lessed, in order that we may
receive the mystery of Christ's resurrection; and hence the abbot
Rupert says, that the candle when lighted represents Christ's
resurrection from the dead. That such is its meaning appears from the
five holes made in it in the form of a cross, to represent the five
wounds of Christ: in them the five grains of incense are fixed by the
Deacon, in order to represent, according to Rupert, the spices applied
to Christ's body by Joseph of Arimathea. In confirmation of this
explanation, we may observe that this candle is not removed from the
church till the gospel has been sung on Ascension-day when Christ
departed from among men: and it is lighted at solemn mass before the
_gospel_ and at vespers before the _Magnificat_ on the Sundays and
holidays which occur between holy saturday and the ascension. To the
same symbolical meaning of this candle we must attribute the ancient
custom of affixing to it (as a symbol of Christ) a tablet on which
the current year of our Lord and its indiction were marked: sometimes
these, if not other chronological dates, were inscribed on the candle
itself by the deacon, before he sang the _Exultet_, as Ven. Bede
testifies, The same idea was preserved in the practice of forming the
_Agnus Dei_ with the wax of the paschal candle. "On this day" (holy
saturday) says Durandus "the acolythes of the Roman church make
_lambs_ of newly blessed wax, or of the _wax of the paschal candle_
of the preceding year mixed with chrism: on Saturday in Albis they
are distributed by the Lord Pope to the people in the churches".
Amalarius likewise mentions this custom. It appears also from the
two benedictions of Ennodius mentioned above, that the faithful used
particles of the pascal candle as a preservative against storms: the
good effects hoped for in this and similar cases are attributed to the
prayers of the church, which God in His goodness has promised to hear.
The paschal candle is painted according to an ancient custom.

"Ast alii _pictis_ accendant lumina _ceris_".

S. Paulinus Nat. VI. S Felicis

Pierin del Vaga, whom Vasari considered as the most distinguished
of Raffaello's assistants, was originally nothing more than a
candlepainter. His creation of Eve at S. Marcello at Rome, and
his frescoes in the Doria place at Genoa, are well-known; at the
Vatican he assisted Giovanni d'Udine in his arabesques, Polidoro in
his antique chiaroscuri, and executed some of the most beautif