Anyone who walks into a church during a solemn celebration immediately recognises a particular scent: it is incense, rising from the thurible swung rhythmically by the server. For many it is a smell tied to childhood, to feast days and to funerals. Behind this gesture, however, lies a long history and a rich symbolic language worth knowing.
A complex inheritance
The first Christians regarded incense with some suspicion. In the Roman world, burning incense before the statue of the emperor or the gods was a gesture of adherence to the public religion, and many martyrs died precisely for refusing to perform it. Only after the end of the persecutions, from the fourth century onwards, did incense gradually enter Christian liturgy, first in processions and in the honours paid to bishops, then at the heart of the celebrations.
This spread was helped by a broad biblical foundation: the incense of the Temple, Psalm 141 and above all the visions of Revelation.
The biblical roots
Two biblical images gave Christian incense its principal meaning:
- Psalm 141: "Let my prayer be set before you as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." The rising smoke becomes a figure of prayer.
- Revelation: in chapter 5 the twenty-four elders hold golden bowls full of incense, "which are the prayers of the saints"; in chapter 8 an angel with a golden censer offers much incense on the altar before the throne, and the smoke rises before God together with the prayers.
Earthly liturgy is thus conceived as a reflection of the heavenly one: incense joins the prayer of the community to that of the angels and saints.
The instruments
The rite of incensation requires a few specific objects:
| Object | Function |
|---|---|
| Thurible | Metal vessel hung on chains, holding the lit charcoal |
| Boat | Small ship-shaped container for the grains of incense |
| Spoon | Used to take incense from the boat and place it on the charcoal |
The server who carries the thurible is called the thurifer, from the Latin tus, incense, and ferre, to carry. He is often accompanied by another server who holds the boat. In the Eastern rites the thurible sometimes has bells along its chains, often twelve, which tradition links to the apostles.
When incense is used
In the Roman rite incense is optional, but it is traditionally used in solemn celebrations at certain precise moments:
- at the beginning, to incense the altar and the cross;
- before the proclamation of the Gospel, to honour the book;
- at the offertory, over the gifts, the altar, the celebrant and the faithful;
- at the elevation, when the consecrated bread and wine are shown;
- at funerals, around the coffin.
The incensing of the faithful and of the deceased has a precise meaning: the person is seen as a temple, a place where the sacred dwells, and therefore receives the same honour given to the altar.
In the Byzantine liturgy of Vespers, Psalm 141 is sung while the priest incenses the church, making the link between the words and the gesture visible.
The Botafumeiro of Santiago
The most spectacular example of a thurible is found in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, destination of the great medieval pilgrimage. The Botafumeiro is a huge metal censer hung from a rope that descends from high above the crossing. During certain celebrations a team of men, called tiraboleiros, sets it in motion by pulling the rope, until the censer swings in wide arcs from one side of the transept to the other, leaving a trail of smoke and fragrance.
For pilgrims arriving after weeks on the road, this spectacle marked the end of the journey in an atmosphere of festivity and solemnity.
The symbolism of incensation
To sum up, Christian incensation condenses several meanings:
- Prayer: the rising smoke is prayer reaching God.
- Honour: what represents Christ is incensed, as are people as temples of the Spirit.
- Sacrifice: the resin is entirely consumed, like an offering.
- Communion: earthly liturgy joins the heavenly liturgy described in Revelation.
In short
- The first Christians avoided incense because of its link with the imperial cult; its use spread from the fourth century.
- Psalm 141 and Revelation fixed its meaning as prayer rising upwards.
- Thurible, boat and spoon are the instruments of the rite; the one carrying the thurible is the thurifer.
- The altar, the Gospel, the gifts, the celebrants, the faithful and the dead are incensed.
- The Botafumeiro of Santiago is the most famous monumental thurible in Europe.
