world religion world religion maps world religion symbols |
Encyclopedia of Religion entry forCandlemasAn ecclesiastical festival, so called on account of the candles which in the Roman Catholic Church are carried in procession. The festival is also called the " Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary." It is observed on the 2nd of February in commemoration of the presentation of Christ in the Temple. In the Prayer Book of the Church of England it is described as " The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, commonly called the Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin." The purification thought of originally was that of the Levitical law (Lev. 12, 2), but two other events are now more prominent in the Roman Mass and office. " Candles are blessed and carried in procession to re-mind us how the holy old man Simeon met our Lord, took Him in his arms, and declared Him the light of the Gentiles and the glory of Israel. Next, in the collect, epistle, and the gospel there are marked references to the fact that our Lord was at the same time presented in the temple before God and redeemed with five holy shekels " (Lk. xii. 22; cp. Exod. xiii. 2, Num. viii. 16, xviii. 15-Cath. Dict.). The festival is said to have been kept at Antioch in 526 under the Emperor Justin, and was known in the West before 735. Baronius suggests that Pope Gelasius substituted it for the pagan Lupercalia that was kept in February (15) and was also a festival of purification and expiation. The lights were forbidden in the Church of England in 1548 by an order of the Privy Council. See Prot. Dict.; Cath. Dict. citations: Encyc. of Rel., Canney
article created 2006-04-12 , last updated 2006-04-12 |
|
|
|
||