Why do you light a candle at a Grotto?

By lighting a votive candle, you offer your prayers to God and join your brethren of the historical Church in an act of petition and thanksgiving. Just as candles are consumed by flames, we offer a piece of ourselves every time we light a candle at the Grotto.



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The candles you see in the Grotto before you burn with people's prayers. When someone lights a candle here, they invest it with an intention—an offering of thanksgiving or a request—and the burning flame comes to represent that intention, even after they leave.

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Religious grottoes They are often used as shrines in which to place statues of saints, particularly the Virgin Mary, in outdoor gardens. Many Roman Catholics visit a grotto where Bernadette Soubirous saw apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes. Numerous garden shrines are modeled after these apparitions.

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grotto, natural or artificial cave used as a decorative feature in 18th-century European gardens. Grottoes derived from natural caves were regarded in antiquity as dwelling places of divinities.

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Spiritually, in the Bible, the Rock symbolises trust in God, the stone on which the Church is built, the solid word on which we lean. Although the current health crisis does currently allow us to touch the Rock, you can make this gesture in your heart at the feet of the Virgin Mary.

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