Votive candles(?) what are they used for?

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Darbie

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I’ve seen candles like this before, and I’ve also seen blasphemous knock offs of them. I read somewhere they were called votive candles, what exactly are they used for?

I’d also like to apologize if I put this in the wrong place, I wasn’t sure where to put it, I just put it in this forum, because it mentioned customs.
 
Darbie said:
Well…no images allowed…here I’ll just post the link. I’m talking about the tall glass ones with images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints. They seem to be prevalent in the Hispanic community here…but that’s probably because they’re the only Catholics here…they’re beautiful candles though.

google.com/search?q=catholic+candles&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=iK_SU5TqIIWayATW-oLYAg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&biw=1215&bih=687#imgdii=_
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I’m not sure, but I’ll be watching this thread in case anyone does know.
 
Darbie said:
I’ve seen candles like this before, and I’ve also seen blasphemous knock offs of them. I read somewhere they were called votive candles, what exactly are they used for?

I’d also like to apologize if I put this in the wrong place, I wasn’t sure where to put it, I just put it in this forum, because it mentioned customs.
Click to expand...
Are talking about the candles before images of Saints?

There are called votive candles. The article below gives a history:

catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0434.html

In Judaism, a perpetual light was kept burning in the Temple and the synagogues not only to insure the ability to light other candles or oil lamps in the evening but also to show the presence of God (cf. Ex 27:20-21 and Lv 24:2-4). Later, the Talmud prescribed a lit lamp at the Ark, where the Torah and other writings of Sacred Scripture were kept, to show reverence to the Word of God. (This practice probably influenced our own tradition of having a lit candle near the Tabernacle to indicate the presence of and to show reverence for the Blessed Sacrament.)

Here, as in early Christian times, we light a candle before a statue or sacred image of our Lord or of a saint. Of course, we do not honor the statue or the image itself, but whom that statue or image represents. The light signifies our prayer offered in faith coming into the light of God. With the light of faith, we petition our Lord in prayer, or petition the saint to pray with us and for us to the Lord. The light also shows a special reverence and our desire to remain present to the Lord in prayer even though we may depart and go about our daily business.

Also, some Medieval spiritual writers expanded the imagery of the candle itself: beeswax symbolized the purity of Christ; the wick, the human soul of Christ; and the light, His divinity. Also, the burning candle symbolized a sacrifice, which is made in both the offering of the prayer and the acceptance of the Lord’s will.
 
Darbie said:
Well…no images allowed…here I’ll just post the link. I’m talking about the tall glass ones with images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints. They seem to be prevalent in the Hispanic community here…but that’s probably because they’re the only Catholics here…they’re beautiful candles though.

google.com/search?q=catholic+candles&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=iK_SU5TqIIWayATW-oLYAg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&biw=1215&bih=687#imgdii=_
Click to expand...
Yes…votive candles.

Here are more pics…at Lourdes, France. google.com/search?q=lourdes,+france+candles&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=vcLSU-zDNqbMiQLPp4GwBg&ved=0CDgQ7Ak&biw=1440&bih=809#imgdii=_
 
The kind you are talking about are quite popular in Texas as well.
Having married into a hispanic family in Ohio, I remember my mother in law and others in the family using them often.
They are used for special intentions and different types of prayers. Some have images of saints that people invoke for intercession.
My mother in law lit one once because she said she had a dream about my father in law who had recently passed away.
Actually, when my father in law was still alive, he was suffering from kidney disease, and I drove him from Ohio to south Texas, to the Church of the Virgen de San Juan. It was about a 1600 mile trip. We went inside and prayed for a while, he lit a candle, and we started back home.
After that, my mother in law always kept candles of the Virgen de San Juan around.
 
pablope said:
Are talking about the candles before images of Saints?

There are called votive candles. The article below gives a history:

catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0434.html

In Judaism, a perpetual light was kept burning in the Temple and the synagogues not only to insure the ability to light other candles or oil lamps in the evening but also to show the presence of God (cf. Ex 27:20-21 and Lv 24:2-4). Later, the Talmud prescribed a lit lamp at the Ark, where the Torah and other writings of Sacred Scripture were kept, to show reverence to the Word of God. (This practice probably influenced our own tradition of having a lit candle near the Tabernacle to indicate the presence of and to show reverence for the Blessed Sacrament.)

Here, as in early Christian times, we light a candle before a statue or sacred image of our Lord or of a saint. Of course, we do not honor the statue or the image itself, but whom that statue or image represents. The light signifies our prayer offered in faith coming into the light of God. With the light of faith, we petition our Lord in prayer, or petition the saint to pray with us and for us to the Lord. The light also shows a special reverence and our desire to remain present to the Lord in prayer even though we may depart and go about our daily business.

