D. 495). S. Augustine (lib. 15 de Civ. Dei) mentions some verses
written by himself in praise of the paschal candle. S. Jerome also
speaks of it in his epistles; and Ennodius bishop of Pavia in
519 wrote two formulas, according to which it might be blessed.
Cancellieri, at the end of his _Funzioni della Settimana Santa_,
describes two blessings of the paschal candle contained in manuscripts
of the 12th century. Du Vert as usual rejects every mystical meaning
of the candle: but why then should it be lighted on this night, and
not on christmas and other nights? The 4th Council of Toledo, held in
633, states that the paschal candle is blessed, in order that we may
receive the mystery of Christ's resurrection; and hence the abbot
Rupert says, that the candle when lighted represents Christ's
resurrection from the dead. That such is its meaning appears from the
five holes made in it in the form of a cross, to represent the five
wounds of Christ: in them the five grains of incense are fixed by the
Deacon, in order to represent, according to Rupert, the spices applied
to Christ's body by Joseph of Arimathea. In confirmation of this
explanation, we may observe that this candle is not removed from the
church till the gospel has been sung on Ascension-day when Christ
departed from among men: and it is lighted at solemn mass before the
_gospel_ and at vespers before the _Magnificat_ on the Sundays and
holidays which occur between holy saturday and the ascension.
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