What happened to the votive candles?

[dans0622]

Electric sanctuary lamp??? Never heard of such a thing. Surely that’s highly illicit?

While the old law (1917 Code) stated that this lamp had to be fueled either by beeswax or vegetable oil, the 1983 Code simply says it is to be a “special lamp” that “burns continuously”–Latin phrase is perenniter luceat (canon 940). “Burns” (a term I would not associate with an electric light) is not the only way to translate luceat, though. It could just as easily say “shines.”

The bottom line is that I would contend that it is not illicit to have an electric light. The law doesn’t require wax or oil anymore.

Dan

 

[dans0622]

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?

Yes.

They aren’t everywhere, though, and were even banned (for a time, at least) in the diocese of Rome:

anotherbrickinthelaw.blogspot.com/2015/05/no-votive-candles-allowed.html

Dan

 

[DAML72]

Yes! We do! A few years ago our pastor replaced the electric votives placed before the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph with a whole new system. They are tiny little candles that drop down out of the holder into a drawer full of water once they melt down to a certain point. They don’t burn for very long, but it is so nice to have them.

 

[Red_James]

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.

I know its a shame. A lot of the parishes I visited when vacationing in Europe had real votive candles. Insurance policies…But what can you do

 

[babochka]

Yes! We do! A few years ago our pastor replaced the electric votives placed before the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph with a whole new system. They are tiny little candles that drop down out of the holder into a drawer full of water once they melt down to a certain point. They don’t burn for very long, but it is so nice to have them.

That is a great idea!

 

[babochka]

My parish also has votive candles. We have 7-day candles, plus 1-hour beeswax tapers that are placed in sand, to burn during the Divine Liturgy.

Most parishes I’ve been to have some votive candles and I’ve only seen electric a few times.

 

[pianistclare]

The insurance carrier for this Archdiocese has outlawed candles in the Catholic schools, but they can’t forbid candles for liturgical use. Although some churches use oil lamp style candles. Still a real flame. Our pastor says there is something about having a candle burn all the way down, that reminds him of prayers that have been offered.
The reason pastors in places that have electric ones because the days of the little old lady sacristan hanging around for hours scraping those little glass holders of the dripped and hardened wax is over. It was a thankless and messy job, God bless them,
However, you can get around the audit re wax votive banks by installing a hard non-flammable mat under the candle stand. We did.

 

[baliano]

I attend three churches regularly, all three have a votive candle area, generally fire safe. A fourth I used to attend, an FSSP Chaplaincy, did not have votive candles.

 

[Sunbreak]

Yes, we have real votive candles at either side of the church in front of statues. I don’t know if all parishes around here have them but many do. I haven’t seen any electric votives in this area.