Candlemas Day - Rockland

St. Brendan the Navigator Parish will celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, otherwise known as Candlemas Day, with a traditional candle blessing and a candlelight procession.

Parishioners are invited to bring beeswax or other candles, especially those that will be used to celebrate the Church year, for instance Easter or Advent, to the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Bernard Church in Rockland or the 8:30 a.m. at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Belfast to be blessed.

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord commemorates the time, 40 days after the birth of Christ, when Mary went to the Temple to be purified and to present her firstborn son to God. It has been celebrated with the blessing of candles for centuries because Christ is the light who came into the world to dispel the darkness.