Paschal Candle History : Part 1

Dear Brothers and Sisters, we see the paschal Candle next to the Ambo during Easter season. It’s good to know about what is Paschal candle and its history. Many, if not most religions use candles in worship; Jewish Sabbath Prayers begin with the woman of the house lighting at least two candles. Christians kept this custom for the first 300 years as a private, in-house ritual; Church, did we hold formal public rituals. One such service was a rite called a Lucernarium, Latin for ‘light,’ during which Christians met at eventide, especially for the Vigil of Easter, for so gathered, a large candle was lit, and a hymn honoring the Light of Christ was sung. Saints Ambrose [339 and Augustine [354-430] composed a ‘Light Chant’ which evolved into what we now call the Exsultet. A letter written by Saint Jerome [347-420] called this rite and its hymn ‘an official Church custom.’ For the most part, our current version of the ‘Exultet’ was composed by an unknown author … in the 600’s!