Paschal candle
Cereus paschalis
- Known today as
- The great candle blessed and lit from the new fire at the Easter Vigil, marked with a cross, the Alpha and Omega, and the numerals of the year, and set with five grains of incense for the five wounds of Christ.
- Kind
- Sacramental, in 1 older authority
- Earliest authority here
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914)
Revised October 1, 2026: An authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 28, 2026.
Paschal candle: what was it used for?
Carried into the dark church to the cry Lumen Christi, then hailed in the Exsultet; it burns through Eastertide and stands beside the font at baptisms and by the coffin at funerals.
Paschal candle: what does modern science say?
The rite continues at every Easter Vigil.
Paschal candle: what lore surrounds it?
The light of the whole year was taken from it: in many parishes the other lamps and candles of the church were relit from the Easter fire, and the faithful carried the new flame home.
Paschal candle: what did the older authorities say?
- The Catholic Encyclopedia
- The Catholic Encyclopedia dates the paschal candle to St. Jerome's letter of 384 on a carmen cerei, and finds the great candle's symbolism in “the virgin wax … the most pure flesh which Christ derived from His blessed Mother, in the wick the human soul of Christ, and in the flame the divinity,” while “the five grains of incense set cross-wise in the candle recalled the sacred wounds.” Bede records that “it was usual in Rome to inscribe the date and other particulars of the calendar either upon the candle itself or on a parchment affixed to it.” The Sarum Processional of 1517 has the Salisbury candle “thirty-six feet in height,” Westminster burned “three hundred weight of wax” in 1558, and in England the stubs “were generally melted down and made into tapers to be used gratuitously at the funerals of the poor.”
Sources
- [21] Herbermann, C. G., et al. (eds.) (1907–1912). The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Online at newadvent.org. Articles: Agnus Dei (H. Thurston); Amulet (M. Hassett); Ash Wednesday (H. Thurston); Bells (H. Thurston); Holy Oils (H. Leclercq); Paschal Candle (H. Thurston); Scapular (J. Hilgers). Read in part · the text read
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914), “Candle, Paschal.” newadvent.org/cathen/11515b.htm Standard reference work
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Sources
- 2 cited: 1 read in part, 1 standard reference work.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 28, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026
- Chicago
“Paschal candle.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/paschal-candle.
- MLA
“Paschal candle.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/paschal-candle. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Paschal candle. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/paschal-candle
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See Also
Also in The Catholic Encyclopedia
Pilgrim badges and ampullae in The Catholic Encyclopedia · Palm and olive branches in The Catholic Encyclopedia · The prologue of John in The Catholic Encyclopedia · Oil of the sick in The Catholic Encyclopedia · everything The Catholic Encyclopedia names →
Nearby in the alphabet
Passarino’s white powder (a man skilled in the spagyric (chemical) art (note XXXIX)) · Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) · Pawpaw (the one temperate tree of the custard-apple family) · Paregoric (camphor, benzoic acid, and anise oil in spirit) · Pearls, prepared (Pearls ground to a fine powder) · Panther cap (white-spotted amanita of European woods) · Penicillin mould (fruit, and damp) · Palm of Christ (Ricinus communis (note XLII))
Historical description, not medical advice.