Why has the use of incense

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Is incense always used at Benediction? Are there other liturgical instances where incense is used, besides Mass and Benediction?
 
We have incense at most services. My wife is asthmatic, but she insists on sitting close to the front anyway. The “dosage” is actually pretty low; for the first couple minutes, the smoke is purely imaginary, whereas I prefer that the thurible look like a volcano.

Off-topic, but in response to lustinus1’s comment in #13, I don’t claim to need both species, but I do want both species, because Jesus said both “eat” and “drink,” and I take His words seriously.

D
 
It must vary with the parish. I know one parish that does it on solemnities (for example, they used incense this past Sunday for the feast of Christ the King), and another parish that does it pretty much every Sunday. I know of yet another that doesn’t normally use it for Sunday Mass, but they do use it for funerals and for Eucharistic Adoration.
 
I prefer both the Host and Blood. I guess the reason why is that when I was going through the practice run of Holy Saturday on the morning of we used both the body ( unconsecrated host and, blood (water) at the time then during the concentrated Host and blood I took a to large of a sip of the blood during and I could feel the wine a few minutes later nobody can say that catholics don’t use the wine.
 
I’ve always loved the stained glass windows, the bells and the incense. They do give a “transcendent, supernatural nature” to Mass, and I found them warm and beautiful. Fortunately, our church still has them. It’s an older church, and both inside and out, it actually LOOKS like a church – not some cold gymnasium where one almost expects to see a basketball hoop protruding from some backboard.
 
I wish the parishes in my area made use of incense every Mass. It is rare in the parishes here. Incense, bells, chant, etc. was a major draw to the Church for me. I felt I had truly left the world outside and entered into sacred space. I miss that feeling.
 
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Every time incense comes up in a Latin context, we get a hoard of asthmatics declaring that their very life is on the line of incense is used. How does the East deal with this? It’s my experience that the typical Byzantine temple - Catholic or Orthodox - is a big perpetual cloud of incense :P.
 
Why wow? Parishes are not obliged to distribute the chalice. In my archdiocese the chalice is rarely distributed. Incense is definitely more common than the chalice here.
 
Our church here is attached to the catholic elementary/middle school so I can relate to loving the bells and all that come with them
 
Exactly. I’ve had asthma my whole life, with symptoms brought on by nearly every common trigger, and I’ve been around incense since I was atleast 8 years old. In all those years I have never once had any symptoms brought on by the incense and I still to this day serve at the altar. Now, I’m not saying there aren’t any asthmatics who suffer due to incense, I just think the numbers are very inflated. It’s part of the whole let’s “simplify” the mass by removing all those elements, like many others here have stated.
 
It depends on the priest and it also depends on the layout of the church. Some churches try to be sensitive to those who are sensitive to incense, and some people have serious problems around heavy fragrances. If you want to know why your parish does not use incense more often, ask your pastor. Sometimes, it is because the feedback is much more positive when he doesn’t than when he does.
 
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I’ve only seen a few Churches using it. The Bible states God commanded many times to use incense to make offerings to Him and as a way of atonement.

I think it is part of the more “relaxed” attitude from some parishes in regard to the traditions of the Church. Just like very few offer wine along with the Holy Host.

God Bless.
 
Iustinus1 said:
I’d much prefer incense every mass than having to have the blood of Christ given out. We get it all in the host; body, blood, soul, and divinity.
The Council of Trent said anathema to those who say you need both species(like Luther). I have no idea why this is even a thing now.
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Reception of Holy Communion under both kinds is a “thing” now because the Dogmatic Constitution on Sacred Liturgy said that it may be a “thing” when the bishops see fit:
The dogmatic principles which were laid down by the Council of Trent remaining intact [Session XXI, July 16, 1562. Doctrine on Communion under Both Species, chap. 1-3: Condlium Tridentinum. Diariorum, Actorum, Epistolarum, Tractatuum nova collectio ed. Soc. Goerresiana, tome VIII (Freiburg in Br., 1919), 698-699.], communion under both kinds may be granted when the bishops think fit, not only to clerics and religious, but also to the laity, in cases to be determined by the Apostolic See, as, for instance, to the newly ordained in the Mass of their sacred ordination, to the newly professed in the Mass of their religious profession, and to the newly baptized in the Mass which follows their baptism.
–Sacrosanctum concilium, 55

Also, per the USCCB:
Since, however, by reason of the sign value, sharing in both eucharistic species reflects more fully the sacred realities that the Liturgy signifies, the Church in her wisdom has made provisions in recent years so that more frequent eucharistic participation from both the sacred host and the chalice of salvation might be made possible for the laity in the Latin Church.
Norms for the Distribution and Reception of Holy Communion under Both Kinds in the Dioceses of the United States of America, 11.
and
17. From the first days of the Church’s celebration of the Eucharist, Holy Communion consisted of the reception of both species in fulfillment of the Lord’s command to “take and eat . . . take and drink.” The distribution of Holy Communion to the faithful under both kinds was thus the norm for more than a millennium of Catholic liturgical practice.

18. The practice of Holy Communion under both kinds at Mass continued until the late eleventh century, when the custom of distributing the Eucharist to the faithful under the form of bread alone began to grow. By the twelfth century theologians such as Peter Cantor speak of Communion under one kind as a “custom” of the Church. [Cf. Petrus Cantor, Summa de Sacramentis et Animae Consiliis , ed. J.-A. Dugauquier, Analecta Medievalis Namurcensia , vol. 4 (Louvain/Lille, 1954), I, 144.] This practice spread until the Council of Constance in 1415 decreed that Holy Communion under the form of bread alone would be distributed to the faithful.

Etc…so if you are truly curious about why this is a “thing,” even if you don’t agree, the entire document is a worthwhile place to get that insight:
http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/norms-for-holy-communion-under-both-kinds/index.cfm

The short answer (ironically?) is that there are differences of opinion about which millenium of our two millenia to consult about what is “traditional.”
 
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Usige said:
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Thrstypirate:
Because people whine about the smell and cough.
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I know a priest that put a small chunk of dry ice in the thurible instead of incense. There were still people that complained that the “smoke” and smell irritated them.

I know that there are some people that it truly irritates their lungs, but seems there are also some that have a purely psychosomatic reaction.
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It may be psychosomatic, but still real -.it’s not like they don’t still actually tear up or cough or whatever.
 
I think the expense issue is a red herring. You can buy 500g boxes of the stuff of reasonable quality for around £12.99 a box at St Paul’s bookshop in London (and St Paul’s are not exactly a place for cheap prices, in my opinion). It would take quite a lot of incense burning to get through a 500g box of incense, I would think. I think the bill for providing coffee and biscuits after Mass would be considerably more than the cost of incense used at a Mass (not that I am suggesting this be axed).
 
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Maybe, maybe not. The incense used at my parish is quite expensive and the good quality charcoal is too.
If we used at it every Mass, each weekend, that is 6 times. Then we have adoration and benediction once a week, and at least 4 funerals a week.
That much usage would triple the amount we need. That is not a cost we can just eat.
 
Perhaps your parish is buying its incense from the wrong place? Incense seems quite cheap here in the UK, I don’t see why it should be much more expensive in the USA. But you know your parish better than I do. How much incense by weight would you realistically go through in a week?
 
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