Learning about Maura, today’s saint, has let me to learn about the use (or non-use) of wax candles in Christian worship. Maura lived in the ninth century, and Butler tells us of Maura:

The virgin’s whole time [alas, she died at age 23] was consecrated to the exercises of prayer . . . or to her work, which was devoted to the service either of the poor or of the Church: for it was her delight in a spirit of religion to make sacred vestments, trim the lamps, and prepare wax and other things for the altar.

Throughout my life, I have known so very many women (my grandmother included) who engaged in making sure that the cloths and the altarware and the bread for communion were all taken care of, more or less behind the scenes. And it is a meaningful way to serve.

What seemed odd to me was what it means that Maura would “prepare wax” for the altar, given that there were lamps that she also trimmed. I could find no references to the use of wax in Christian worship apart from candles (any conjectures?), so I began investigating the use of wax candles. I discovered from multiple sources that there is no record whatsoeer of Christians using wax candles during the first three hundred years of the religion’s existence! One line of thinking is that wax candles seemed too pagan (interestingly enough, though, Christianity later took over the pagan cross-quarter festival day of Imbolc, called it Candlemas, and used it as a time to sanctify their wax candles!). Another thought was that the early Christians, like the Jews at that time, used oil lamps. I, myself, suspect that as Christianity spread to more northern climes, they didn’t need to worry about wax melting (as it might well in the Middle East), and that oil may well have been less ready-to-hand. Who knows?

Still, Maura found two devotions that constituted the core of her life: caring for those less fortunate than she and making sure that the tools and implements used in the worship life of her community were replenished, refurbished, and prepared as needed.

Thank you to all Mauras everywhere who give of themselves in such loving and meaningful ways!