Online Encyclopedia

CEREMONIAL USE OF LIGHTS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 679 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

CEREMONIAL USE OF

LIGHTS  . The ceremonial use of lights in the Christian Church, with which this article is mainly concerned, probably has a double origin: in a very natural symbolism, and in the adaptation of certain pagan and Jewish
See also:
rites and customs of which the symbolic meaning was Christianized .
See also:
Light is every-where the symbol of joy and of
See also:
life-giving power, as darkness is of
See also:
death and destruction . Fire, the most mysterious and impressive of the elements, the giver of light and of all the good things of life, is a thing sacred and adorable in
See also:
primitive religions, and fire-worship still has its place in two at least of the
See also:
great religions of the
See also:
world . The Parsis adore fire as the visible expression of Ahura-Mazda, the eternal principle of light and righteousness; the Brahmans worship it as divine and omniscient.' The
See also:
Hindu festival of Dewali (Diyawali, from diya, light), when temples and houses are illuminated with countless lamps, is held every November to celebrate Lakhshmi, the goddess of prosperity . In the ritual of the Jewish temple fire and light played a conspicuous
See also:
part . In the
See also:
Holy of Holies was a " cloud of light " (
See also:
shekinah), symbolical of the presence of Yahweh, and before it stood the
See also:
candlestick with six branches, on each of which and on the central stem was a lamp eternally burning; while in the forecourt was an altar on which the sacred fire was never allowed to go out . Similarly the Jewish synagogues have each their eternal lamp; while in the religion of
See also:
Islam lighted lamps mark things and places specially holy; thus the Ka'ba at Mecca is illuminated by thousands of lamps
See also:
hanging from the gold and
See also:
silver rods that connect the columns of the surrounding
See also:
colonnade . The Greeks and Romans, too, had their sacred fire and their ceremonial lights . In
See also:
Greece the Lampadedromia or Lampade- _ phoria (torch-
See also:
race) had its origin in ceremonies
See also:
Con-Gre an Rome. nected with the relighting of the sacred fire .
See also:
Pausanias (i . 26, § 6) mentions the
See also:
golden lamp made by
See also:
Callimachus which burned
See also:
night and day in the sanctuary of Athena Polies on the Acropolis, and (vii .

22, §§ 2 and 3) tells of a statue of

Hermes Agoraios, in the market-place of Pharae in
See also:
Achaea, " 0 Fire, thou knowest all things ! " See A . Bourquin, " Brahma-
See also:
karma, ou rites sacres
See also:
des Brahmans," in the Annales du Musee Guimet (Paris, 1884, t. vii.).before which lamps were lighted . Among the Romans lighted candles and lamps formed part of the cult of the domestic tutelary deities; on all festivals doors were garlanded and lamps lighted (Juvenal, Sat. xii . 92; Tertullian, Apol.
See also:
xxxv.) . In the cult of Isis lamps were lighted by day . In the ordinary temples were candelabra, e.g. that in the temple of Apollo Palatinus at Rome, originally taken by Alexander from Thebes, which was in the form of a tree from the branches of which lights hung like fruit . In comparing pagan with Christian usage it is important to remember that the lamps in the pagan temples were not symbolical, but votive offerings to the gods . Torches and lamps were also carried in religious processions . The pagan custom of burying lamps with the dead conveyed no such sylhbolical meaning as was implied in the
See also:
late Christian custom of placing lights on and about the tombs of martyrs and saints . Its
See also:
object was to provide the Funeral /amps . dead with the means of obtaining light in the next world, a wholly material conception; and the lamps were for the most part unlighted .

It was of

See also:
Asiatic origin, traces of it having been observed in
See also:
Phoenicia and in the Punic colonies, but not in
See also:
Egypt or Greece . In
See also:
Europe it was confined to the countries under the domination of Rome.2 In
See also:
Christianity, from the very first, fire and light are conceived as symbols, if not as visible manifestations, of the divine nature and the divine presence . Christ is " the true Light " (John i . 9), and at his transfiguration " the fashion Christian of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was sofIishtlighi m . white and glistering " (Luke ix . 29); when the Holy Ghost descended upon the apostles, " there appeared unto them cloven tongues of fire, and it sat upon each of them" (Acts ii . 3); at the conversion of St Paul " there shined round him a great light from heaven " (Acts ix . 3); while the glorified Christ is represented as
See also:
standing " in the midst of seven candle-sticks . . . his head and hairs white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes as a flame of fire " (Rev. i . 14, 15) . Christians are " children of Light " at perpetual war with " the powers of darkness." All this might very early, without the incentive of Jewish and pagan example, have affected the symbolic ritual of the primitive Church . There is, however, no evidence of any ceremonial use of lights in Christian worship durin The early Y g chum, .

