Note (return) — CHAP III.

The custom of concealing behind the altar during the last part of the office the last and most elevated candle, and of bringing it forward burning at the end of the service, is a manifest allusion to the death and resurrection of Christ, whose light, as Micrologus observes, is represented by our burning tapers. "I am the light of the world". John VIII. 1250. In the same manner the other candles extinguished one after another may represent the prophets successively put to death before their divine Lord: and if we consider that the psalms of the old Testament are recited at the time, this explanation may appear more satisfactory than others, which would refer them to the blessed Virgin, the apostles and disciples of Christ51. In the triangular form of the candlestick is contained an evident allusion to the B. Trinity. This candlestick is mentioned in a MS. Ordo of the 7th century published by Mabillon.