Paschal candle
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candle used in liturgies of western churches during the Easter season
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- votive candle
- Religion
- Christianity
- Image
- Ostern2020 Ostersonntag Osterlicht in Maria Schutz Pasing.jpg
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- Commons category
- Paschal candles
- described by source
- Wikitólica
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
A Paschal candle or Easter candle is a large candle used in liturgies in Western Christianity (viz., the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and the Methodist Churches, among others). A new Paschal candle is blessed and lit every year at Easter. It is used throughout the Eastertide and then throughout the year on occasions such as baptisms, funerals and some other special occasions such as the ordination of priests, taking vows or the Consecration of virgins, when the fire from the Paschal candle is carried with a wick to light another liturgical candle, as for example the baptismal candle.
The equivalent of the Paschal candle in the Eastern Orthodox Church is the Paschal trikirion, which differs in both style and usage.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Paschal candle” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.