the first two centuries . It is recorded, indeed (Acts xx . 7, 8), that on the occasion of St Paul's

preaching at Alexandria in Troas " there were many lights in the upper chamber "; but this was at night. and the most that can be hazarded is that a specially large number were lighted as a festive
See also:
illumination, as in
See also:
modern Church festivals (Martigny,
See also:
Diet. des antigi . Chret.) . As to a purely ceremonial use, such early evidence as exists is all the other way . A single sentence of Tertullian (Apol. xxxv.) sufficiently illuminates Christian practice during the end century . " On days of rejoicing," he says, " we do not shade our door-posts with laurels nor encroach upon the day-light with lamps " (die laeto non laurels postes obumbramus nec lucernis diem infringimus) . Lactantius, writing early in the 4th century, is even more sarcastic in his references to the
See also:
heathen practice . " They kindle lights," he says, " as though to one who is in darkness . Can he be thought sane who offers the light of lamps and candles to the Author and Giver of all light?" (Div . Inst. vi. de vero cultu, cap . 2, in Migne, Pair.
See also:
lat. vi .

637).' This is primarily an attack on votive lights, and does not necessarily exclude their ceremonial use in other ways . There is, indeed, evidence that they were so used before Lactantius wrote . The 34th

See also:
canon of the synod of Elvira (305), which was contemporary with him, forbade candles to be lighted in cemeteries during the daytime, which points to an established custom as well as to an objection to it; and in the
See also:
Roman catacombs lamps have been found of the end and 3rd centuries which seem to have 2 J . Toutain, in Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire, s.v . " Lucerne." 3 This is quoted with approval by Bishop jewel in the
See also:
homily Against Peril of
See also:
Idolatry (see below) . Nos:-Christian religions . Tertulllaa and Laotantius, been ceremonial or symbolical.' Again, according to the Ada of St Cyprian (d . 258), his
See also:
body was borne to the
See also:
grave prae- lucentibus cereis, and Prudentius, in his hymn on the 2nd and martyrdom of St Lawrence (Peristeph. ii . 71, in Migne, 3rd auiea . Patr. lat . Ix . 300), says that in the time of St cen Laurentius, i.e. the
See also:
middle of the 3rd century, candles stood in the churches of Rome on golden candelabra .

The

gift, mentioned by
See also:
Anastasius (in Sylv.), made by
See also:
Constantine to the Vatican
See also:
basilica, of a pharum of gold, garnished with 500 dolphins each holding a lamp, to burn before St Peter's tomb, points also to a custom well established before Christianity became the state religion . Whatever previous custom may have been—and for the earliest ages it is difficult to determine absolutely owing to the fact that the Christians held their services at night—by the close of the 4th century the ceremonial use of lights had become firmly and universally established in the Church . This is clear, to pass by much other evidence, from the controversy of St Jerome with Vigilantius . Vigilantius, a presbyter of
See also:
Barcelona, still occupied the position of Tertullian and Lactantius in this
See also:
matter . " We see," he wrote, " a rite
See also:
peculiar to the pagans introduced into the churches on pretext of religion, and, while the sun is still shining, a mass of
See also:
wax tapers lighted . . . A great honour to the blessed martyrs, whom they think to illustrate with contemptible little candles (de silissimis cereolis) 1 " Jerome, the most influential theologian of the day, took up the cudgels against Vigilantius (he " ought to be called Dormitantius "), who, in spite of his fatherly admonition, had dared again " to open his foul mouth and send forth a filthy stink against the relics of the holy martyrs " (Hier . Ep. cix. al . 53—ad Ripuarium Presbyt., in Migne, Patr. lat. p . 906) . If candles are lit before their tombs, are these the ensigns of idolatry ? In his
See also:
treatise contra Vigilantium (Pair. lat. t.
See also:
xxiii.) he answers the question with much
See also:
common sense .

