Use of incense by a lay person

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I have a question regarding the use of incense. Is it acceptable for a lay-person to use incense in communal prayer outside of Mass or Benediction? For example, in a situation where a group of lay-people are praying the Rosary in public as an act of witness, would there be an issue with incense being used as a focal point?
 
I don’t see why not. It’s usually the altar boys who incense anything/anyone except the altar at Mass in my parish. They’re not ordained.

I don’t think there are rules about using incense in a non-liturgical setting. You’re certainly allowed to use it in private prayer.

But I defer to anyone with greater knowledge.

–Jen
 
revert_jen said:
I don’t think there are rules about using incense in a non-liturgical setting. You’re certainly allowed to use it in private prayer.
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I’m inclined to agree.
revert_jen said:
But I defer to anyone with greater knowledge.
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Which would be my wife, and the knowledge was that “it smokes up the entire house”, and that led to the rule: “don’t do that when I’m around”.

She who must be obeyed… 🤷

But if truth be known she turned out to be right, my little oratory where I pray the Liturgy of the Hours isn’t particularly well ventilated and the couple of times I tried to use it, I was literally choking… and I love the smell of incense.
 
OraLabora said:
I’m inclined to agree.

Which would be my wife, and the knowledge was that “it smokes up the entire house”, and that led to the rule: “don’t do that when I’m around”.

She who must be obeyed… 🤷

But if truth be known she turned out to be right, my little oratory where I pray the Liturgy of the Hours isn’t particularly well ventilated and the couple of times I tried to use it, I was literally choking… and I love the smell of incense.
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Oh man…

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=10641946

-Tim-
 
OraLabora said:
I’m inclined to agree.

Which would be my wife, and the knowledge was that “it smokes up the entire house”, and that led to the rule: “don’t do that when I’m around”.

She who must be obeyed… 🤷

But if truth be known she turned out to be right, my little oratory where I pray the Liturgy of the Hours isn’t particularly well ventilated and the couple of times I tried to use it, I was literally choking… and I love the smell of incense.
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I’m in the same boat… DW: “Smells like you’re burning the house down!”

So I have to carefully pick and choose the occasions when I can fire up the censer.
 
It would be the same as using a candle. No problem with it’s use.
 
I’m also interested in an authoritative answer to the questions in the original post. We burn incense at Lauds and Vespers at home. We impose the incense right before we begin chanting the Gospel Canticle. Would such practice make our prayer non-liturgical? We try to stick to the norms and rubrics of the Divine Office as closely as possible to ensure that we are praying liturgically, but if our use of incense as described here would make our prayer merely devotional, then we’d do away with our holy smokes.

We also use incense when praying the Holy Rosary. We put a grain or two on the charcoal at the beginning of each decade. I have not yet encountered any document prohibiting the use of incense in non-liturgical prayers and devotionals such as the Holy Rosary, so I suppose it’s okay. But, for liturgical prayer such as the Divine Office, I really would want to get a definitive answer. I hope someone knowledgeable would chime in.
 
elmerm said:
I’m also interested in an authoritative answer to the questions in the original post. We burn incense at Lauds and Vespers at home. We impose the incense right before we begin chanting the Gospel Canticle. Would such practice make our prayer non-liturgical? We try to stick to the norms and rubrics of the Divine Office as closely as possible to ensure that we are praying liturgically, but if our use of incense as described here would make our prayer merely devotional, then we’d do away with our holy smokes.

We also use incense when praying the Holy Rosary. We put a grain or two on the charcoal at the beginning of each decade. I have not yet encountered any document prohibiting the use of incense in non-liturgical prayers and devotionals such as the Holy Rosary, so I suppose it’s okay. But, for liturgical prayer such as the Divine Office, I really would want to get a definitive answer. I hope someone knowledgeable would chime in.
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In a Benedictine abbey, incense is not used all the time at Lauds and Vespers. On ordinary ferias, memorials and low feasts it isn’t used. On Sundays, high feasts and solemnities, it is, at the Gospel canticle. The rubrics of the Divine Office do point out the merits of having a graded degree of solemnity in accordance with the degree of the day’s celebration.

I don’t think your practice makes the prayer non-liturgical, but in my experience it would distract from the flow of the Office because in a public liturgy an acolyte would be spreading the incense without disrupting the flow of the Office.

I also chant the Office in a very small oratory that has great acoustics but is a bit lacking in ventilation so for practical purposes incense doesn’t work for me as it causes me to choke and my voice to seize up. I do frequently attend Vespers (and occasionally Lauds) at the local abbey so I get my dose of incense there if the day calls for it 🙂
 
On the rare occasions that I use incense for the LOTH, I add the incense before beginning the liturgy and just let it go.
 
revert_jen said:
I don’t see why not. It’s usually the altar boys who incense anything/anyone except the altar at Mass in my parish. They’re not ordained.

I don’t think there are rules about using incense in a non-liturgical setting. You’re certainly allowed to use it in private prayer.

But I defer to anyone with greater knowledge.
If a Decon is there then he dose instead but not during the consecration

–Jen
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