As announced last week, we are happy to inaugurate today, on his feast day, a new votive candle stand beside the altar of St. Joseph. The candles available to be burned at that altar were usually burned previously on the high altar at Mass and Adoration. These stubs range in height from three to six inches, and are made of 100 percent pure beeswax. We desire not to waste any of this highly valuable, natural material, blessed by the use of the Church from its earliest days. 

St. Thomas Aquinas cites St. John Damascene in approving the burning of candles for the dead. He says:

Furthermore, in his sermon on those who sleep, Damascene teaches that beeswax and oil and the like should be offered for the dead. Therefore, not only the offering of the Sacrifice of the Altar but also other oblations should be counted among the intercessory acts for the dead... (source). An offering of candles or oil like this can benefit the dead, inasmuch as they are a kind of almsgiving, for they are given for the Church’s worship, or for the use of the faithful (source).

We have provided foil cups to collect the last bit of wax once the stub has burned down, and we will collect this and send it back to the candlemaker for recycling. Please use the foil cups, then, in order to keep the votive globes neat and accessible to others.