There can be no harm if ignorant and

See also:
simple
See also:
people, or religious
See also:
women, light candles in honour of the martyrs . ' We are not born, but reborn, Christians," and that which when done for idols was detestable is acceptable when done for the martyrs . As in the case of the woman with the precious box of ointment, it is not the gift that merits
See also:
reward, but the faith that inspires it . As for lights in the churches, he adds that " in all the churches of the East, whenever the gospel is to be read, lights are lit, though the sun be rising (jam
See also:
sole rutilante), not in order to disperse the darkness, but as a visible sign of gladness (ad signiori laetitiae demonstrandum)." Taken in connexion with a statement which almost immediately precedes this—" Cereos autem non clara lace accendimus, sicut frustra calumniaris: sed ut nOctis tenebras hoc solatio temperemus " (§ 7)—this seems to point to the fact that the ritual use of lights in the church services, so far as already established, arose from the same conservative habit as determined the development of liturgical
See also:
vestments, i.e. the lights which had been necessary at the nocturnal meetings were retained, after the hours of service had been altered, and invested with a symbolical meaning . Already they were used at most of the conspicuous functions of the Church . Paulinus, bishop of
See also:
Nola (d . 431), describes the altar at the eucharist as " crowned with crowded lights," and even mentions the " eternal lamp." 3 For their use at baptisms we have, among much other evidence, that of
See also:
Zeno of Verona for the West,4 and that of Gregory of Nazianzus for the East.' Their use at funerals is illustrated by Eusebius's description of the
See also:
burial of Con- stantine,6 and Jerome's account of that of St Paula.' At ordinations they were used, as is shown by the 6th canon of the council of Carthage (398), which decrees that the acolyte is to hand to the newly ordained deacon ceroferarium cum cereo . 1 This symbolism—whatever it was—was not pagan, i,e. the lamps were not placed in the graves as part of the furniture of the dead—in the Catacombs they are found only in the niches of the galleries and the arcosolia—nor can they have been votive in the sense popularized later . " Clara coronantur densis altaria lychnis " (Poem . De S . Felice natalitium, xiv . 99, in Migne, Patr, lat .

1xi . 467) . " Continuum scyphus est argenteus aptus ad usum." " Sal, ignis et oleum " (

See also:
Lib. i . Tract. xiv . 4, in Migne, xi . 358) . ' In sanct . Pasch. c . 2 ; Migne, Patr. graeca,
See also:
xxxvi . 624) . ct41ra 1,4637E5 KbKXC, hrl OKEVWY xpuo v, Bauµavrdv BEaua. rou56piri rapfiXoV (Vita Constantini, iv . 66) .

I" Cum alii Pontifices lampadhs cereosque proferrent, alii choras psallentium ducerent " (Ep. cviii. ad Eustochium virginem, in Migne) . As to the blessing of candles, according to the

See also:
Liber pontificals Pope
See also:
Zosimus in 417 ordered these to be blessed,s and the Gallican and Mozarabic rituals also provided for this ceremony ? The Feast of the
See also:
Purification of the Virgin, known as Candlemas (q.v.), because on this day the candles for the whole
See also:
year are blessed, was established—according to some authorities-by Pope
See also:
Gelasius I. about 492 . As to the question of "altar lights," however, it must be borne in mind that these were not placed upon the altar, or on a retable behind it, until the 12th century . These were originally the candles carried by the deacons, according to the Ordo
See also:
Romanus (i . 8; ii . 5; iii . 7) seven in number, which were set down either on the steps of the altar, or, later, behind it . In the Eastern Church, to this day, there are no lights on the high altar; the lighted candles stand on a small altar beside it, and at various parts of the service are carried by the lectors or acolytes before the officiating priest or deacon . The " crowd of lights " described by Paulinus as crowning the altar were either grouped round it or suspended in front of it; they are represented by the sanctuary lamps of the Latin Church and by the
See also:
crown of lights suspended in front of the altar in the Greek . To trace the gradual elaboration of the symbolism and use of ceremonial lights in the Church, until its full development and systematization in the middle ages, would be impossible here . It must suffice to note a few stages in Ocvelop- the
See also:
process .

