Note 116 — CHAP. VI.
Reading edition
Footnote 116:
(return)
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.