Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sourcing Unbleached Beeswax Altar Candles

One of our priestly readers wrote in with the question of where to find unbleached beeswax altar candles for use at the altar or at the catafalque.

I know others had the same question following my recent post encouraging the use of unbleached beeswax candles alongside the use of black vestments for Requiems and also for All Souls Day -- the latter of which is now but 5 weeks away.

In view of that, the time to order for All Souls Day, if that is your goal, is certainly now.

Speaking personally, I know the Eastern Christians are those who still most commonly use these and they might be those who I would first seek out. One example I came across from a quick internet search was Sts. Mary and Martha Monastery in South Carolina -- an Eastern Orthodox monastery. Some of their candles can be seen in the image to the right.

I thought I would put it out to our readers to see what their own recommendations might be. Who do you yourself know of who sells unbleached beeswax candles of various widths and heights suited church use, and sold, for that matter, at reasonably affordable prices?

Please use the comments.

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