The burning of lights before the tombs meathet of use . of martyrs led naturally to their being burned also before relics and lastly before images and pictures . This latter practice, hotly denounced as idolatry during the iconoclastic controversy (see ICONOCLASM), was finally established as orthodox by the second

general council of Nicaea (787), which restored the worship of images . A later development, however, by which certain lights themselves came to be regarded as
See also:
objects of worship and to have other lights burned before them, was condemned as idolatrous by the synod of
See also:
Noyon in 1344.10 The passion for symbolism extracted ever new meanings out of the candles and their use . Early in the 6th century Ennodius, bishop of Pavia, pointed out the three-
See also:
fold elements of a wax-candle (Opusc. ix. and x.), each of which would make it an offering acceptable to
See also:
God; the rush-
See also:
wick is the product of pure
See also:
water, the wax is the offspring of virgin bees," the flame is sent from heaven." Clearly, wax was a symbol of the Blessed Virgin and the holy humanity of Christ . The later middle ages
See also:
developed the idea . Durandus, in his Rationale, interprets the wax as the body of Christ, the wick as his soul, the flame as his divine nature; and the consuming candle as symbolizing his passion and death . s This may be the paschal candle only . In some codices the text runs: " Per parochias concessit licentiam benedicendi Cereum Paschalem " (Du Cange, Glossarium, s.v . " Cereum Paschale ") . In the three variants of the
See also:
notice of Zosimus given in Duchesne's edition of the Lib. pontif . (,886–,892) the word cera is, however, alone used .

Nor does the text imply that he gave to the suburbican churches a

See also:
privilege hitherto exercised by the metropolitan church . The passage runs: " Hic constituit ut diaconi leva tecta haberent de panels linostimis per parrochias et ut cera benedicatur," &c . Per parrochias here obviously refers to the head-gear of the deacons, not to the candles . a See also the Peregrinatio Sylviae (386), 86, &c., for the use of lights at Jerusalem, and Isidore of Seville (Etym. vii . 12; xx. io) for the usage in the West . That even in the 7th century the blessing of candles was by no means universal is proved by the 9th canon of the council offToledo (6704" De benedicendo cereo et lucerna in privilegiis Paschae." This canon states that candles and lamps are not blessed in some churches, and that inquiries have been made why we do it . In reply, the council decides that it should be done to celebrate the mystery of Christ's resurrection . See Isidore of Seville, Conc., in Migne, Pat. lat. lxxxiv . 369 . to Du Cange, Glossarium, s.v . " Candela.' " Bees were believed, like fish, to be sexless . Venerandis compactam elementis facem tibi, Domine, mancipamus: in qua trium copula munerum primum de impart numero complacebit: quae quod gratis Deo veniat auctoribus, non habetur incertum: unum quod de fetibus fluminum accedunt nutrimenta flammarum: aliud quod apum tribuit intemerata fecunditas, in quarum partibus nulla partitur damna virginitas: ignis etiam coelo infusus adhibetur " (Opusc. x. in Migne, Patr. lat. t. lxiii.) .

Jerome and Vlailanthrs . Practice In the 4th century . Eastern Church . In the completed ritual

See also:
system of the
See also:
medieval Church, as still preserved in the Roman Catholic communion, the use of ceremonial In the lights falls under three heads . (I) They may be sym- Roman bolical of the light of God's presence, of Christ as " Light Catholic of Light," or of." the children of Light " in conflict with Church. the powers of darkness; they may even be no more than expressions of joy on the occasion of great festivals . (2) They may be votive, i.e. offered as an act of worship (latria) to God . (3) They are, in virtue of their benediction by the Church, sacramentalia, i.e. efficacious for the good of men's souls and bodies, and for the confusion of the powers of darkness.' With one or more of these implications, they are employed in all the public functions of the Church . At the consecration of a church twelve Dedkatioa lights are placed round the walls at the twelve spots where these are anointed by the bishop with holy oil, of a and on every anniversary these are relighted; at the church. dedication of an altar tapers are lighted and tensed at each place where the table is anointed (Pontificate Rom. p. ii . De eccl. dedicat. seu consecrat.) . At every liturgical service, and especially at Mass and at choir services, there must be at least At Mass two lighted tapers on the altar,' as symbols of the presence of God and tributes of adoration . For the Mass the and choir
See also:
rule is that there are six lights at High Mass, four at a services. missa cantata, and two at private masses . At a Pontifical High Mass (i.e. when the bishop celebrates) the lights are seven, because seven golden candlesticks surround the risen Saviour, the chief bishop of the Church (see Rev. i .