Also, some Medieval spiritual writers expanded the imagery of the candle itself: beeswax symbolized the purity of Christ; the wick, the human soul of Christ; and the light, His divinity. Also, the burning candle symbolized a sacrifice, which is made in both the offering of the prayer and the acceptance of the Lord’s will.
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I’m talking about the tall thin candles, in glass that have the colorful images on them…I’ve seen them for sale in grocery stores for $3 to $5…like these

google.com/search?q=catholic%20saint%20candles&revid=118592159&tbm=isch&ei=vLHSU9qRI-bl8AGkmoCgBQ#facrc=&imgdii=&imgrc=JpimGj5pu-IECM%253A%3BwFxm7bI0LvY7cM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fs3.amazonaws.com%252Fsuite101.com.prod%252Farticle_images%252Flarge%252Fbdd2d84e-294c-4a84-9262-541dd6f62d6a.jpg%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fsuite.io%252Ftheresa-doyle-nelson%252F60xs2wg%3B648%3B324
 
Darbie said:
I’m talking about the tall thin candles, in glass that have the colorful images on them…I’ve seen them for sale in grocery stores for $3 to $5…like these

google.com/search?q=catholic%20saint%20candles&revid=118592159&tbm=isch&ei=vLHSU9qRI-bl8AGkmoCgBQ#facrc=&imgdii=&imgrc=JpimGj5pu-IECM%253A%3BwFxm7bI0LvY7cM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fs3.amazonaws.com%252Fsuite101.com.prod%252Farticle_images%252Flarge%252Fbdd2d84e-294c-4a84-9262-541dd6f62d6a.jpg%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fsuite.io%252Ftheresa-doyle-nelson%252F60xs2wg%3B648%3B324
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Yes, these are the votive candles, used for the same purpose as per the Article I linked.

I some parishes, parishioners bring their own, light it and leave it by the image of a saint or the Lord, or they can be used at home, and placed before an image of a favorite or patron saint or an image of the Lord.

In some parishes, there are candles already, and one can light one and leave a monetary donation. There would usually be a box to nearby to drop the donation.

Again, the purpose is…The light signifies our prayer offered in faith coming into the light of God. With the light of faith, we petition our Lord in prayer, or petition the saint to pray with us and for us to the Lord.** The light also shows a special reverence and our desire to remain present to the Lord in prayer even though we may depart and go about our daily busines**s.

check this also:
suite.io/theresa-doyle-nelson/60xs2wg

In many regions, candles decorated with images of saints can be purchased pretty easily at grocery stores, drug stores, or other places of convenient shopping. Because Catholics believe that saints can pray for us, sometimes these saint-inspired candles are used to help us to remember to ask a saint now and then to pray for our worries or needs. These saints – like the candles they are pictured on - can offer another sort of illumination to our lives – through their examples of holy living. There is a wide array of decorated candles available to purchase, ponder, and light; below are just a few examples:
 
If one looks at the images in the link and then does a google on “santeria candles” and looks at those images, one will notice that many of the candles are the same.
 
pablope said:
Now I see what you are saying…catholicnewsagency.com/news/sale_of_prayer_candles_of_saint_president_obama_sparks_controversy/
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Yes, there are many many blasphemous knock offs of them, I’ve seen them with celebrities, and animal heads replacing the head of the original saint that is supposed to be on the candle. Atheists make them with Stephan Hawking, Charles Darwin, etc.

Since there are so many blasphemous ones, I was wondering what their actually used for in the Catholic Church and how many Catholics actually had them.
 
malphono said:
If one looks at the images in the link and then does a google on “santeria candles” and looks at those images, one will notice that many of the candles are the same.
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Yes, they do look similar in design. Are the candles in the image I placed above completely Catholic or do they have santeria origins? I’m asking, because I’m interested in becoming Catholic one day, and I think those candles are nice, and thought about getting one, but I wanted to know what they were used for and their origins first. However, if they started in tribal beliefs I don’t really feel comfortable with that.
 
There’s some (understandable) confusion going on here.

Santería is a syncretic religion of a mixture of Catholicism and a mixture of Yoruba Religion (one of many Traditional African Religions) practiced by the Yoruba people of the present-day Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Nigeria.

