Candlemas
Candlemas
Also called: Purification of the Blessed Virgin (Greek Hypapante), Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. Observed 2 February in the Latin Rite.
According to the Mosaic law a mother who had given birth to a man-child was considered unclean for seven days; moreover she was to remain three and thirty days “in the blood of her purification”; for a maid-child the time which excluded the mother from sanctuary was even doubled. When the time (forty or eighty days) was over the mother was to “bring to the temple a lamb for a holocaust and a young pigeon or turtle dove for sin”; if she was not able to offer a lamb, she was to take two turtle doves or two pigeons; the priest prayed for her and so she was cleansed. (Leviticus 12:2-8)
Forty days after the birth of Christ Mary complied with this precept of the law, she redeemed her first-born from the temple (Numbers 18:15), and was purified by the prayer of Simeon the just, in the presence of Anna the prophetess (Luke 2:22 sqq.). No doubt this event, the first solemn introduction of Christ into the house of God, was in the earliest times celebrated in the Church of Jerusalem. We find it attested for the first half of the fourth century by the pilgrim of Bordeaux, Egeria or Silvia. The day (14 February) was solemnly kept by a procession to the Constantinian basilica of the Resurrection, a homily on Luke 2:22 sqq., and the Holy Sacrifice. But the feast then had no proper name; it was simply called the fortieth day after Epiphany. This latter circumstance proves that in Jerusalem Epiphany was then the feast of Christ’s birth.
From Jerusalem the feast of the fortieth day spread over the entire Church, and later on was kept on the 2nd of February, since within the last twenty-five years of the fourth century the Roman feast of Christ’s nativity (25 December) was introduced. In Antioch it is attested in 526 (Cedrenue); in the entire Eastern Empire it was introduced by the Emperor Justinian I (542) in thanksgiving for the cessation of the great pestilence which had depopulated the city of Constantinople. In the Greek Church it was called Hypapante tou Kyriou, the meeting (occursus) of the Lord and His mother with Simeon and Anna. The Armenians call it: “The Coming of the Son of God into the Temple” and still keep it on the 14th of February (Tondini di Quaracchi, Calendrier de la Nation Arménienne, 1906, 48); the Copts term it “presentation of the Lord in the Temple” (Nilles, Kal. man., II 571, 643). Perhaps the decree of Justinian gave occasion also to the Roman Church (to Gregory I?) to introduce this feast, but definite information is wanting on this point. The feast appears in the Gelasianum (manuscript tradition of the seventh century) under the new title of Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The precession is not mentioned. Pope Sergius I (687-701) introduced a procession for this day. The Gregorianum (tradition of the eighth century) does not speak of this procession, which fact proves that the procession of Sergius was the ordinary “station”, not the liturgical act of today. The feast was certainly not introduced by Pope Gelasius to suppress the excesses of the Lupercalia (Migne, Missale Gothicum, 691), and it spread slowly in the West; it is not found in the “Lectionary” of Silos (650) nor in the “Calendar” (731-741) of Sainte-Genevieve of Paris. In the East it was celebrated as a feast of the Lord; in the West as a feast of Mary; although the “Invitatorium” (Gaude et lætare, Jerusalem, occurrens Deo tuo), the antiphons and responsories remind us of its original conception as a feast of the Lord. The blessing of the candles did not enter into common use before the eleventh century; it has nothing in common with the procession of the Pupercalia. In the Latin Church this feast (Purificatio B.M.V.) is a double of the second class. In the Middle Ages it had an octave in the larger number of dioceses; also today the religious orders whose special object is the veneration of the Mother of God (Carmelites, Servites) and many dioceses (Loreto, the Province of Siena, etc.) celebrate the octave.
Blessing of Candles and Procession
According to the Roman Missal the celebrant after Terce, in stole and cope of purple colour, standing at the epistle side of the altar, blesses the candles (which must be of beeswax). Having sung or recited the five orations prescribed, he sprinkles and incenses the candles. Then he distributes them to the clergy and laity, whilst the choir sings the canticle of Simeon, “Nunc dimittis”. The antiphon “Lumen ad revelationem gentium et gloriam plebis tuæ Israel” is repeated after every verse, according to the medieval custom of singing the antiphons. During the procession which now follows, and at which all the partakers carry lighted candles in their hands, the choir sings the antiphon “Adorna thalamum tuum, Sion”, composed by St. John of Damascus, one of the few pieces which, text and music, have been borrowed by the Roman Church from the Greeks. The other antiphons are of Roman origin. The solemn procession represents the entry of Christ, who is the Light of the World, into the Temple of Jerusalem. It forms an essential part of the liturgical services of the day, and must be held in every parochial church where the required ministers can be had. The procession is always kept on 2 February even when the office and Mass of the feast is transferred to 3 February. Before the reform of the Latin liturgy by St. Pius V (1568), in the churches north and west of the Alps this ceremony was more solemn. After the fifth oration a preface was sung. The “Adorna” was preceded by the antiphon “Ave Maria”. While now the procession in held inside the church, during the Middle Ages the clergy left the church and visited the cemetery surrounding it. Upon the return of the procession a priest, carrying an image of the Holy Child, met it at the door and entered the church with the clergy, who sang the canticle of Zachary, “Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel”. At the conclusion, entering the sanctuary, the choir sang the responsory, “Gaude Maria Virgo” or the prose, “Inviolata” or some other antiphon in honour of the Blessed Virgin.