I2) . At most pontifical functions, moreover, the bishop—as the representative of Christ—is preceded by an acolyte with a burning candle (bugia) on a candle-stick . The Ceremoniale Episco,orum (i . 12) further orders that a burning lamp is to hang at all times before each altar, three in front Sanctuary of the high altar, and five before the reserved

See also:
Sacrament, as symbols of the eternal Presence . In practice, how-lamps. ever, it is usual to have only one lamp lighted before the tabernacle in which the
See also:
Host is reserved . The
See also:
special symbol of the real presence of Christ is the Sanctus candle, which is lighted Symbol at the moment of consecration and kept burning until "the the communion . The same symbolism is intended by Real the lighted tapers which must accompany the Host whenever it is carried in procession, or to the sick and Presence. dying . As symbols of light and joy a candle is held on each side of the deacon when
See also:
reading the Gospel at Mass; and the same symbolism underlies the multiplication of lights on festivals, their number varying with the importance of the occasion . As to the number of these latter no rule is laid down . They differ from liturgical lights in that, whereas these must be tapers of pure beeswax or lamps fed with pure olive oil (except by special
See also:
dispensation under certain circumstances), those used merely to add splendour to the celebration may be of any material; the only exception being, that in the decoration of the altar
See also:
gas-lights are forbidden . In general the ceremonial use of lights in the Roman Catholic Church is conceived as a dramatic representation in fire of the life Tenebrae. of Christ and of the whole scheme of salvation . On
See also:
Easter
See also:
Eve the new fire, symbol of the light of the newly risen Christ, is produced, and from this are kindled all the lights used throughout the Christian year until, in the gathering darkness (tene- brae) of the Passion, they are gradually extinguished .

This quenching of the light of the world is symbolized at the service of Tenebrae in Holy

Week by the placing on a stand before the altar of thirteen lighted tapers arranged pyramidally, the rest of the church being in darkness . The penitential psalms are sung, and at the end of each a candle is extinguished . When only the central one is
See also:
left it is taken down and carried behind the altar, thus symbolizing the ' All three conceptions are brought out in the prayers for the blessing of candles on the Feast of the Purification of the B.V.M . (Candlemas, q.v.) . (I) " O holy Lord, . . . who . . by the command didst cause this liquid to come by the labour of bees to the perfection of wax, . . . we beseech thee . . . to bless and sanctify these candles for the use of men, and the
See also:
health of bodies and souls .... " (2) " . . . these candles, which we thy servants
See also:
desire to carry lighted to magnify thy name; that by offering them to thee, being worthily inflamed with the holy fire of thy most sweet charity, we may deserve," &c . (3) " 0 Lord Jesus Christ, the true light, ..

. mercifully

grant, that as these lights enkindled with visible fire dispel nocturnal darkness, so our
See also:
hearts illumined by invisible fire," &c . (Missale Rom.) . In the form for the blessing of candles extra diem Purifications B . Mariae Virg. the virtue of the consecrated candles in discomfiting demons is specially brought out: " that in whatever places they may be lighted, or placed, the princes of darkness may depart, and tremble, and may fly terror-stricken with all their ministers from those habitations, nor presume further to disquiet 'and molest those who serve thee, Almighty God " (Rituale Rom.) . Altar candlesticks consist of five parts: the
See also:
foot, stem, knob in the centre, bowl to catch the drippings, and pricket (a sharp point on which the candle is fixed) . It is permissible to use a long tube, pointed to imitate a candle, in which is a small taper forced to the top by a spring (Con . Rit., 1 Ith May 1878).betrayal and the death and burial of Christ . This ceremony can be traced to the 8th century at Rome . On Easter Eve new fire is made a with a flint and steel, and blessed; from this three candles are lighted, the lumen Christi, and from these again the Paschal Candle.* This is the symbol of the risen and victorious Christ, and burns at PasThechal every solemn service until Ascension Day, when it is extinguished and removed after the reading of the Gospel Candle. at High Mass . This, of course, symbolizes the Ascension; but meanwhile the other lamps in the church have received their light from the Paschal Candle, and 'so symbolize throughout the year the continued presence of the light of Christ . At the consecration of the baptismal water the burning Paschal Candle is dipped into the font ' so that the power of the Holy Ghost may descend into it and make it an effective
See also:
Baptism. instrument of regeneration." This is the symbol of baptism as rebirth as children of Light . Lighted tapers are also placed in the hands of the newly-baptized, or of their god-parents, with the admonition " to preserve their baptism inviolate, so that they may go to meet the Lord when he comes to the
See also:
wedding." Thus, too, as " children of Light," candidates for ordina- ordination and novices about to take the vows carry lights
See also:
lien, eta when they come before the bishop; and the same Idea underlies the custom of carrying lights at weddings, at the first communion, and by priests going to their first mass, though none of these are liturgically prescribed .

