To the
same symbolical meaning of this candle we must attribute the ancient
custom of affixing to it (as a symbol of Christ) a tablet on which
the current year of our Lord and its indiction were marked: sometimes
these, if not other chronological dates, were inscribed on the candle
itself by the deacon, before he sang the _Exultet_, as Ven. Bede
testifies, The same idea was preserved in the practice of forming the
_Agnus Dei_ with the wax of the paschal candle. "On this day" (holy
saturday) says Durandus "the acolythes of the Roman church make
_lambs_ of newly blessed wax, or of the _wax of the paschal candle_
of the preceding year mixed with chrism: on Saturday in Albis they
are distributed by the Lord Pope to the people in the churches".
Amalarius likewise mentions this custom. It appears also from the
two benedictions of Ennodius mentioned above, that the faithful used
particles of the pascal candle as a preservative against storms: the
good effects hoped for in this and similar cases are attributed to the
prayers of the church, which God in His goodness has promised to hear.
The paschal candle is painted according to an ancient custom.
"Ast alii _pictis_ accendant lumina _ceris_".
S. Paulinus Nat. VI. S Felicis
Pierin del Vaga, whom Vasari considered as the most distinguished
of Raffaello's assistants, was originally nothing more than a
candlepainter. His creation of Eve at S.
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