When slaves from such places were taken to the New World by Portuguese and Spanish traders, they were brought to the Caribbean, where subsequent coercive conversion made them Catholics. As in the case of most coercive conversions, the Africans “hid” their native religion behind a Catholic facade. Old Yoruba gods became Catholic Saints. Their name(s) and/or images were changes to match a Catholic analogue, some Catholic terminology was borrowed, and voila you have what looks like Catholicism.

Santería is the modern evolution of such syncretism. It is not in any way part of genuine Catholicism. Santeros practice animal sacrifice, have female priestesses (iyalorichas), and sometimes use psychoactive drugs in divination. All of these practices are forbidden by Catholicism.

Given the syncretic nature of Santería it’s easy to get confused by a supposed genuine Catholic tradition and one of Santería since many of the externals are similar if not identical.

The Google search you provided shows (at least mostly) Catholic votive candles. you can tell this by the names of legitimate Saints on them.

Here are examples of strictly Santería candles:


Notice the African images and Lucumí (Yoruba liturgical language) names of their “Orichas” (“saints” or deities).

Nota bene: There are many religious supply stores in parts of the United States representing a large population of Santería practitioners, which call themselves “Catholic” bookstores, but serve both legitimate Catholic devotionals as well as those of Santería. Note the first candle in this picture (Santería) and the other two (Catholic) obviously taken at such a store:

http://0.static.wix.com/media/c09227f8331ece30c09c9e61cab42805.wix_mp_1024

Such stores usually refer to themselves as ‘botanicas’ as they also sell traditional herbal remedies.
 
Brandon_Cal said:
There’s some (understandable) confusion going on here.

Santería is a syncretic religion of a mixture of Catholicism and a mixture of Yoruba Religion (one of many Traditional African Religions) practiced by the Yoruba people of the present-day Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Nigeria.

When slaves from such places were taken to the New World by Portuguese and Spanish traders, they were brought to the Caribbean, where subsequent coercive conversion made them Catholics. As in the case of most coercive conversions, the Africans “hid” their native religion behind a Catholic facade. Old Yoruba gods became Catholic Saints. Their name(s) and/or images were changes to match a Catholic analogue, some Catholic terminology was borrowed, and voila you have what looks like Catholicism.

Santería is the modern evolution of such syncretism. It is not in any way part of genuine Catholicism. Santeros practice animal sacrifice, have female priestesses (iyalorichas), and sometimes use psychoactive drugs in divination. All of these practices are forbidden by Catholicism.

Given the syncretic nature of Santería it’s easy to get confused by a supposed genuine Catholic tradition and one of Santería since many of the externals are similar if not identical.

The Google search you provided shows (at least mostly) Catholic votive candles. you can tell this by the names of legitimate Saints on them.

Here are examples of strictly Santería candles:
http://www.papajimsbotanica.com/images/SANTERIA CANDLES.jpg

Notice the African images and Lucumí (Yoruba liturgical language) names of their “Orichas” (“saints” or deities).

Nota bene: There are many religious supply stores in parts of the United States representing a large population of Santería practitioners, which call themselves “Catholic” bookstores, but serve both legitimate Catholic devotionals as well as those of Santería. Note the first candle in this picture (Santería) and the other two (Catholic) obviously taken at such a store:

http://0.static.wix.com/media/c09227f8331ece30c09c9e61cab42805.wix_mp_1024

Such stores usually refer to themselves as ‘botanicas’ as they also sell traditional herbal remedies.
Click to expand...
Thank you for clearing that up. Are using these types of candles a legitimate Catholic practice? I’m sure the ones with African images aren’t, but what about the ones with legitimate saints on them? I’m asking, because at a grocery store here in town, if you go down the aisle with Mexican food, you’ll see these candles, but mixed in with them are Santa Muerte candles, which I know the Catholic Church doesn’t agree with, and I don’t either. I know they have some with legitimate saints in the store, I recall seeing a St. Jude one and Infant Jesus of Prague, would those be okay to buy? I don’t want anything that’s apart of Folk Catholicism and blasphemy in my house.

I looked up patron saint candles, and the Catholic Company has them, but I also noticed a few sites popped up talking about Santeria, the occult, and witchcraft.
 
malphono said:
If one looks at the images in the link and then does a google on “santeria candles” and looks at those images, one will notice that many of the candles are the same.
Click to expand...
Many are identical. The santarians (sp) use the images of Saints but they really Orishas pagan spirits.

Some of the candles sold at my local market seem to have no religious significance at all. Like El Mano Podoroso, money luck candles, love spell candles. They are on the same shelves as Saints candles, SACRED and Immaculate heart candles. You have to be very careful or end up in superstition.
 
andrewstx said:
Many are identical. The santarians (sp) use the images of Saints but they really Orishas pagan spirits.

