A unity candle is a candle used in a wedding ceremony to symbolize two people joining in marriage.
A unity candle is a candle used in a wedding ceremony to symbolize two people joining in marriage.
The lighting of a "unity candle" is a relatively new custom in wedding ceremonies. There is no record of it in the bible or any Apostolic writings. The custom first became popular in the second half of the 20th century in American Christian weddings. [1] The origins are unclear, however the use of a unity candle in a 1981 episode of General Hospital may have helped to popularize the practice. [2]
Use of a unity candle generally symbolizes the joining of two individuals into the marriage bond, but additional allusions may be invoked. The flame may be said to represent the passion in each individual's soul for their spouse. For Christians, it may be compared to the Holy Spirit and Jesus, who is the light of the world, within the souls of those who are baptized.
Two taper candles are initially lit and used by each member of the marrying couple. These tapers are then used to light a larger pillar candle in the center. Variations may include additional tapers used by parents to light the tapers that represent the individuals being married.
When the practice is intended to symbolize simply the joining of the bride and groom, the tapers may be blown out, to indicate that the two lives have been permanently merged, or they may remain lit beside the central candle, symbolizing that the now-married partners have not lost their individuality. [3]
While the use of unity candles within the marriage rite has become widespread, it is a recent invention and not explicitly part of the Churches Apostolic Tradition and therefore prohibited in some churches. It is advisable that couples and their Wedding planner should always check with the pastor before including the ceremony in their order of service.
The Candle Ceremony is not part of the Anglican wedding ceremonies, although it may be allowed at the discretion of the pastor.
The Unity Candle Ceremony is not part of the Catholic Wedding Ceremony. Catholic Tradition, instead, sees the regular reception of the Holy Eucharist as the heart of Christian Unity. The recently updated Catholic Rite of Marriage [4] does not include any provisions for the Unity Candle Ceremony. For this reason, many parishes do not allow its inclusion in the ceremony. While the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has not explicitly prohibited the use of the unity candle in the marriage rite, neither has it encouraged the practice. The Conference has noted that the policies of most dioceses do not prohibit this custom but many suggest that it be done at the reception since the Rite of Marriage already has abundant symbols of unity. The analysis of the Bishops regarding unity candles concludes by indicating that if the unity candle is permitted, the couple should light their individual candles from the paschal candle, the individual candles should not be extinguished and the unity candle should not be placed on the altar. [5] By following this direction, the lighted candles can then be seen as a way of emphasizing the couple's union in the sacramental and vocational nature of their marriage.
In the Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church, a marriage is sacramental in nature when the couple are both baptized Christians. This fact can help to give a more Christian interpretation of the Unity Candle, especially in a mixed marriage between a Catholic and a Christian of another Tradition. It is desirable at a Catholic Wedding for Holy Communion to be distributed. However, given that Holy Communion is not encouraged at a mixed Wedding, where one of the spouses together with a large part of the congregation is not Catholic, the use of a Unity Candle might be employed as a sign of the baptismal unity of the couple. Since in the rite of baptism, the lighted Paschal Candle and a smaller candle plays an important symbolic part. In the baptism rite, [6] the Paschal Candle is placed near the font. After the person has been baptized with water, another smaller candle is lit by a Godparent from the flame of the Paschal Candle and given to the newly baptized as a sign that they have received the "light of Christ". They are instructed to keep the "flame" they have received to "keep burning brightly" until the return of the Lord (Parousia). This call to vigilance is a reference to the discipleship nature of baptized Christians who are called to evangelize through their vocational calling. The fact that each of the couple shares the same light signifies the unitive nature of their Christian vocation. St. Paul expresses the evangelizing nature of Christian marriage in his letter to the Ephesians 5:22-33. He says "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord" [7] and "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" [8]
A Paschal candle is a large, white candle used in liturgies in Western Christianity. A new Paschal candle is blessed and lit every year at Easter, and is used throughout the Paschal season which is during Easter and then throughout the year on special occasions, such as baptisms and funerals.
Chrismation consists of the sacrament or mystery in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches, as well as in the Assyrian Church of the East initiation rites. The sacrament is more commonly known in the West as confirmation, although Italian normally uses the term cresima ("chrismation") rather than confermazione ("confirmation").
Holy Week is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. For all Christian traditions it is a moveable observance. In Eastern Christianity, which also calls it Great Week, it is the week following Great Lent and Lazarus Saturday, starting on the evening of Palm Sunday and concluding on the evening of Great Saturday. In Western Christianity, Holy Week is the sixth and last week of Lent, beginning with Palm Sunday and concluding on Holy Saturday.
