Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the Paschal candle in its holder at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, April 13, 2022. St. Bartholomew Catholic Church Youth and Young Adult Ministry Coordinator Scotty Biggs designed and painted the artwork on the candle.
THE flame of Scotty Biggs’ faith is clearly evident today. It burns in the three-foot tall Paschal candle he designed for the Easter-themed altar area of St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Columbus.
The creation was first used at Saturday’s Easter vigil Mass, illuminating the darkness as a sign of the light of Christian faith and the Resurrection.
The work of the church’s youth and young adult ministry coordinator also rests today on the altar of a Louisville, Kentucky, church.
“When there’s any opportunity to do art, I jump at it,” Biggs said.
He did precisely that a few years ago.
Catholic monks at St. Meinrad Archabbey in St. Meinrad, Indiana, were teaching teens candle painting in 2018 and asked if Biggs, part of the One Bread One Cup leadership training program there, would be interested in learning. They were unaware that his background includes considerable iconography.
The candles must be at least 51 percent beeswax, since the Catholic church relies on natural elements linked to the Mass.
“Part of the idea is that God takes the natural and turns it into the supernatural,” Biggs said. “That’s true of each of us as individuals, and that’s one of the reasons I really like doing the candles.
“Because they’re a good reminder that God takes my natural, human nature and transforms it into something more. Same for the beeswax. God can use even that to bring glory to his name.”
The candles are so named because the Latin and Greek word Pascha (or Paschal for “Passover”) provides the root for Pâques, the French word for Easter.
The Rev. Clem Davis, St. Bartholomew’s senior associate pastor, loves’ Biggs work — and is impressed with the candle design efforts of the St. Bartholomew Elementary School eighth graders whom Biggs is now guiding in the art form.
“When you know the (candle) artist, I think that makes the meaning all the more powerful,” Davis said.
The longtime local priest mentioned that many Catholics may be unaware of the candle’s deep and wide-ranging symbolism. The candle’s wick signifies Christ’s humanity, and the flame his divine nature. It is adorned with one or more Christian symbols, including the cross to represent his redemptive sacrifice.
It features the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet — the alpha and the omega – to signify that Jesus is the beginning and the end. And in Biggs’ candle, he creatively and colorfully interspersed St. Bartholomew’s artsy, sweeping, interior roof line into the design’s background.
“You do have a little bit of artistic freedom,” Biggs said.
For instance, on the first candle he designed for St. Bartholomew’s, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading fear in March 2020, he added a crown symbol, since the corona syllable in coronavirus means crown.
“That was to remind us that, no matter what, Christ is the king,” Biggs said.
Both Biggs and Davis believe that many believers are unaware of many of the artistic meanings.
“I don’t believe that most people are all that aware of all the (general) symbolism,” Davis said, adding that he has done teachings on it.
Biggs especially wants to reach young Catholics with the visual reminders to bolster their faith.
“Using the arts to educate, catechize and proclaim the gospel has become part of my passion,” Biggs said. “I myself didn’t even realize most of these things until I began painting the candles.”
