Prayer candles

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Hello. Does anyone know how long a prayer candle stays lit? After we light one in church and then leave, do they burn all the way down? Are they extinguished at the end of each day? Just curious. šŸ™‚
 
In my church,pray candles stay lite tell they are use up and go out,they are not blown out at the end of the day.,when they are used up,they replaced them with new ones.
 
Many places now have electric prayer candles. I do not know how long those burn either. Some places use votive candles, others have small pillar candles. Votives would be a few hours I think.
 
My church uses pillar candles and they burn down on their own until there is no more candle left. It takes about 8-10 hours. No one blows them out. Our candles cost $2.00 and you buy them in the church office. I think some churches have envelopes near the candle tables to put a small donation in.
 
Ours are the tall 7-day candles. They go pretty much all the way downā€¦
No, we wouldnā€™t dream of blowing them out. Having said THAT howeverā€¦
sometimes people leave those grocery store Saint candles in the chapel on the base of the candle display. We do blow those out, simply because they are generally not great quality, and better to not risk a fire in the church.
The candles purchased by the church for those displays are manufactured to higher standards and are designed to remain lit for long periods. Thatā€™s why they cost a good bit more.
We suggest a 3 dollar donation, but itā€™s not closely monitored. People contribute what they can.
I love the candles. My mother always used one with her daily devotions. She had a small little ā€œaltarā€ at the house. Funny story about that, but Iā€™ll save that for laterā€¦šŸ˜‰
 
Yes ours are left burning so they continue to offer up our prayers
 
Irishmom2 said:
Oh, come on pianistclare, now you have picquet my curiosity! šŸ™‚
Click to expand...
okay, okayā€¦

Well, keep in mind that mama was old school Hispanic Catholic. :gopray2:
So she had this great custom:
Mama spent an hour in prayer every day at 3 PM. NO radio, NO tv, everything stopped at 3 pm. (She left the pinto beans simmering on the stove, but that was IT).
So, one day, I notice that among all her statues, her big statue of Mary, her Infant of Prague beautifully draped in his finery which she changed per the appropriate liturgical season of course, (pink was for special intentions, dontcha know), that one of her beloved statues was facing the wrong way. Toward the drapes and the driveway, not outward.
So I was about 6 yrs old and I say ā€œMama! Why is that Saint turned the wrong way?ā€
She says ā€œoh miā€™hija, thatā€™s Saint Anthony, Iā€™m mad at him. When he answers my prayer he can come back out and play with the other saints.ā€

:rotfl:
 
Oh, that IS funny!šŸ˜ƒ What a great memory for you to have of your mama!
 
Thank you, everyone, for answering my question about prayer candles. I just joined this site. I can tell that I am going to enjoy it very much!šŸ‘
 
pianistclare said:
okay, okayā€¦

Well, keep in mind that mama was old school Hispanic Catholic. :gopray2:
So she had this great custom:
Mama spent an hour in prayer every day at 3 PM. NO radio, NO tv, everything stopped at 3 pm. (She left the pinto beans simmering on the stove, but that was IT).
So, one day, I notice that among all her statues, her big statue of Mary, her Infant of Prague beautifully draped in his finery which she changed per the appropriate liturgical season of course, (pink was for special intentions, dontcha know), that one of her beloved statues was facing the wrong way. Toward the drapes and the driveway, not outward.
So I was about 6 yrs old and I say ā€œMama! Why is that Saint turned the wrong way?ā€
She says ā€œoh miā€™hija, thatā€™s Saint Anthony, Iā€™m mad at him. When he answers my prayer he can come back out and play with the other saints.ā€

:rotfl:
Click to expand...
What a wonderful story. šŸ™‚
 
pianistclare said:
okay, okayā€¦

Well, keep in mind that mama was old school Hispanic Catholic. :gopray2:
So she had this great custom:
Mama spent an hour in prayer every day at 3 PM. NO radio, NO tv, everything stopped at 3 pm. (She left the pinto beans simmering on the stove, but that was IT).
So, one day, I notice that among all her statues, her big statue of Mary, her Infant of Prague beautifully draped in his finery which she changed per the appropriate liturgical season of course, (pink was for special intentions, dontcha know), that one of her beloved statues was facing the wrong way. Toward the drapes and the driveway, not outward.
So I was about 6 yrs old and I say ā€œMama! Why is that Saint turned the wrong way?ā€
She says ā€œoh miā€™hija, thatā€™s Saint Anthony, Iā€™m mad at him. When he answers my prayer he can come back out and play with the other saints.ā€

:rotfl:
Click to expand...
Wonderful story. I love St. Anthony, I am sure he loved your mother.
 
I wonder how much the answer varies by parish (or equivalent) around the world, but at least in my experience, such candles are allowed to burn.
pianistclare said:
sometimes people leave those grocery store Saint candles in the chapel on the base of the candle display. We do blow those out, simply because they are generally not great quality, and better to not risk a fire in the church.
The candles purchased by the church for those displays are manufactured to higher standards and are designed to remain lit for long periods. Thatā€™s why they cost a good bit more.
Click to expand...
One local church (a basilica with a long history, a historical museum, self-guided touring, and a gift shop) has a posted policy of allowing only its own candles, for these or similar reasons. The candles to be left within the church are to be bought from the gift shop. These candles may be taken homeā€“that is, theyā€™re not sold exclusively for the purpose of leaving them in the churchā€“but most buyers probably light them in the church and leave them at a shrine.

The policy warns that other candles will be removed. Even so, I have sometimes seen a few of those, but someone probably does remove them, at least by the end of the day.

(I havenā€™t seen many store-bought candles left burning in churches. I do see them left outside churches at designated spots, such as outdoor shrines.)
 
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