Ship of Fools: Votive Candle Colors

Thread: Votive Candle Colors Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by BulldogSacristan (# 11239) on :

A bishop once told me that white lamps burn in front of the blessed sacrament, blue lamps burn in front of images of the BVM, green ones in front of images of St. Joseph, yellow lamps in front of angels, red in front of OL&SJC and other saints and also in front of the altar.

In my parish this bears out. In front of the high altar there are seven red lamps lit for any service held there and behind them a large lamp with a white light to indicate the presence of the blessed sacrament in the sanctuary sacrament house. The Lady chapel has a white lamp to indicate if the blessed sacrament is in the tabernacle there. Another smaller altar has a single red lamp to be lit whenever that altar is used. Then shrines to Our Lord and Lady have red and blue lamps respectively.

Is this standard? And does this bear out pretty universally? I've never seen it codified. One difference in particular I seem to see is the use of red lamps to indicate the presence of the blessed sacrament.

Posted by dj_ordinaire (# 4643) on :

I don't think there are any prescribed rules, actually... White would be common before the MBS but I'm sure I've seen red as well, and I've never seen yellow or green to my knowledge!

Blue for Our Lady would be very widespread I'd say though.

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

We use white for the MBS, blue for Our Lady, green for Her Most Chaste Spouse, and red for our Patron. That is to say, the colours of the glasses in which the (8-day) candles burn are white etc.

Ian J.

Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :

I was in Westminster Cathedral yesterday and they did not use green for St Joseph. Blue was used for the BVM, red for the Holy Souls chapel and white everywhere else....I can't remember red used for OL&SJC but I might just have forgotten it. Definitely no green votives though, what's the symbolism behind green? I've never seen that before.

Posted by Jon in the Nati (# 15849) on :

The only part of that scheme that I've experienced to be near-universal is blue for the BVM.

Posted by Quam Dilecta (# 12541) on :

Before the general loosening of rules forty years ago, white was mandated for lamps before the Blessed Sacrament in the Roman church. This rule was frequently broken, however, and red used instead. In the USA, this deviation was variously attributed to French Canadian or Irish immigrants. I do not know if there was any factual basis for either assertion.

As far as I know, the colors for other votive lights are based on custom rather than law. I remember a stall in Barcelona Cathedral where votive candles were available in many colors and sizes, and I presume that people placed them at the various shrines according to their own inclinations.

Posted by Mama Thomas (# 10170) on :

In TEC, I was under the impression that a red lamp before the MBS was (along with cassock-albs) an infallible sign of MOTR spirituality.

Posted by Edgeman (# 12867) on :

AT my parish, we have red for the blessed sacrament at the high altar (the only lamp. Apparently, before the church was renovated around 1915, there were three red lamps) And red at the altar of the sacred heart. Our Lady's shrine has blue, St Joseph green, and St Anthony yellow.

Posted by PeteC (# 10422) on :

Red lamps indicate TMBS in all parishes I have been in in my wanderings around Canada. In all cases all over the world, the candle itself is beeswax and white.

In India, red lamps indicate TMBS. As well, the tabernacle might be encircled with flashing lights of all colour.

I suspect local custom rules. Churches I have been in, elsewhere is the world often use red lamps.

Posted by Stick Monitor (# 17253) on :

I've never seen yellow or green; didn't even know of them. Otherwise, jolly British red, white and blue used as above in all CsofE I've ever visited.

Posted by Try (# 4951) on :

In the Episcopal churches in the Diocese of Southern Ohio I have seen both red and white votives used to indicate the presence of the MBS. White seems to be used in modern and neoclassical churches, red in Gothic ones.

Posted by The Silent Acolyte (# 1158) on :

quote:
Originally posted by BulldogSacristan:
Another smaller altar has a single red lamp to be lit whenever that altar is used.

At the side altar devoted to St. Harpo there is a red sanctuary lamp. This is lighted before the 8 o'clock mass on Sunday even though there will be no mass celebrated at that altar. It is left burning through the solemn high mass as a kind of votive light to the holy saint. St. Harpo has no tabernacle as do the high altar and the Lady Chapel.

Posted by Lietuvos Sv. Kazimieras (# 11274) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Mama Thomas:
In TEC, I was under the impression that a red lamp before the MBS was (along with cassock-albs) an infallible sign of MOTR spirituality.

I think this is almost always true. MOTR churches have red lamps before the MBS; advanced high church or Anglo-Catholic parishes, white lamps.

Lutherans seem to use red for their sanctuary lamp, something that is typically present even when the MBS is not reserved (I know, I know...), that being a relative rarity amongst Lutherans.

Posted by Angloid (# 159) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Lietuvos Sv. Kazimieras:

quote:
Originally posted by Mama Thomas:
In TEC, I was under the impression that a red lamp before the MBS was (along with cassock-albs) an infallible sign of MOTR spirituality.
I think this is almost always true. MOTR churches have red lamps before the MBS; advanced high church or Anglo-Catholic parishes, white lamps.

That seems like another pond difference. Over here, I've hardly ever seen other than a white light before the Sacrament in Anglican churches. Red ones are common in RC places, and hence probably not unknown in some anglo-catholic ones, but white is the very predominant norm. (Confession: I once inherited a box of red light-bulbs which I used before the sacrament for a while. [Disappointed]

)

Posted by Percy B (# 17238) on :

In their online catalog Dumont list votive light glasses in the following colours:

Blue, red, green, amber, clear, purple.

Not sure of where each would be used.

Green for St Joseph? Any reason why...

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