Candlestick (liturgy)
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A candlestick (also Flambeau , French for 'torch') is a tall candlestick on which a large, mostly white candle is located. Candlesticks are carried by cerofers during processions or on various occasions in the liturgy . Although candlesticks have been in use since the 12th century, it was not until the Missal of Pius V that they became compulsory on the altar . The general introduction to the missal explains that the candlesticks are necessary for every liturgical act, for worship and festivity. At each celebration, at least two to six candles should be lit on the altar when the diocesan bishop celebrates mass, seven.
The flambeaus are used in the Catholic liturgy to remember Christ with their light when the gospel is proclaimed , who in the gospels describes himself as light. Altar servers with flambeaus can also kneel at the altar for change. On ceremonial feed into the church and the extract accompany Leuchter the processional cross.
In the celebration of Christ's suffering and death on Good Friday , the revealed crucifix is flanked by several flambeaus or cross candles. When giving Holy Communion , they serve as altar candles, as the altar must be completely bare at the beginning of this celebration .
In sacraments processions, candlesticks are the reference to the Holy of Holies , which is carried by a priest or deacon .
history
From the first millennium hardly any candlesticks are known materially, but there are a few examples showing single-flame candlesticks with high shafts standing on the floor next to or in front of the altar . In the 11th century it became customary to place a cross and candlestick on the altar table. There were no regulations on the material. Candlesticks made of wood , enamel (from Limoges) and those with knobs made of rock crystal have been preserved, but silver ones are not. In the Romanesque period , the altar candlesticks were often made of bronze, here the mostly three-sided base was decorated with openwork tendrils, but also figurative (rider) or animal-shaped ornaments (dragons). The shaft could be very low in proportion, but a nodus was rarely missing . With the beginning of the Gothic period , candlesticks for liturgical or secular purposes were preferably made of brass . The base, shaft, node and drip tray of the candlestick were now more clearly separated, its proportions were stretched, the base was round, if it was left without feet. In the 16th century the use of altar candlesticks and their number in the liturgy of the Mass was prescribed by the Missal of Pius V (1570) and the Caeremoniale episcoporum Clement VIII (1600). The coil-like or chalice-shaped elevation developed into a baluster shape during the Renaissance , which also dominated the baroque candlestick forms, but the altar candlesticks often had a three-sided base again.
The reformers had viewed the use of lights in the liturgy rather critically, but candlesticks continued to prevail in the Lutheran -minded congregations. The baroque period, especially in northern Germany, produced artistically remarkable works.
Individual evidence
- ↑ General introduction to the missile book (AEM), 117, 307.
- ↑ AEM, 122, 175
- ↑ Documents of the Apostolic See December 4, 1983, No. 270 Ceremonials for the Bishops, 315, p. 203
- ↑ Ivory tablet from Metz, 10th century, Frankfurt, Liebieghaus
- ↑ For medieval development see Joseph Braun SJ: Altarleuchter (A. In der Catholic Church) in: Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte , Vol. (1934), Vol. I, pp. 511-517 as well as Lexikon des Mittelalters, Volume 3, Munich ( Artemis) 1986, col. 1916-1918
- ↑ See the list in the RDK article: Georg Stuhlfauth: Altarleuchter (B. In der Protestantischen Kirche) , in: Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte , Vol. 1, (1934), pp. 518-523.