New votive candles for Notre-Dame, made in Lourdes

For its reopening, Notre-Dame de Paris will be equipped with a new votive candle, all white with a blue wick, entirely biodegradable, and whose manufacturing has been entrusted to the Ciergerie de Lourdes which is running its small factory at full capacity.

“Symbolically it is a bit of the light of Lourdes which enters Paris”explains Guillaume de Vulpian, the director of the Sanctuary of Lourdes, owner of the candle shop.

For this three-year contract, Notre-Dame chose a small company established since 1928 in the upper town, not far from the Sanctuary which attracts three million people each year.

On the first floor of the small concrete factory, around ten employees in blouses are busy around the machines which manufacture the candles, monitoring the rotation of the frames and recovering the paraffin by hand, under the eye of a statue of Bernadette Soubirous, the young woman from Lourdaise to whom the Virgin appeared in the local grotto in 1858, according to Catholic tradition.

At the back of the room, a separate chain whirringly delivers votive candles intended for Our Lady: small white cups, 3.5 centimeters high, are fitted with a wick before being filled, in rows of twelve, of a combustible material.

“Unlike candles, we do not use paraffin for candles, which is a petroleum derivative, but soya, a more ecological material, which has less rise in temperature, less carbonization and dirt on the ceilings”explains Laurent Lacoste, the production director of the candle factory.

The candle is therefore 100% biodegradable and compostable, with sourcing entirely in France, particularly for the bucket which is manufactured by a company in Mèze in Hérault.

As for the lock, it is blue, a color associated by Catholics with the Virgin, and « signature » from the candlemaker for his candles.

Hiring

Several times a week, Thierry Samar, the technical manager, carries out a test by lighting a few candles taken at random: “We check the centering of the wick, its height, that of the soya, and the duration of combustion: it must reach two hours”he explains.

The first batch of around 200,000 candles will be sent to Paris at the end of November, a little before the reopening of the cathedral on the weekend of December 7 and 8. To maintain production, “we are around 12 to 13,000 candles per day”adds Mr. Lacoste.

The candle factory plans to produce 1.25 million candles per year.

A considerable activity for this small company of 17 employees, which should increase its turnover by almost 40%.

“We are also going to hire two people for the activity linked to Notre-Dame”explains Guillaume de Vulpian.

Until its acquisition by the sanctuary three years ago, this family business worked for a limited geographical area around Lourdes, with 80% of its production intended for the sanctuary itself.

Since then, it has expanded its activity, notably via a contract with the Lisieux sanctuary.

However, the company does not want this visibility linked to Notre-Dame to massively bring it other contracts: “I do not want us to diversify, growth must remain calm”affirms Mr. de Vulpian, emphasizing “artisanal spirit” of this manufacture “which has been reinforced by the living heritage companies label”.

“There is a lot of know-how, tradition, our profession is not learned at school but through transmission”he adds.

So the candles are still made here by successive dipping, a traditional method. “which makes them all different, with their imperfections”explains Laurent Lacoste.

“We kept the same techniques even if today it is automatons that run the machine. »