Q: I was recently assigned to a parish that uses paraffin oil candles on its altars. We are starting to run low on paraffin oil, and am discerning whether or not to resupply that oil. GIRM 117 indicates that “on or next to the altar are to be placed candlesticks with lighted candles” (“candelabra cum cereis accensis ponantur”). This is echoed in GIRM 297.
I also note that GIRM 316 makes a distinction between Tabernacle lamps “fueled by oil or wax” (“oleo vel cera nutrienda”), which makes me think that a paraffin oil lamp does not qualify as what the GIRM considers a “candle.” If that is the case, should I move to retire the paraffin oil lamps and transition to wax candles?
What do you think? Thank you for your ministry.
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A: There’s also this quote from the USCCB’s Built of Living Stones:
Candles for liturgical use should be made of a material that provides “a living flame without being smoky or noxious.” To safeguard “authenticity and the full symbolism of light,” electric lights as a substitute for candles are not permitted.
That paragraph carries this footnote:
DOL 208, p. 519, note R47, quoting the newsletter of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments Notitiae 10:80 (1974), no. 4: “Query: Must the lighted candles that are to be placed in candlesticks for the celebration of Mass consist in part of beeswax, olive oil, or other vegetable oil? Reply: The GIRM prescribes candles for Mass ‘as a sign of reverence and festiveness’ (nos. 79, 269). But it makes no further determination regarding the material of their composition, except in the case of the sanctuary lamp, the fuel for which must be oil or wax (see Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharist Outside Mass, Introduction no. 11). The faculty that the conferences of bishops possess to choose suitable materials for sacred furnishings applies therefore to the candles for Mass. The faculty is limited only by the condition that in the estimation of the people the materials are valued and worthy and that they are appropriate for sacred use. Candles intended for liturgical use should be made of material that can provide a living flame without being smoky or noxious and that does not stain the altar cloths or coverings. Electric bulbs are banned in the interest of safeguarding authenticity and the full symbolism of light.”
In the US, you may make a judgment based on these directives.