For many Catholics, the flickering light of candles is an iconic aspect of attending Mass or services. What many of us may not know, however, is that we adopted beeswax candles thanks to Catholic monks.
For much of antiquity, candles were made from animal fat, which led to unpleasant smells when burned. But during the Middle Ages, ingenious monks restored the use of beeswax from their apiaries to make beeswax candles, which are still in use today.
Beeswax was produced by harvesting honeycomb (made from wax secreted by worker bees) from apiaries and then boiling it and cooling it down until soft. Then, the wick was dipped into or rolled onto the wax to create a candle.
Today, we take beekeeping and honey for granted, but back in the Middle Ages it was a very innovative practice. Monks would spend hours hunting for honey in wild nests or building apiaries by creating openings in trees and waiting for swarms of bees to move in.
As demand for beeswax candles started to grow, monasteries expanded their beekeeping capabilities, creating dedicated patches of forests to nurture new colonies. But as more and more churches adopted beeswax candles, demand kept outpacing supply and by the end of the Middle ages, a single beeswax candle in Europe could cost more than a day’s wage.
Beeswax was selected for its superior quality as a burning material, but also for symbolic reasons. As explained in Catholic Answers, wax produced by bees was considered the sweetest and purest type of wax and thus ideal to symbolize Christ.
Candles are, in fact, much more than just a way to light up a church. As explained by Rebecca Haynes in Curious Cauldron, the natural light of beeswax candles is seen as a symbol of the light of Christ and the scent of burning candles as a symbol of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Because of this symbolism, the Catholic Church mandates precise rules on which materials can or can’t be used to create holy objects. Currently, the Church recommends natural materials like beeswax or olive oil and bans the use of less pure materials like paraffine, stearine, or tallow.
As Haynes says, beeswax candlemaking started to be standardized during the Middle Ages with rules calling for candles to be made only with the purest of wax and to be blessed by a priest before use.
Today, beeswax candles play an important role in many holy events during the liturgical year, from Advent candles marking the weeks up to Christmas, to Candlemas candles, used to celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ, on February 2, and, of course, during Christmas.
Next time you step into a church and breathe in the unique scent of beeswax candles, you can thank the ingenious work of medieval monks.
