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Auto da fe (Act of Faith) was the ritual execution of heretics by the Inquisition after a confession had been extracted. The ceremony always took place on a Sunday, but not at regular intervals, maybe once every two, three or four years. The victims were walked in procession wearing the san benito, the coroza, the rope around the neck, and carrying a yellow wax candle in their hand. The san benito was a penitential tunic of yellow cloth reaching to the knees and painted on it was a picture of the person who wore it, burning in flames with figures of dragons and devils in the act of fanning the flames. The costume indicated to the watching crowds the wearer was to be burned alive as an incorrigible heretic. If the person was only to do penance, then the san benito had on it a cross, and no painting or flames. If the victim was converted just before being led out, then the san benito was painted with the flames downward (known as fuego resuelto) and indicated that the wearer was not to be burned alive, but to be first strangled before burning.
At one time the san benito were hung up in the churches as monuments to the Inquisition. The coroza was a pasteboard cap, one metre high, ending in a point. On it were likewise painted crosses, flames and devils. Gags were kept on hand in case a victim insulted the tribunal or revealed what had occurred to them as they were led along to the place of execution where a large scaffold was erected.
The stake where the victim was to be burned varied in form, and was either a simple stake mounted in the ground, or was about three metres tall, with a small board near the top where the victim sat and was chained to the stake. Following prayers and attempts to convert the victim to the Roman Catholic faith, burning furzes were thrust into the face until the victim's face was burned before furzes around the base of the stake were ignited and the victim burned to death.
Victims were burned, because the inquisitors were forbidden to 'shed blood', the Roman Catholic church maintaining the line that it is untainted with blood.
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The bell, book and candle is a ceremony in the greater excommunication introduced into the Catholic Church in the eighth century. After reading the sentence, a bell is rung, a book closed, and a candle extinguished. From that moment the excommunicated person is excluded from the sacraments and even divine worship.
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The bell book and candle is a ceremony in the greater excommunication introduced into the Catholic Church in the eighth century. After reading the sentence, a bell is rung, a book closed, and a candle extinguished. From that moment the excommunicated person is excluded from the sacraments and even divine worship.
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The Burwell Fire occurred in a barn at Burwell, near Newmarket on 8th September 1727. A number of people had assembled to see a puppet-show in the barn when a candle set fire to a heap of straw. Seventy-six people died at the scene and others died later of their injuries.
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Candlemas day is a Christian feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary. The celebration is held on February the 2nd and involves a candle procession to consecrate all the candles which will be needed in the church during the year.
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Coconut oil is a solid vegetable fat, largely used in candle-making and in the manufacture of soaps and pomatum. This fat is got by pressure from the albumen of the coconut kernel, and is as white as lard, and somewhat firmer.
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Lampadomancy is divination by the observation of a candle or lamp.
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A padella is a type of candle comprising a large cup or deep saucer, containing fatty matter in which a wick is placed, and used for public illuminations, as at St. Peter's, in Rome.
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A taper is a slender wax candle. The term is often used for a long wax coated or wooden wick used to light candles or fires at a safe distance.
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The candle fish (Thaleichthys) is a small fish allied to the smelt and found off the Pacific coast of North America. It receives its popular name from its oily flesh which will burn like a candle. Living in huge schools in Alaskan's salt waters. They are a blue-brown colour on the back with black flakes on the fins and the tail with a silver colour on the bottom. The upper jaw extends past the eyes. In spring, between April and May, mature fish head toward rivers to spawn in fresh water, most die after spawning. Females lay around 17, 000 to 60,000 eggs, depending on their size, after becoming mature at about three to four years old.
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The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
©1993 - 2009 The Probert Encyclopaedia
Southampton, United Kingdom
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