An Unlit Paschal Candle
Date: April 14, 2024
Author: Fr. Edward McNamara, LC
Question: Some churches here in the Easter season keep the paschal candle unlit from the start of the Mass up until the time when the priest proceeds to ambo to read the Gospel, at which point an altar server comes out to light the candle. I cannot find any such specific instruction in the Roman Missal or the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM). Can you comment on the validity of this practice? Also, we also noted the priest incensing the still-unlit paschal candle in the beginning of the Mass just after he venerated the altar. May an unlit paschal candle be incensed during Mass? -- M.S., Philippines
Answer: Effectively, our reader has noticed a practice for which there does not appear to be any liturgical justification.
Regarding the Easter candle the rubrics of the Missal for the conclusion of the Easter vigil Mass state:
“70. The paschal candle is lit in all the more solemn liturgical celebrations of this period.”
At the conclusion of the Mass of Pentecost the rubrics indicate:
“With Easter Time now concluded, the paschal candle is extinguished. It is desirable to keep the paschal candle in the baptistery with due honor so that it is lit at the celebration of Baptism and the candles of those baptized are lit from it.”
With respect to incensing GIRM No. 277 says:
“Three swings of the thurible are used to incense: the Most Blessed Sacrament, a relic of the Holy Cross and images of the Lord exposed for public veneration, the offerings for the Sacrifice of the Mass, the altar cross, the Book of the Gospels, the paschal candle, the Priest, and the people.”
To this may be added the orientations offered in the circular letter on the Easter celebrations, Paschale Solemnitatis.
“99. The paschal candle has its proper place either by the ambo or by the altar and should be lit at least in all the more solemn liturgical celebrations of the season until Pentecost Sunday, whether at Mass or at Morning and Evening Prayer. After the Easter season, the candle should be kept with honor in the baptistry, so that in the celebration of baptism, the candles of the baptized may be lit from them. In the celebration of funerals the paschal candle should be placed near the coffin to indicate that the death of a Christian is his own passover. The paschal candle should not otherwise be lit nor placed in the sanctuary outside the Easter season.”
From the above, there is nothing to deduce that the paschal candle is not lit from the very beginning along with, or rather before, the other candles, just before the liturgical service begins.
I could also mention a recent book by Monsignor Marc Caron, Ceremonial for Priests. In this work we find the following directions on Page 234 for the conclusion of the Easter vigil Mass:
“The Easter candle is extinguished last among all the candles to be extinguished. On successive days of the Easter season, the Easter candle is always lit first at any significant liturgical celebration.”
If priests were to follow this indication, then the situation presented by our reader would never arise.
Nor would there be any case in which an unlit candle be incensed, as indeed this would make no liturgical sense whatsoever.
Perhaps the cause of these puzzling initiatives is a confusion with the custom of accompanying the proclamation of the Gospel with lighted candles and the fact that the Easter candle is frequently located beside the ambo.
Since the processional candles are brought forward at the time of the Gospel it may have appeared logical to some, especially if there are no candles, to light the Easter candle at this moment.
I would respectively call into question the soundness of such liturgical reasoning.
While the Easter candle is often placed near the ambo, this is not always the case. It may be legitimately placed in other locations such as at the center of the sanctuary or next to the altar. Hence the symbol of lighting the paschal candle is not necessarily or primarily associated with the Liturgy of the Word and even less with the proclamation of the Gospel.
The primary symbolic function of the Easter candle is to represent the light of the risen Christ. This Resurrection symbol should be present throughout Eastertide and not just from a certain moment of the celebration.
The risen Christ is, hence, symbolically present during the penitential rites and the first readings. After all, the risen Christ is the source of our forgiveness.
It would also be somewhat incongruous that the light of the Easter candle be absent during the first part of the Liturgy of the Word precisely during the season in which the readings are taken mostly from the New Testament, especially the Acts of the Apostles which continually proclaim the message of the Resurrection.
The symbol of the paschal candle is quite different from that of the optional candles that accompany the Gospel procession. These latter are a means of honoring and emphasizing the centrality of the Gospel in salvation history and as the high point of the Liturgy of the Word.
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