In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on of hands.
Marriage in the Catholic Church, also known as holy matrimony, is the "covenant by which a man and woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring", and which "has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the baptised." Catholic matrimonial law, based on Roman law regarding its focus on marriage as a free mutual agreement or contract, became the basis for the marriage law of all European countries, at least up to the Reformation.
The Paschal Triduum or Easter Triduum, Holy Triduum, or the Three Days, is the period of three days that begins with the liturgy on the evening of Maundy Thursday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil, and closes with evening prayer on Easter Sunday. It is a moveable observance recalling the Passion, Crucifixion, Death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, as portrayed in the canonical Gospels.
Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from Christianity to Sikhism. The use of holy water as a sacramental for protection against evil is common among Lutherans, Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Christians.
Adelphopoiesis, or adelphopoiia is a ceremony practiced historically in Orthodox-Christian tradition to unite together two people of the same sex in a church-recognized relationship analogous to siblinghood.
Sacramental bread, also called Communion bread, Communion wafer, Eucharistic bread, the Lamb or simply the host, is the bread used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist. Along with sacramental wine, it is one of two elements of the Eucharist. The bread may be either leavened or unleavened, depending on tradition.
A sacramental in Christianity is a material object or action ritually blessed by a priest to signal its association with the sacraments and so to incite reverence during acts of worship. They are recognised by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Church of the East, the Lutheran churches, the Old Catholic Church, the Anglican churches, Independent Catholic churches, and Methodist churches.
Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil or the Great Vigil of Easter, is a liturgy held in traditional Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Historically, it is during this liturgy that people are baptized and that adult catechumens are received into full communion with the Church. It is held in the hours of darkness between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day – most commonly in the evening of Holy Saturday or midnight – and is the first celebration of Easter, days traditionally being considered to begin at sunset.
First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin Church tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Communion. In churches that celebrate a rite of First Communion separate from baptism or confirmation, it typically occurs between the ages of seven and thirteen, often acting as a rite of passage. In other denominations first communion ordinarily follows the reception of confirmation, which occurs at some point in adolescence or adulthood, while Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians first receive the sacrament of Holy Communion in infancy, along with Holy Baptism and Chrismation.
The sacraments of initiation are the three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist in Nicene Christianity. As such, they are distinguished from the sacraments of healing and from the sacraments of service.
The ceremonial use of lights occurs in liturgies of various Christian Churches, as well as in Jewish, Zoroastrian and Hindu rites and customs.
In keeping with its prevailing self-identity as a via media or "middle path" of Western Christianity, Anglican sacramental theology expresses elements in keeping with its status as a church in the catholic tradition and a church of the Reformation. With respect to sacramental theology the Catholic tradition is perhaps most strongly asserted in the importance Anglicanism places on the sacraments as a means of grace, sanctification and forgiveness as expressed in the church's liturgy.
The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass "the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross, is present and offered in an unbloody manner". The Church describes the Mass as the "source and summit of the Christian life", and teaches that the Mass is a sacrifice, in which the sacramental bread and wine, through consecration by an ordained priest, become the sacrificial body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ as the sacrifice on Calvary made truly present once again on the altar. The Catholic Church permits only baptised members in the state of grace to receive Christ in the Eucharist.
There are seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, which according to Catholic theology were instituted by Jesus and entrusted to the Church. Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those who receive them with the proper disposition.
A sacrament is a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence, number and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the reality of God, as well as a channel for God's grace. Many denominations, including the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, and Reformed, hold to the definition of sacrament formulated by Augustine of Hippo: an outward sign of an inward grace, that has been instituted by Jesus Christ. Sacraments signify God's grace in a way that is outwardly observable to the participant.
The Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA), or Ordo Initiationis Christianae Adultorum, is a process developed by the Catholic Church for its catechumenate for prospective converts to the Catholic faith above the age of infant baptism. Candidates are gradually introduced to aspects of Catholic beliefs and practices. The basic process applies to adults and children who have reached catechetical age. Formally the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults was known as the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). The name was changed in 2021 to reflect greater fidelity to the original Latin.
In Christianity, a rite can refer to a sacred ceremony, which may or may not carry the status of a sacrament depending on the Christian denomination. This use of rite is distinct from reference to liturgical ritual families such as the Byzantine and Latin liturgical rites.