Ask a Question - or - Return to the Faith and Spirituality Forum Index

Question Title Posted By Question Date
Saint Image Candles and Intercession Prayer Crystal Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Question:

Dear Brother,

I have a question about Saint Image Candles and Intercession of Prayer. Although I'm not Catholic, I was raised in a Catholic/Lutheran household and have prayed for the Saints intercession in the past and have always liked praying to Our Lady of Charity as she has interceded for me many times for various situations.

However the last time I prayed to her, I started to feel nervous and "light headed" afterwards. I was given a statue of her a few years ago by a friend, but gave it away as it was purchased from a Religious/Occult store and I didn't feel comfortable having it in my home; but I don't know if this has caused any interaction with me praying to Our Blessed Mother.

Another similar experience occurred when a friend of mine suggested that I pray to Saint Lazarus for healing of some minor medical conditions I have. When I purchased a candle with Saint Lazarus' image, I got "light-headed" again.

Many of these "Image Candles" are used within Afro-Caribbean religions such as Voodoo, as well as in folk religions whereas many Practitioners use them for spell casting.

Is it advisable to use these candles and with the experiences I had; do you think any demonic interaction could have occurred being that many Catholic Saints are used in different religions of different names and these candles are made by companies and sold to Religious/Occult establishments.

If you could give me some insight into this; I would really appreciated it, as in praying to Our Lady, I always had a sense of peace and would like to continue to give my devotion to her.

Thank you,
God Bless,
Crystal



Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r), LTh, DD

Dear Crystal:

Sorry for the delay in responding.

I would advice that you destroy any candles or other items that were procured at any occult-oriented store, even if those items appear Catholic, such as Catholic saints, images, etc.

Such items may be contaminated with curses or even evil attachments. There are occult groups that like to combine Catholic saints and the like with the occult. This is done in Voodoo and Santeria and other occult based systems. Thus, just because it is a statue or image of a Catholic Saint or some other Catholic image does not, in itself, make it safe. It is best to destroy them. We have a pamphlet on how to do this: Procedure to Destroy Occultic or Cursed Objects.

Be sure to get your Catholic candles and other material from a Catholic store.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary
Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum