religion with the GentUe idolaters." The HomQy goes on to show that this candle worship is closely con- nected with superstition and idolatry. Jeremy Tay- lor says of the Papists : " This is pla^ by theh* public and authorized treatment of their images ; they conse- crate them ; they hope in them ; they expect gifts and graces ftx>m them ; tiiey clothe them and crown them ; they erect altars and temples to them ; they kiss them ; they bow their head and knee before them ; they light vp tapert and lampt to them^ which it a direct eormmp- tive tacfifice ; they do to their images as the heathen do to theirs ; these are the words of Irensus, by which he reproves the folly of some that had got the pictures of Christ and Pythagoras, and other eminent persons." In the so-called "Tractarian" revival of Romish usages in 1882 and the following years, the practice of putting candles on "the altar," and lightfaig them on certain festival days, was resumed. In the recent '* Ritualistic" revival (1866) the practice has become quite common in the hands especially of young curates of a Romanizing turn. They defend the legality of the practice on the ground that the rubric preceding the ** order for morning and evening prayer throughout the year" admits the use of " all ornaments of the church that were in this Church of England by the authority of Parliament in the second year of the reign of Edward V I ;" while the Injunction, cited above, allows two lights to be kept on the altar. Gn the other side it Is argued (1) that in the Church of Eng- land there is properly no altar, but only a communion table ; (2) that, in fiict, the two lights spoken of were pever lighted in the early days after the Refcurmation, even in the cathedrals in which they were retained ; and (3) that the use of candles is only a part of an idolatrous system of worship. See Lamfs ; C ahdlb-
MAS.
III. For the popish ceremony of <* cursing with bell, book, and candle," see Bell. — Boissonnet, Dic^tmnaire det Cirimomet, s. v. Cierge^ ChattdeHer; Martigny, Did. det Antiqintit Ckritiennet, s. v. Cierge ; Bingham, Orig, £cclet. bk. xiv, ch. iii, § 11 ; Goode, Cerenumial of the Churdk ofEn^and, § 9 ; Hook, Chairdi Dictionary (do- fends candles), s. v. Lightt on the AUar.
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 therefore celebrated as that on which the purification of the Vir- gm took pUce (Luke ii, 22). The Greek Church call- ed it irwairavTri^ftttym occunvt, the feast of the meet- ing (see Lulie ii, 26); ahofettvmpretentatiomt Sitneomt et AnncBffettum Sitneomt; the fSeast of the presentation of Simeon and Anna, or simply of Simeon. The name fettum eandelanan or hrnnmtm^ the feast of lights (or (^dlemas), came into use at a later period, softer tiie introduction of candles into the service of the proces- sions in honor of the Virgin. Gn this day the Ro- manists consecrate all the candles and tapers which they use in their churches during the whole year. At Rome the pope performs that ceremony himself, and distributes wax candles to the cardinaJs 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 Tem- ple at Jerusalem and presented to the Lord." In many Lutheran churches it is still celebrated. In the Church of England the festival was abandoned in the second year of Edward VI.
The ceremonies observed on this festival are proba^ bly derived fhnn the Februan or purificatory rites of paganism, which occurred on the same day, and which are briefly described by Ovid (Fatt. ii). Pope Sergius (A.D. 641) has the credit of transferring this ** felse maumetry and untrue belief," as it is styled by Becon, in his Rdiquet of Rome, to "Gkxl's worship." This pontiflThallowed the feast ** thorowe all Christendome ; and every Christian man and woman of covenable age
CANDLESTICK
10
CANDLESTICK
U bound to come to church mnd offer up their candles, as though they were bodily with our Ladye ; hoping for thia reverence and worship that they do to our Ladye to have a great reward in heaven." The fol- lowing explanation is given by Pope Innocent III : ^' Why do we carry lighted candles at this festival? The answer may be derived from the book of Wisdom, where it is said (ch. xiv, 23) that the heathen offered sacrifices at night (gaer^jScia obtcurd). The Gentiles, indeed, had devoted the month of February to the in- fernal deities, because, as they ignorantly believed, it was at the beginning of this month that Pluto bad rav- ished Proserpine. Ceres, her mother, had, according to their belief, sought her through Sicily for a whole night by tiie light of torches kindled at the flames of ^tna. In commemoration of this, they every year, at the beginning of February, travelled the city during the night bearing lighted torches, whence this festival was c^ed ambitrbale. But the holy fathers, being un- able to abolish thb custom, decided that lighted can- dles 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, OperOj "Serm. I. in feat, purif. Maris," fol. zlvii, col. 2, ed. Colonis, 1552).