Finally, lights are placed round the bodies of the dead and carried beside them to the Funeral grave, partly as symbols that they still live in the light lights . of Christ, partly to frighten away the powers of darkness . Conversely, the extinction of lights is part of the ceremony of

excommunication (Pontificate Rom. pars iii.) . Regiro, abbot of Prum, describes the ceremony as it was carried out in his day, when, its terrors were yet unabated (De
See also:
eccles. disciplina, ii . 409) . " Twelve priests should stand about the bishop, holding in their hands lighted torches, which at the con- clusion of the anathema or excommunication they should cast down and trample under foot." When the excommunication is removed, the symbol of reconciliation is the handing to the penitent of a burning taper . As a result of the Reformation the use of ceremonial lights was either greatly modified, or totally abolished in the
See also:
Protestant Churches . In the Reformed (Calvinistic) Churches Protestan altar lights were, with the rest, done away with entirely Churches ! . as popish and superstitious . In the Lutheran Churches they were retained, and in Evangelical Germany have even survived most of the other medieval rites and ceremonies (e.g. the use of vestments) which were not abolished at the Reformation itself . In the Church of England the practice has been less consistent . The first Prayer-
See also:
book of
See also:
Edward VI. directed two lights to be placed on the altar .

This direction was omitted in the second Prayer-book; but the " Ornaments

Rubric " church of of Queen Elizabeth's Prayer-book seemed again England. to make them obligatory . The question of how far this did so is a much-disputed one and is connected with the whole problem of the meaning and scope of the rubric (see VESTMENTS) . An equal uncertainty reigns with regard to the actual usage of the Church of England from the Reformation onwards . Lighted candles certainly continued to decorate the holy table in Queen Elizabeth's
See also:
chapel, to tl-e
See also:
scandal of Protestant zealots . They also seem to have been retained, at least for a while, in certain
See also:
cathedral and collegiate churches . There is, however, no mention of ceremonial candles in the detailed account of the services of the Church of England given by William Harrison (Description of England, 1$70); and the attitude of the Church towards their use, until the ritualistic
See also:
movement of the 17th century, would seem to be authoritatively expressed• in the Third Part of the Sermon against Peril of Idolatry, which quotes with approval the views of Lactantius and compares " our Candle Religion" $ This is common to the Eastern Church also . Pilgrims from all parts of the East
See also:
flock to Jerusalem to obtain the ' new fire " on Easter Eve at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre . Here the fire is supposed to be miraculously sent from heaven . The rush of the pilgrims to kindle their lights at it is so great, that order is maintained with difficulty by
See also:
Mahommedan soldiers . * The origin of the Paschal Candle is lost in the mists of antiquity . According to the abbe Chgtelain (quoted in Diderot's Encyclopedie, s.v . " Cierge ") the Paschal Candle was not originally a candle at all, but a wax column on which the
See also:
dates of the movable feasts were inscribed .

These were later written on

paper and fixed to the Paschal Candle, a custom which in his day survived in the Cluniac churches . Excommaakation . with the " Gentiles Idolators." This pronouncement, indeed, Rom . Alterthiimer), ii . 238-301 ; article " Cierges et lampes," in the though it certainly condemns the use of ceremonial lights in Abbe J . A . Martigny's Dict. des Antiquites Chritiennes (Paris, 1868) ; most of its later developments, and especially the conception the articles Lichter " and Koimetarien " (pp . 834 seq ) in Herzog-most Hauck's Realencyklopadie (3rd ed.,
See also:
Leipzig . 1901) ; the article of them as votive offerings whether to God or to the saints, " Licht " in Wetzer and Welte's Kirchenlexikon (
See also:
Freiburg-i.-B., does not necessarily exclude, though it undoubtedly discourages, 1882-1901), an excellent exposition of' the symbolism from the their purely symbolical used In this connexion it is worth Catholic point of view, also " Kerze" and " Lichter"; W . Smith pointing out that the homily against idolatry was reprinted, and S . Cheetham, Dict. of Chi .. Antiquities (
See also:
London, 1875-188o), i .

