Description

• We have a wide range of sizes of white breached beeswax candles (100%) for liturgical or for home use.
• All candles are handmade in New Zealand with locally sourced beeswax which results in these beautiful ivory-white candles which give a rich golden glow when lit.
• Some sizes are made to order, please allow up to 1 week for the order fulfillment.
• E-mail Peter at [email protected] for more information.
• For Churches and Parishes, please contact us for the pricing for 51% beeswax candles.
• Please let us know if you want your candles to be blessed before shipping.
  • The blessing will be done by priests from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter apostolate here in Auckland.
  • Blessings will be done in the Traditional form from the Rituale Romanum in Latin.

White Beeswax Candles

White beeswax candles are commonly used in Roman Catholic ceremonies. Although regulation on the type of candle is relaxed since the liturgical reform after the Second Vatican Council, many traditionally orientated parishes, especially the ones that celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Traditional Latin Mass) prefer the use of white bleached beeswax candles.

The use of beeswax is both a practical and a spiritual level. Before the discovery and widespread use of petroleum paraffin, beeswax was a source of long, stable fuel for candle making. Its high melting point compares to oil lamp allow it to burn for a long period of time.

The Catholic Encyclopedia wrote,

For mystical reasons the Church prescribes that the candles used at Mass and at other liturgical functions be made of beeswax (luminaria cerea. — Missale Rom., De Defectibus, X, I; Cong. Sac. Rites, 4 September, 1875). The pure wax extracted by bees from flowers symbolizes the pure flesh of Christ received from His Virgin Mother, the wick signifies the soul of Christ, and the flame represents His divinity.

Although the two latter properties are found in all kinds of candles, the first is proper of beeswax candles only. It is, however, not necessary that they be made of beeswax without any admixture. The paschal candle and the two candles used at Mass should be made ex cera apum saltem in maxima parte, but the other candles in majori vel notabili quantitate ex eadem cera (Cong. Sac. Rit., 14 December, 1904).

As a rule they should be of white beeswax, but at funerals, at the office of Tenebrae in Holy Week, and at the Mass of the Presanctified, on Good Friday, they should be of yellow beeswax (Caerem. Episc.). De Herdt (I, no. 183, Resp. 2) says that these candles should be used during Advent and Lent except on feasts, solemnities, and especially during the exposition and procession of the Blessed Sacrament.