]
[Footnote 116: In churches, at the words _Apis mater eduxit_, the
lamps also are lighted. With regard to the triple candle, we may
observe that on an ancient marble column preserved in the Piazza
before the cathedral of Capua is a bas-relief representing the
lighting of the paschal candle by means of a reed surmounted by 3
small candles, as the Canonico Natali testifies in a letter printed at
Naples in 1776. The triple candle is mentioned in the Ordo Romanus
of Card. Gaetano, in that of Amelius, and in a MS. Pontifical of the
church of Apamea, ap. Martene. As Thomassin observes, "we light a
candle divided into three in honour of the Trinity, considering that
enlightened by Christ we know that recondite mystery". Gavant also
gives the same explanation. In the Greek service the bishop gives
his blessing, as often as he sings mass, with a triple candle. In the
Latin church it is used only on holy Saturday.]
[Footnote 117: See Appendix.]
[Footnote 118: This custom is proved from the letter of Siricius
Pope in the 4th century to Himmerius, from letters of S. Leo and
Pope Gelasius, as well as other ancient documents (ap. Bened. XIV,
Institut. prima ed lat.); and vestiges of it are preserved in the
liturgy of the weeks of Easter and Pentecost. Ordinations were
generally conferred before Christmas, as is evident from the lives of
the early Popes. Baptism was administered before the great festivals
of Easter and Pentecost, that the newly-baptised might be prepared to
celebrate them worthily, and receive the graces therein commemorated.
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