Some of the candles sold at my local market seem to have no religious significance at all. Like El Mano Podoroso, money luck candles, love spell candles. They are on the same shelves as Saints candles, SACRED and Immaculate heart candles. You have to be very careful or end up in superstition.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I’m seeing that now. I think the best idea if I choose to buy one, would be to buy one from the Catholic Company, that seems like a pretty safe bet.
 
Darbie said:
Thank you for clearing that up. Are using these types of candles a legitimate Catholic practice? I’m sure the ones with African images aren’t, but what about the ones with legitimate saints on them? I’m asking, because at a grocery store here in town, if you go down the aisle with Mexican food, you’ll see these candles, but mixed in with them are Santa Muerte candles, which I know the Catholic Church doesn’t agree with, and I don’t either. I know they have some with legitimate saints in the store, I recall seeing a St. Jude one and Infant Jesus of Prague, would those be okay to buy? I don’t want anything that’s apart of Folk Catholicism and blasphemy in my house.

I looked up patron saint candles, and the Catholic Company has them, but I also noticed a few sites popped up talking about Santeria, the occult, and witchcraft.
Click to expand...
I would suggest buying from a catholic company if that would make you feel more comfy…😃

Buying from any store…you are right, you just donot know what you will get. 😃

And have you looked at varioud saints and have you found you can relate?
 
pablope said:
I would suggest buying from a catholic company if that would make you feel more comfy…😃

Buying from any store…you are right, you just donot know what you will get. 😃

And have you looked at varioud saints and have you found you can relate?
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Yes, I’ve looked at a few, I really love St. Joan of Arc, the more I learn about her, the more I have a special place in my heart for her.
 
Darbie said:
Yes, they do look similar in design. Are the candles in the image I placed above completely Catholic or do they have santeria origins? I’m asking, because I’m interested in becoming Catholic one day, and I think those candles are nice, and thought about getting one, but I wanted to know what they were used for and their origins first. However, if they started in tribal beliefs I don’t really feel comfortable with that.
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Here’s the thing. While physical objects clearly play a certain role in Catholic faith and tradition, they really have no meaning or value other than that which we place on them. Blessed medals are not ‘magic’ - they are items to help us express our faith. So, if you like the candles, and you want to buy one and light it when you say a prayer, go for it! The root of the tradition means nothing more than what you ascribe to it. It is your intention and your faith that matter.
 
I’m really sorry for having abandoned this thread. I hadn’t noticed the replies in my subscription list.
Darbie said:
Thank you for clearing that up. Are using these types of candles a legitimate Catholic practice? I’m sure the ones with African images aren’t, but what about the ones with legitimate saints on them? I’m asking, because at a grocery store here in town, if you go down the aisle with Mexican food, you’ll see these candles, but mixed in with them are Santa Muerte candles, which I know the Catholic Church doesn’t agree with, and I don’t either. I know they have some with legitimate saints in the store, I recall seeing a St. Jude one and Infant Jesus of Prague, would those be okay to buy? I don’t want anything that’s apart of Folk Catholicism and blasphemy in my house.
Click to expand...
I’m not actually Catholic (yet), I just know a lot about Santería, which is why I first joined this thread, so please corroborate everything I say. Anecdotally, I can tell you that the priest who was giving me instruction in conversion had a candle of St. Judas Thaddeus in his office which I found quite mesmerizing. I asked him where he got it and he told me “in the Hispanic aisle at Safeway!” I would assume from that that buying legitimate saint candles is OK for a Catholic to do at a non-Catholic venue. Places like grocery stores aren’t necessarily into the occult. They will simply provide any product for which there is a demand. I’d say you have a better chance of getting a legitimate candle from a major grocery store than you would at a botánica, where they pride themselves on Orishas paraphernalia.
I looked up patron saint candles, and the Catholic Company has them, but I also noticed a few sites popped up talking about Santeria, the occult, and witchcraft.
Click to expand...
Unless the price difference is significantly burdensome, I’d go with a tried and true Catholic company. They could use your patronage anyway, and you can then rest assured that you aren’t in any way supporting the occult. If by chance you find a particular candle which you cannot find anywhere else outside of a Santería store, you could always have the candle blessed by a priest once you purchase it. The Santería store will still generate a profit off of your purchase though, and you would still be, in some small way, indirectly supporting the occult. I would recommend talking to a Catholic cleric about this to ensure that you are not providing material cooperation in evil.
 
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