Incense before the 21st century

[TMF]

After watching the well-known 1940 Mass of Easter Sunday from Our Lady of Sorrows in Chicago, one of the few things I wondered is how incense worked back then.
Excuse the nerd coming out, but incense is my “niche” of liturgy, and I must admit I have an extensive collection.

Is it safe to say “self lighting” charcoal tabs didn’t exist then (or before for that matter)? What would have been in the thurible in the 1940’s? At first I wondered if coal would have been taken from a furnace, but wouldn’t that smoke and fill the church with coal fumes? From what I’ve collected, self-lighting charcoal tablets for church use are a fairly modern innovation, which makes me wonder what was used before they were invented.
Maybe someone here has some insight, or even remembers serving in the glorious days of yesterday.

Pax et Bonum

 

[CRM_Brother]

I spent some time in the Philippines, where self lighting charcoal is a luxury. There, we still used natural lump charcoal which was also used by the poor to cook with. Originally in the early Church, the incense was thrown onto the burnt-down coals of a stationary incense brasier on it’s own altar of incense like that of the Temple of Jerusalem (this element has carried over in tradition in the paschal fire at the Easter Vigil) but charcoal was in use by the early middle ages if not before as we see thuribles in artwork by that time. We would take a clay pot and start a little fire then lay the charcoal on top of it to light it. It could take a while and a lot of fanning, but if you packed the thurible correctly, they would stay lit for far longer than the modern briquettes. If it was a long high mass, then one server would he assigned to tend the charcoal fire pot outside of the church to make sure it didn’t go out.

Coal was only used in extreme circumstances not only because of the fumes but also because it burns rather than smolders. The incense will not melt and smoke properly if it catches fire.

In a pinch, the briquettes work well because they are easy and fast, but for a steady, strong, and long-lasting incensation, I prefer the natural chunk over the self-lighting charcoal. A deep thurible which has been packed well will last you a full mass and then some. Definitely better for long processions.

God Bless,
Br. Ben, CRM