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FREDERICK G. HOLWECK Transcribed by Marcia L. Bellafiore
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IIICopyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Candlemas
in the Roman Church, the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary, held on the 2d of February, the fortieth after Christmas, and thereforecelebrated as that on which the purification of the Virgin took place (Luk 2:22). The Greek Church called it , festum o(cursus, the feast of the meeting (see Luk 2:25); alsofestumpresentationis Simeonis et Annce ; festum Simeonis; the feast of the presentation of Simeon and Anna, or simply of Simeon. The name festum candelarum or luminum, the feast of lights (or Candlemas), came into use at a later period, after the introduction of candles into the service of the processionsin honor of the Virgin. On this day the Romanists consecrate all the candles and tapers which they use in their churches during the whole year. AtRome the pope performs that ceremony himself, and distributes wax candles to the cardinals and others, who carry them in procession through the great hall of the pope’s palace. Luther retained the festival as a festival of our Lord Jesus Christ, who on this day manifested himself when he was borne into the Temple at Jerusalem and presented to the Lord. In many Lutheran churches it is still celebrated. In the Church of England thefestival was abandoned in the second year of Edward VI. The ceremonies observed on this festival are probably derived from the Februan or purificatory rites of paganism, which occurred on the same day, and which are briefly described by Ovid (Fast. 2). Pope Sergius (A.D. 641) has the credit of transferring this false maumetry and untrue belief, as it is styled by Becon, in his Reliques of Rome, to God’s worship.
This pontiff hallowed the feast thorowe all Christendome; and every Christian man and woman of covenable age is bound to come to church and offer up their candles, as though they were bodily with our Ladye; hoping for this reverence and worship that they do to our Ladve to have a great reward in heaven. The following explanation is given by Pope Innocent III: Whydo we carry lighted candles at this festival? The answer may be derived from the book of Wisdom, where it is said (ch. 14:23) that the heathen offered sacrifices at night (sacrifici’ obscure). The Gentiles, indeed, had devoted the month of February to the infernal deities, because, as they ignorantly believed, it was at the beginning of this month that Pluto had ravished Proserpine. Ceres, her mother, had, according to their belief, sought her through Sicily for a whole night by the light of torches kindled at the flames of AEtna. In commemoration of this, they every year, at the beginning of February, traveled the city during the night bearing lighted torches, whence this festival was called amburbale. But the holy fathers, being unable to abolish this custom, decided that lighted candles should be carried in honor of the blessed Virgin Mary; and thus what was formerly done for Ceres is done to-day in honor of the Virgin, and what was done formerly for Proserpine is now done in the praise of Mary (Innocent III, Opera, Serm. I. in fest. purif. Marite, fol. 47, Colossians 2, ed. Coloniae, 1552).
The following are the prayers for the hallowing of candles upon Candlemas-day, copied from The Doctrine of the Mass-book, 1554. The asterisks indicate crossings: O Lord Jesus Christ, * bless thou thiscreature of a waxen taper at our humble supplication, and by the virtue of the holy cross pour thou into it an heavenly benediction; that as thou hast granted it unto man’s use for the expelling of darkness, it may receive such a strength and blessing, through the token of thy holy cross, that in what places soever it be lighted or set, the Devil may avoid out of those habitations, and tremble for fear, and fly away discouraged, and presumeno more to unquiet them that serve thee, who with God, etc. Then follow other prayers, in one of which occur these passages: We humbly beseech thes that thou wilt vouchsafe to * bless and sanctify these candles prepared unto the uses of men, and health of bodies and souls, as well on the land as the waters. Vouchsafe * to bless and * sanctify, and with the candle of heavenly benediction to lighten these tapers; which we thy servants taking in the honor of thy name (when they are lighted), desire to bear, etc. Here’ let the candles be sprinkled with holy water. The service concludes with this Rubric: When the hallowing of the candle is done, let the candles be lighted and distributed.
The festival of St. Agatha, which commences on Candlemas-day in Sicily, strongly resembles the Februan rites. Lighted tapers form a distinguishing part of the ceremonial; and the memory of Proserpine is still cherished, though under another superstition, by kindling a blazing pine torch near the very spot to which the mythological legend assigned the scene of Pluto’s amorous force. An account of this festival will be found in Blunt’s Vestiges of Ancient Mlanners in Italy. Bingham, Orig. Ecclesiastes bk. 20,100:8, 4; Augusti, Denkwaurdigkeiten, Thl. 3, p. 79; Siegel, Alterthiimer, 3, p. 326; Eadie, Ecclesiastes Dictionary, s.v.; Chambers, Book of Days, 1:212 sq.; Brand, Popular Antiquities, 1:24 sq.