INCENSE. - A resinous substance which, when burned, emits a pleasant aromatic scent and smoke.
**I. Sacred Scripture.** - The Bible frequently mentions incense (Hebrew: lebbonah, Greekized as λέβανος, because it was “white,” at least in its finest quality; cf. Pliny, *Hist. natur.*, XII, 14), especially in the ritual legislation. The use of incense recurred continually in Jewish worship.
Already in the Mosaic Tabernacle there was a special altar (q.v.) of incense, upon which the priest burned a mixture of aromatic substances—storax, onycha, galbanum, and incense—morning and evening (Ex. 30:34). This mixture, called *thymiana* (ibid., 30:9; Num. 16:7, 47), was reserved for cultic use under penalty of death (Ex. 30:38).
Incense was prescribed for cereal offerings (Lev. 2:1, 2, 15, 16), but was forbidden in sin offerings (ibid., 5:11) and in the jealousy rite (Num. 5:15); it was also sprinkled on the twelve “loaves of presentation” (Lev. 24:7). So great was its importance that it is sometimes mentioned explicitly alongside animals and other bloodless offerings (cf. Jer. 17:26; 41:5). At the beginning of the vulgar era, a chronological note refers to the “hour of incense” (Lk. 1:10). The fragrance of incense inspires graceful images in the Song of Songs (4:6, 14); its column of smoke ascends pleasingly to God like prayer (cf. Ps. 140:2; Rev. 8:3–4). The Bible alludes to its high cost, since it was an imported product from Sheba (Jer. 6:20) and other locales in southern Arabia (Isa. 60:6). The same provenance is indicated by classical authors (cf. Virgil, *Georg.*, I, 58). Incense appears to have been extracted from *Boswellia Carteri*, a member of the Burseraceae family.
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Angelo Penna
**II. Liturgy.** - The use of incense in worship is attested from the remotest antiquity among all the peoples of the East. Malachi had prophesied its use in the New Testament: “And in every place incense shall be offered” (Mal. 1:11, according to the Hebrew text and the Greek version of the LXX). Christian liturgy was for some time hostile to it, merely because it was anxious to distance itself from pagan practices. Thus we can explain the precise statements of Tertullian, who, listing the gifts of the Christian to God, says: “not grains of incense, the single tear of the Arabian tree” (*Apolog.*, 30); and of St. Augustine: “We are safe: we do not go to Arabia to seek incense” (*Enarr. in ps.*, XL, 14). For this reason, other assertions prior to the mid-4th century that seem to allude to Christian use of incense must be understood as allegorical; the one in the *Liber Pontificalis* regarding Pope Soter (162–70) dates to the 6th century. Nevertheless, the use of incense in the homes of Christians and sometimes in sacred buildings was not excluded, but only for perfuming the environment; this was the purpose of the censers donated by Constantine to the Basilica of St. John Lateran. When, in the second half of the 4th century, the pagan danger diminished, incense probably entered into liturgical use.
Some authors doubt whether a passage of St. Ambrose—“Would that we too, as adolescents, might carry altars and offer sacrifice” (*PL* 15, 1625)—has a literal rather than allegorical meaning; others take it as the earliest text attesting the use of incense at Mass. Explicit statements, however, are found in Paulinus of Nola (*PL* 61, 637) and Gregory the Great (*PL* 77, 989). The first direct text, however, dates to the 7th century (*Ordo Rom.* I), and incense is used in honor of the Pope and the Gospel during the procession that accompanies the Supreme Pontiff to the altar for the celebration of Mass. The liturgical use of incense is therefore later in the West than in the East, where it is certainly attested from the 4th century.
Eastern influence then made itself felt first in Gaul and later at Rome, where, by the 9th century, incensing of the altar was introduced, followed by incensing of the clergy and the oblations. In the first half of the 14th century (*Ordo XIV*), the rubrics now in force were established. Parallel to this, incense was introduced at Lauds and Vespers during the singing of the *Benedictus* (in the Ambrosian rite, incensation is omitted at the psalms in the *Laudate*). Incense was also used in honor of the dead, especially martyrs and confessors, and indeed from this came the custom of incensing on all sides the altar, where the relics of saints are kept. In the late Middle Ages, the primitive purposes of incense having been forgotten, it was assigned the office “so that all wickedness of the demon may be driven away; for the smoke of incense is believed to put demons to flight” (Innocent III, *De sacrificio Missae*, 2, 17). The purifying power, however, was not regarded as intrinsic to the incense itself, but as deriving from its having been blessed. From then on, palms, candles, ashes, etc., were incensed in various ceremonies. It remained fundamental, however, that incense is offered to the deity either directly or indirectly through persons or things that recall God. It has always been considered the most beautiful symbol of prayer, according to the very words of the Apocalypse.