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 CANDLESTICKS

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CANDLESTICKS

the Downside Review. July, 1906. 1SS-203. For recent de- risions see S. L. T., The Furniture of the Altar in The Ecclesias- tical Review (Julv. 19041. 60-64; Van der Stappen, Sacra Liturgia (Mechlin, 1902). Ill, 74-sr>; Collaliones Brugenses (Bruges. 1905), X, 39S-400; Ephemerides Liturgiccc, XV, 379- 88.

Herbert Thurston.

Candlesticks. — Of the earliest form of candle- sticks used in Christian churches we know but little. Such records as we possess of the magnificent presents made by Constantine to the basilica of the Lateran and to St. Peter's seem from the descriptions to refer principally to the stands and the hanging chande- liers dest ined for lamps. We hear also of two sets of seven bronze candelabra, each ten feet high, placed be fewr the altars, but wecan- not assume that these candelabra aiirichalca were necessarily used for wax tapers (Duchesne, Liber Pont ifica lis, I, 173-176). Some of these great jari must have been magnificent pieces of metal-work, being made of gold and silver with fifty, eighty, or one hundred and twenty "dol-

Ehins", i. e. little ranches wrought in this form and supporting each of them one or more lamps. This extraordinary prof usionof lights, indirectly cor- roborated by Pru- dent ius (Migne, P. L. LIX, 820, 829) and St. Paul- inus of Nola (Migne, P.L.LXI, 467 and 535), was such that Ro- The Gloucester Candlestick, Gift of hault de Henry the Abbot Peter, 1107-1113 (La Messe, \ I, 5)

estimates at 8730 the number of lights which Constantine destined for the Lateran basilica. This practice of providing immense hanging corona: to be lighted on the great festivals seems to have lasted throughout the Middle Ages and to have extended to every part of Christendom, both East and West. (Cf. e. g. Venantius Fortunatus, Migne, LXXXVTII, 127.) We, in these days of brilliant artificial light, cannot easily realize what unwonted splendour such displays imparted to worship in a comparatively rude and barbarous age. To these magnificent chandeliers various names are given in the Liber Pontificalis, e. g. cantharus, corona, stantarewn, pharus, cicindeli. etc. Such works of art were often presented by emperors or royal personages to the basilicas of Rome, and though no specimens of any great si/e survive from this early period, various smaller objects have been found, one a bronze chandelier representing a basilica and providing accommodation for a dozen lights I I.ecleri -q, Manuel d'archeologie, II, 561), which

give a sufficient idea of their construction.

Besides these, simple candlesticks (ccreostata) were

also undoubtedly in use from a very early date. The reference in the Apocalypse to the seven candlesticks of the Churches of Asia (i, 12 sq.) was probably de- rived from some feature already familiar in Christian worship. Of the lights carried before certain Roman officials, and of the acolyte's candlestick and candle referred to in the so-called Fourth Council of Car- thage, mention is made in the article Candles (q. v.). The well-known medal of Gaudentianus of the fifth or sixth century seemingly shows candles burning upon a ciborium over an altar. Less open to dispute are the candlesticks seen in various mosaics and carved sarcophagi of the same period. The long shafts are evidently made of alternating spindles and knobs, and they are supported on a three-clawed base of simple form. There was a pricket at the top upon which the candle was stuck, and so St. Paulinus speaks of the candlesticks "which carry painted can- dles on their protruding spikes" (Depictas exstante gerunt qua- cus/ride ceras). Of the Merovingian and Carolingian candelabra we have no trustworthy sur- viving examples, but we read of the exquisite work- manship lavished upon such objects in the time of Benedict of Aniane (750-821), who presented a set of seven to the church over which he ruled. A re- markable candlestick of bronze is still preserved at Kremsmunster, and is believed by some to be coeval with the chalice of Tassilo, c. 810, belonging to the same treasury; but other authorities assign the can- dlestick to a date at least two centuries later. The design shows a good deal of bold- ness and grace, but the execution of the metal work is not of a very high order. Of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries sundry candle- sticks are pre- served to us of a Byzantine type, squat and gro- tesque in form, which, if destined for ecclesiastical purposes at all, seem rat her to have been intended to stand upon the surface of the altar than to be carried by acolytes or placed upon the ground. There

are also other reasons, derived in part from the miniatures of man- uscripts, which sug- gest that the use of lighted candles upon the altar it- self is to be i raced to this period. Much more remarkable, however, -.in- the remains of some magnificent metal- work on a more vast scale. The

great candelabrum of Reims was preserved until the French Revo- lution, li was constructed by instruction of the

treasurer Wido between 1(176 and 1097. and was no doubt meant to stand before the high altar in imita-

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