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Show CANDLEMAS DAY. Candlemas day, or the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, is a day of devotion and on which the people should assist at mass if their secular duties do not prevent them. It is not in this country a feast of obligation and no one is bound under pain of sin to hear mass. The annual commemoration is held in memory and in honor of the presentation of our blessed Lord, and according to the Mosaic law of the purification purifica-tion of the Virgin Mary in the temple of Jerusalem, the fortieth day after the birth of "her first born (and only) child." It is called purification from the Latin word "purifico," which means to purify, or to cleanse, from stain of any kind. The Blessed Virgin, in presenting herself with the infant Jesus before the Jewish priest conformed to the law (Leviticus XII.) and the custom of her nation, but being herself the mother of purity and the Immuculate Conception, she was exempt from the law if not from the custom. The second of February is called Candlema3 day, for the reason that, before the priest begins the holy sacrifice ,the candles used on the altar, at funerals, baptisms, in the room of the dying and in the ceremonies of the church, are solemnly blesed b ythe church acting through the ministry of her priests. After the blessing the priest and his surpliced servitors form a procession and, bearing in their hands lighted candles, proceed down one aisle of the church and return by the other to the sanctuary where the priest, standing at the foot of the altar, enters upon the holy sacrifice of the mass. This procession is made in memory of the prophesy of Simeon, who, when he took the child Jesus in his arms, blessed God and said: "Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace : Because mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to the reevlation of the Gentiles, and to the glory of the people of Israel." (Luke ii.) |