As the tradition went, on the feast of the Presentation (i.e. Candlemas), the various Roman colleges and chapters would present candles to the Roman pontiff who would then in turn have them sent to some location of his choice (generally speaking, the place selected would be somewhere less fortunate or which was going through some sort of dire circumstances, whether from war or what not. In other instances they might be sent to some place of popular pilgrimage, such as Guadalupe or Lourdes).
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| Seminarians from the various Roman colleges offering their Candlemas candles to the Pope at the Apostolic Palace, Feb. 2nd, 1948. |
The candle presented to the pope was frequently decorated and we have an example of just such from 1878 in a candle that was presented to Pope Pius IX:
A closer look will show you that the candle contains an image of Our Lady standing upon a crescent moon and beneath it are the arms of Pope Pius IX to whom the candle was presented:
