Over at NLM there was a post about unbleached beeswax candles, which are traditionally used for Masses for the Dead.
Reverend Fathers, Your Excellencies and sundry Graces… please consider the use of beeswax candles for All Souls and Requiem Masses. They lend a different aspect to the solemn rite.
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For my brother priests, there is a great little company in South Dakota, Lux Candle Co., that is run by a fine Catholic family and produces high quality things.
http://www.luxcandlecompany.com/
(I’m not related to the family, by the way. They just make good stuff!)
I took a beekeeping class in college. According to my professor, one of the changes of Vatican II was to lower the height of the candles from 36 inches to 18 inches, and the effect was that the price of beeswax dropped overnight to something like half to three-quarters what it had been.
Apparently the Catholic Church had been one of the chief consumers of beeswax. Assuming my professor was correct, that’s a little spiritual economics that I’m sure no one expected.
Were there not some stiff canonical penaties for using candles that were not beeswax?
They can also be had from T. H. Stemper in Milwaukee. The candles are made by Cathedral Candle Company. We recently purchased them for the first Latin Requiem Mass in 40 years. They will also be used on All Souls Day and during Holy Week.
http://www.stempers.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=2877_2832_2856
They really do make an impression! I wish we had them year round.
Is it ok to use them for other things? I have a set of four that I was going to use for a public recitation of Vespers.
And I’ll pitch in my own advertisement! At St. Gregory Palamas Orthodox Monastery in Ohio, the monks support themselves by making incense, candles and icons.
The candles are made, primarily, by a very holy and joyful monk, who was once a womanizing rogue causing trouble all over Cyprus at break-neck speeds from the back of his motorcycle. He got an advanced degree in Computer Science and Engineering. He had a religious experience after his college days, however, and was stricken by the fact that he would have to do penance for the rest of his life, to atone for the sins of his youth. So, he joined the monastery and became one of the most hard-working, zealous and good-humoured monks you could ever hope to meet. He does a lot of carpentry and hard labour (he mills his own lumber from the grounds and does a lot of outdoor work), but is also a scholar and an avid reader of the Church Fathers. Amidst all these things, he also finds time to make candles at the Monastery.
I’m not a monk there anymore, but I still try to send some support their way. The candles are absolutely pure beeswax, hand-dipped, without any artificiality in their production or composition. They are top-quality.
The monastery’s website is: http://sgpm.goarch.org/Monastery/
There is a link to the “shop,” at the top of the page.
I forgot to to mention that they also sell various books on Orthodox Spirituality, some of which are written by Fathers and Saints of the Church. Additionally, they offer Byzantine Chant cd’s and books (in both “Western” and Byzantine notation) – but those interested in the chant should be aware that the recordings are done fairly slowly, and with but one voice and a synthesized ison, since their purpose is to teach people the art of Byantine chant. Also, as per usual in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, the English translation is sometimes quite absurd-sounding to those who appreciate good, liturgical English. Still, if one is interested in learning about Byzantine chant and its melodies, and is not looking for a performance-quality recording of chant for simple listening purposes, the cds are worthwhile.
I make my own! I have been bee keeping for 15 years now and use the wax I collect to make votives and other similar items. Raw wax is cheap and the supplies to make candles can be found cheaply ($20.00) at Lowes (never home depot). You know the most famous bee keeper of all time was Brother Adam at Buckfast Monastery in England. He has passed away, but there is a wonderful movie about him and his amazing work google “The Bee and the Monk” (or vise versa). It even has some Chant in the movie (which proved ironic when I attened a viewing at a bee keeping meeting at a county office attended by former clan members, baptists and the like… hee hee). Anyhow I highly reccomend bee keeping as a hobby for Catholics, it is very educational for us homeschoolers with a natural emphasis on genetics, oh and you get honey too!