939 seq.; in all these numerous further references will be found . without alteration and by the

king's authority, long after altar See also Miihlbauer, Gesch. u . Bedeutung der Wachslichter bei den lights had been restored under the influence of the high church kirchlichen Funktionen (Augsburg, 1874) ; V . Thalhofer, Handbuch party supreme at court . Illegal under the Act of Uniformity der Katholischen Liturgik (Freiburg-i.-B., 1887), i . 666 seq.; and, they to have been . The use of "wax lights and for the
See also:
post-Reformation use in the Church of England, Hierurgia seem never Anglecana, new ed. by Vernon Staley (London, 1903) . (W . A . P.) tapers " formed one of the indictments brought by P . Smart, LIGNE, CHARLES JOSEPH, PRINCE DE (1735-1814), soldier a Puritan prebendary of Durham, against Dr Burgoyne, Cosin and others for setting up " superstitious ceremonies " in the and writer, came of a princely
See also:
family of Hainaut, and was born a cathedral " contrary to the Act of Uniformity." The indict at Brussels in 1735 . As an
See also:
Austrian subject he entered the ments were dismissed in 1628 by
See also:
Sir James Whitelocke, chief imperial army at an early age .

He distinguished himself by

justice of Chester and a judge of the King's Bench, and in 1629 his valour in the Seven Years' War, notably at Breslau,
See also:
Leuthen, by Sir Henry Yelverton, a judge of Common Pleas and himself Hochkirch and Maxon, and after the war rose rapidly to the a strong Puritan (see Hierurgia Anglicana, ii pp . 230 seq.) . The rank of
See also:
lieutenant field marshal . He became the intimate use of ceremonial lights was among the indictments in the friend and counsellor of the emperor Joseph II., and, inheriting impeachment of Laud and other bishops by the House of his
See also:
father's vast estates, lived in the greatest splendour and
See also:
Commons, but these were not based on the Act of Uniformity. luxury till the War of the Bavarian Succession brought him From the Restoration onwards the use of ceremonial lights, again into active service . This war was short and uneventful, though far from universal, was not unusual in cathedrals and and the prince then travelled in England, Germany, Italy, collegiate churches ? It was not, however, till the ritual revival
See also:
Switzerland and France, devoting himself impartially to the of the 19th century that their use was at all widely extended courts, the camps, the salons and the learned assemblies of in parish churches . The growing custom met with fierce opposi- Philosophers and scientists in each country . In 1784 he was tion; the law was appealed to, and in 1872 the Privy Council again employed in military
See also:
work, and was promoted to Feldzeugdeclared altar lights to be illegal (Martin v . Mackonochie). moister . In 1787 he was with Catherine II. in Russia, ac-This
See also:
judgment, founded as was afterwards admitted on insufficient colnpanied her in her journey to the Crimea, and was made knowledge, produced no effect; and, in the absence of any a
See also:
Russian field marshal by the empress . In 1788 he was
See also:
present authoritative pronouncement,
See also:
advantage was taken of the at the siege of Belgrade . Shortly after this he was invited ambiguous language of the Ornaments Rubric to introduce to place himself at the head of the Belgian revolutionary move-into many churches practically the whole ceremonial use of ment, in which one of his sons and many of his relatives were lights as practised in the pre-Reformation Church .

The matter prominent, but declined with great

courtesy, saying that he again raised in the case of Read and others v. the Bishop never revolted in the winter." Though suspected by Joseph was of Lincoln (see LINCOLN JUDGMENT), one of the
See also:
counts of the of collusion with the rebels, the two friends were not long es-indictment being that the bishop had, during the celebration tranged, and after the death of the emperor the prince remained of Holy Communion, allowed two candles to be alight on a shelf in Vienna . His Brabant estates were overrun by the French or retable behind the communion table when they were not in 1792-1793, and his eldest son killed in
See also:
action at La Croix-du-The necessary for giving light . The archbishop of Canter- Bois in the
See also:
Argonne (September 14, 1792) . He was given the "Lincoln bury, in whose court the case was heard (1889), decided rank of field marshal (1809) and an honorary command at court, Judge that the mere presence of two candles on the table, living in spite of the loss of his estates in
See also:
comparative luxury
See also:
meat." burning during the service but lit before it began, and devoting himself to
See also:
literary work . He lived long enough was lawful under the first Prayer-Book of Edward VI. and had to characterize the proceedings of the congress of Vienna with never been made unlawful . On the case being appealed to the the famous mot: Le Congres danse mais ne marche pas . Privy Council, this particular indictment was dismissed on the He died at Vienna on the 13th of December 1814 . His grandson, ground that the vicar, not the bishop, was responsible for the
See also:
Eugene Lamoral de Ligne (1804-1880), was a distinguished presence of the lights, the general question of the legality of Belgian statesman . altar lights being discreetly left open . His collected
See also:
works appeared in
See also:
thirty-four volumes at Vienna The custom of li lighted candles round the bodies during the last years of his life (Melanges militaires, litteraires, placing g sentimentaires), and he bequeathed his
See also:
manuscripts to the emperor's of the dead, especially when " lying in state," has never wholly Trabant Guard, of which he was captain (CEuvres posthumes,
See also:
Dresden died out in Protestant countries, though their significance and Vienna, 1817) . Selections were published in French and has long been lost sight of 3 In the 18th century, moreover, German (tEuvres choisies de M. le prince de Ligne (Paris, 18o9); it was still customary in England to accompany a funeral with Lettres et pensees du Marechal Prince de Ligne, ed. by Madame de Y Stael (1809) IEuvres historiques, litteraires . . . correspondance et lighted tapers .

