What happened to the votive candles?

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CyrilSebastian

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One of the retired Catholic gentlemen recently wondered what happened to the votive candles in the church. He does not see any.
Does your church have votive candles?
 
CyrilSebastian said:
One of the retired Catholic gentlemen recently wondered what happened to the votive candles in the church. He does not see any.
Does your church have votive candles?
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Yes. I couldn’t imagine it without them.
 
My parish has them, but it is unusual in my diocese, in part due to insurance issues.

Many municipalities have passed codes that prohibit the use of candles or put strict requirements on their usage. Insurance rates can be higher and many parishes don’t want to spend what can be significant amount of money they might not have.
 
Both parishes I’m active in still have them, though to a more limited degree than back in the day. I have (sadly) seen churches with electric votives, but I think those are an abomination. I’m sure it’ll only take one fire in the diocese to end votives all together.
 
Yes, by all the statues, although they are electric for insurance purposes. The only exception is the one by the Tabernacle.
 
By the saints in the church, we have racks of 7-day votives. I have visited several parishes in the local diocese, they all have votives. One of those exclusively in the narthex of the day chapel. Local Eastern Orthodox use long slim tapers of natural beeswax and place them in holders or a box with sand.
 
I’ve been in this parish since 1997 and only in the past 2 years have we had votive candles, real ones too. Since the Sanctuary Lamp was changed to electric around 2000, it’s unusual to have lit candles in church outside of Mass.
 
Our parish does not and apparently never did, though many neighboring parishes do.
 
Phemie said:
I’ve been in this parish since 1997 and only in the past 2 years have we had votive candles, real ones too. Since the Sanctuary Lamp was changed to electric around 2000, it’s unusual to have lit candles in church outside of Mass.
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Electric sanctuary lamp??? Never heard of such a thing. Surely that’s highly illicit?
 
We have several locations in our parish for prayer and lighting a candle.
 
twf said:
Electric sanctuary lamp??? Never heard of such a thing. Surely that’s highly illicit?
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That was my reaction, but I was informed that it needed to be that way for insurance purposes.
 
My parish has electric votive candles in the back of the Church and by statues. However, I’ve seen electric votive candles in all the parishes I’ve visited in my diocese. I live in a city, so I’m guessing the fire codes are pretty strict about these candles, hence why I haven’t seen non-electrical votive candles.
As per the Tabernacle candle, candles on the altar, and candles next to the crucifix, they are all real.
 
Red_James said:
My parish has electric votive candles in the back of the Church and by statues. However, I’ve seen electric votive candles in all the parishes I’ve visited in my diocese. I live in a city, so I’m guessing the fire codes are pretty strict about these candles, hence why I haven’t seen non-electrical votive candles.
As per the Tabernacle candle, candles on the altar, and candles next to the crucifix, they are all real.
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I am not certain whether electric votive candles are licit (I imagine they technically are as it isn’t a liturgical matter) - certainly the altar candles MUST be real candles - but I would much rather see no votive candles at all than electric stand-ins. You lose the ancient, rich symbolism of burning beeswax candles, but it just seems so tacky.
 
Phemie said:
That was my reaction, but I was informed that it needed to be that way for insurance purposes.
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Ouch. Even one well protected lamp? I’ve seen parishes phase out votive candles (though many still have them), but never the sanctuary lamp (and replacing it with an electric light is essentially “phasing it out”). Just watch someone suggest the Easter Vigil paschal candle be replaced with a big flashlight.
 
Yes and no: our parish has two churches and a chapel. One of the churches is made of stone, the other two structures out of wood. The stone church has taper-style “votives” and a candle sanctuary lamp. The wooden church and chapel have electric sanctuary lamps and no votives. Insurance reasons.

The churches I know of in the archdiocese that have votives, including the cathedral, are open all day and extinguish the votives when they close. They’re then relit the following morning shortly before reopening. Sorta defeats the purpose IMO, but I guess it’s better than not having any in the first place. 🤷
 
twf said:
Ouch. Even one well protected lamp? I’ve seen parishes phase out votive candles (though many still have them), but never the sanctuary lamp (and replacing it with an electric light is essentially “phasing it out”). Just watch someone suggest the Easter Vigil paschal candle be replaced with a big flashlight.
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I only know of three churches in my archdiocese that have flame-based (non-electric) sanctuary lamps.

The Paschal candle is different because it’s not left burning when no one is around.
 
My parish has votive candles as do most of the parishes in my area.
UpUpAndAway said:
Yes and no: our parish has two churches and a chapel. One of the churches is made of stone, the other two structures out of wood. The stone church has taper-style “votives” and a candle sanctuary lamp. The wooden church and chapel have electric sanctuary lamps and no votives. Insurance reasons.

The churches I know of in the archdiocese that have votives, including the cathedral, are open all day and extinguish the votives when they close. They’re then relit the following morning shortly before reopening. Sorta defeats the purpose IMO, but I guess it’s better than not having any in the first place. 🤷
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I was thinking the material used makes a difference. This is another reason to favor stone and more traditional building.

Also, if this is an insurance issue maybe it would be better for the Catholic Church in the US to pursue other ways to insure property. Maybe a Catholic insurance fund? The Amish don’t believe in insurance. They believe in taking care of their own. They are even exempt from Social Security. Rather than lose something that it seems to me is part of Catholic identity maybe another way to cover loss should be pursued.
 
twf said:
Electric sanctuary lamp??? Never heard of such a thing. Surely that’s highly illicit?
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It is something that the local bishop can give permission for. The chapel in a local Catholic hospital is an example.

The use of oxygen in the hospital precludes the presence of open flame, so our bishop has given permission for an electric light to be present by the tabernacle.
 
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