I am looking for more information about candles that are blessed on Candlemas (February 2nd) vs other times. I believe there was a prophecy (possibly related to Padre Pio or Bl Annamaria Taigi) about only blessed candles blessed on Candlemas working during the 3 Days of Darkness. I have the opportunity to attend a Mass where candles are blessed and provided on this day and wondered if/how they differed in any way from other blessed candles.
It was Blessed Anna Maria Taigi who said that. There is a special blessing for vandals in the old rite that is very powerful according to Fr Ripperger.
I came in especially to remind everyone to try and get candles blessed for 2nd February, and here found this thread. Fortunately we have a special blessing of candles in one of the parishes in my town, so I have a bag of candles LOL ready for the blessing to have plenty to burn all year hopefully. That is how it used to be done in the old days. It appears there would be a Mass once a year when candles were blessed for everyone, hence the name Candlemas. One of the Priests on You tube and it may have been Fr Rippenger, said when we burn a holy candle in our home, it cleans the air of bad spirits. What a blessing to be able to chase away the baddies. Praised be Jesus and Mary.
If I am not mistaken, the candle fort the Three Days of Darkness has to be pure 100% Beeswax. Our local Catholic Shop does not sell pure beeswax candles.They are not easy to obtain in New Zealand but there is a place in Auckland which sells them. Below is a link for those who are in NZ. https://www.justcrafting.co.nz/product/white-beeswax-candles-100/ I believe they must be blessed but I do not think it has to be a Candlemas Blessing. I think if you obtained them and took them to be blessed at any time of the year, by a Priest, they would still burn during the 3 Days of Darkness. If anyone out there knows more about this, do chime in. I always keep a supply that are carefully labelled as being 100% Beeswax and then I write the date and circumstances under they were blessed, then I try not to use those ones as I always hope to be able to give them to people in my family. But of course often the people dont know what it is exactly that they are being given because they think it can never happen to us. But it happened in Egypt in the time of Moses. Here is a link for Americans and Canadians : https://www.virgosacrata.com/catholic/3-days-of-darkness-beeswax-candles
I have one of the large Easter candles from my church given to me by our priest several years ago, since they replace them each year. I’m assuming it’s made of beeswax?
It's more than likely that it is a beeswax candle because it was used at Mass. See attached in the New Advent Catholic Encyclopaedia: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01347a.htm I don't know the date of that entry in New Advent but your candle is several years old so it's more likely than not to be beeswax even if the Church has changed the rule. I have a supply of pure beeswax candles which I bought from a shop which sells all things Catholic. As far as I can remember, they were being sold as "altar candles". Some of my candles are two years old and were blessed at the annual Candlemas Mass. My memory isn't the best so I can't remember whether they were blessed during or at the end of Mass. My one year old candles were blessed on Candlemas day but there was no blessing of candles at the Mass I attended that day. The priest blessed them for me after Mass but it was just the usual short blessing similar to having medals blessed. One or two websites are saying that 100% beeswax is not required for the three days of darkness. They were saying that the candles should have a beeswax content between 60% and 70% (I can't remember the exact percentage). I don't know whether that percentage is based on something in the prophecy or maybe the sellers didn't have pure beeswax candles in stock.
A source for 100% beeswax candles....different shapes and sizes. They give you size and burning time: https://www.honeycandlesusa.com and this link appears to be a bit less pricey: https://www.beehivecandles.com/product-category/beeswax-candles/