Picart (op. cit . 1737) gives a

See also:
plate representing poesies diverses (Brussels, 1859) ; Des Prinzen Karl von Li gne a funeral cortege preceded and accompanied by boys, each carry- militarische Werke, ed . Count Pappenheim (Sulzbach, 1814) . The
See also:
ing four lighted candles in a branched candlestick . There most important of his numerous works on all military subjects is seems to be no record of candles having been carried in other the Fantaisies et prejuges militaires, which originally appeared in g 1780 . A modern edition is that published by J . Dumaine (Paris, processions in England since the Reformation . The usage 1879) . A German version (Militarische Vorurthezle and Phantasien, in this respect in some " ritualistic " churches is a revival of &c.) appeared as early as 1783 . This work, though it deals lightly pre-Reformation ceremonial. and cavalierly with the most important subjects (the prince even See the article " Lucerna," by J . Toutain in Daremberg and proposes to found an international academy of the
See also:
art of war, Saglio's Dict. des antiquites grecques et romaines (Paris, 1904) ; wherein the reputation of generals could be impartially weighed), J . Marquardt, " Romische Privatalterthumer " (vol. v. of Becker's is a military classic, and indispensable to the students of the post- _ Frederician period .

On the whole, it may be said that the prince I This homily, written by Bishop Jewel, is largely founded on adhered to the school of

Guibert (q.v.), and a full discussion will be Bullinger's De origine erroris in Divinorum et sacrorum cultu (1528, found in Max Jahns' Gesch. d . Kregswissenschaften, iii . 2091 et seq . 1539) . Another very celebrated work by the prince is the
See also:
mock autobio- A copper-plate in Bernard Picart's Ceremonies and Religious graphy of Prince Eugene (1809) . Customs of the Various Nations (Eng. trans., London, 1737), vi. pt . I , See Revue de Bruxelles (
See also:
October 1839) ; Reiffenberg, " Le Feld- p . 78, illustrating an
See also:
Anglican Communion service at St Paul's, marechal Prince Charles Joseph de Ligne," Memoires de l'ticademie shows two lighted candles on the holy table. de Bruxelles, vol. xix . ; Peetermans, Le Prince de Ligne, ou un In some parts of Scotland it is still customary to place two ecrivain
See also:
grand seigneur (Liege, 1857), Etudes et notices historiques lighted candles on a table beside a corpse on the day of burial. concernant l'histoire des Pays Bas, vol. iii . (Brussels, 189o) ; Memoires et publications de la S9ciete des Sciences, &c , du Hainault, vol. iii., 5th series: Dublet Ler,,Prince de Ligne et ses contennporains (Paris, 1889), Wurzbach, Biogr . Lexikon d . Kaiserth .

Osterr (Vienna, 1858) ; Hirtenfeld, Der Mslitdr-Maria-Theresien-Orden, vol. i . (Vienna, 1857) ,

Ritter von Rettersberg, Biogr. d ausgezeichnetsten Feldherren (Prague, 1829); Schweigerd, Osterr . Heiden, vol. in . (Vienna, 1854) ; Thurheim, F . M . Karl Joseph Furst de Ligne (Vienna, 1877) .

End of Article: CEREMONIAL USE OF LIGHTS
[back]
LIGHTNING
[next]
LIGNITE (Lat. lignum, wood)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.