor’s idea of liturgy. It is a waste of time.

 

[Jen7]

Sounds like the OP just wants to do it correctly if there’s a correct way. Some people just have this personality. Not me - I’d be zig-zagging all over the place and be a big distraction to everyone & probably burn myself. But those who value keeping the beauty of best-practice & tradition alive do us all a great service! They sweat the small stuff and end up elevating the experience for all - including those of us who wouldn’t even notice the details of it were left to us!

 

[pnewton]

I liked both of those last two posts. The pastor needs to be consulted so you know if there is something that must be done. But the value of private devotions that one does just because it is a devotion is priceless. I bet we all have similar devotions in our lives or families. For example, we say the Hail Mary every time we see an ambulance, funeral, accident, or any such distress while driving.

 

[commenter]

Sounds like the OP just wants to do it correctly if there’s a correct way. Some people just have this personality. Not me - I’d be zig-zagging all over the place and be a big distraction to everyone & probably burn myself. But those who value keeping the beauty of best-practice & tradition alive do us all a great service! They sweat the small stuff and end up elevating the experience for all - including those of us who wouldn’t even notice the details of it were left to us!

One of the problems of the pre concilliar Church was the tendency to legislate every little detail. This set up an over reaction in 1970s, when Liturgical abuses were fashionable.

I think a charitable attitude is in order. If our brother has a devotional benefit from lighting the candles in one certain order, that’s fine. Don’t discourage.

But don’t make a rule. This or that pattern is arbitrary, you could make an argument for other patterns just as “devout” as the order described in the thread.

 

[TomH1]

I do not think there is a way of lighting the candles that is prescribed by Church law or laid down in the rubrics of the liturgical rites. However, there is most definitely a traditional or customary (pick your preferred word) for lighting them. I know because when I was an altar boy (the subject of ancient history) I was taught how to light them. You light all the candles on the ‘epistle’ side first, starting near the centre and working outwards. Repeat on the ‘gospel’ side. If you are stood facing the altar with the main body of the church behind you the ‘gospel’ side is your left and the ‘epistle’ side your right. If stood behind the altar facing towards the congregation it is the other way round.

 

[Pitcairn17]

I do not think there is a way of lighting the candles that is prescribed by Church law or laid down in the rubrics of the liturgical rites. However, there is most definitely a traditional or customary (pick your preferred word) for lighting them. I know because when I was an altar boy (the subject of ancient history) I was taught how to light them. You light all the candles on the ‘epistle’ side first, starting near the centre and working outwards. Repeat on the ‘gospel’ side. If you are stood facing the altar with the main body of the church behind you the ‘gospel’ side is your left and the ‘epistle’ side your right. If stood behind the altar facing towards the congregation it is the other way round.

The OP’s question specified in a “Novus Ordo church” - not that there even is such a thing. But beyond that, the terms “Epistle side” and “Gospel side” are surely meaningless to the vast majority who have only known the Ordinary Form of the Mass - as is the symbolism behind those designations — people who have never seen a sweaty-fingered altar boy deal with moving the Missal and its stand first down, then up, a flight of altar steps. And just for balance, this old sweaty-fingered altar boy, who spent 8 years 1956-1964 moving the Missal, was never instructed concerning any candle-lighting sequence.

 

[felsguy]

TomH1:

do not think there is a way of lighting the candles that is prescribed by Church law or laid down in the rubrics of the liturgical rites. However, there is most definitely a traditional or customary (pick your preferred word) for lighting them. I know because when I was an altar boy (the subject of ancient history) I was taught how to light them. You light all the candles on the ‘epistle’ side first, starting near the centre and working outwards. Repeat on the ‘gospel’ side. If you are stood facing the altar with the main body of the church behind you the ‘gospel’ side is your left and the ‘epistle’ side your right. If stood behind the altar facing towards the congregation it is the other way round.

The OP’s question specified in a “Novus Ordo church” - not that there even is such a thing. But beyond that, the terms “Epistle side” and “Gospel side” are surely meaningless to the vast majority who have only known the Ordinary Form of the Mass - as is the symbolism behind those designations — people who have never seen a sweaty-fingered altar boy deal with moving the Missal and its stand first down, then up, a flight of altar steps. And just for balance, this old sweaty-fingered altar boy, who spent 8 years 1956-1964 moving the Missal, was never instructed concerning any candle-lighting sequence.

Oh my, brings back fond memories from a few years before that that that I haven’t thought about in years. Leaving church with my mom after the novena Monday evening our new assistant pastor stopped me and said “hey, you wanna be an altarboy” and I said “okay.” He said “show at 6:45 Mass tomorrow morning.” So I show up Tuesday morning with about a dozen others (the assistant was into on- the-job training), get helped into a cassock that came below my ankles, and learn from one of the older boys from the neighborhood that I got the honor of “carrying the book.” A few minutes later, after the Epistle was read (wasn’t called First Reading until decades later) here’s this little nine year old having to reach practically above his head to grab this 6+ inch thick missal on a heavy metal stand off the altar, come stumbling down three marble steps and back up again to the Gospel side, pages flapping all the way, struggling to get it back up onto the altar, by which time it had flipped completely shut.

As a side note I went on to serve Mass more often than not for the next eight years and yes, lighting the candles just as I was taught, exactly as described above.

 

[TomH1]

I am old enough for my days serving on the altar to be a long time ago. However, I am not old enough for it to have been before the Second Vatican Council. I have only ever served the Ordinary Form of the Mass in English. That was the way I was taught to light the candles.

 

[Anesti33]

Can I just mention how dismayed I am to sit by, every time, and watch the sacristan light our candles when it should have been the altar servers’ job…

 

[dochawk]

But which order?

First the pews, then the paintings. This should generate enough heat to set the rafters aflame . . .


Of course, the real trick is finding a “Norvus Ordo church”, as there is no such thing . . .

That, and I am not allowed to use matches.

They’ve (my wife and the fire department) banned me from the kitchen, and she’s banned me from touching her domestic appliances, but they forgot matches . . . BwahhahahaHAW!

Thanks, do you have a reference or resource for those procedures?

1. strike match against provided sandpaper or similar surface.
2. light taper.
3. apply taper to wick of each desired candle.
4. retract wick into taper.
5. hang taper back where you found it.

(when I served in my RC parish growing up, back when we had altar boys instead of “servers”, and the Novus Ordo MIssae was actually still in use, we simply lighted each candle as we came to it walking behind the high altar [as it was called at the time in my parish], and then the two on the altar tale as we came back.)