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What is Incense?: (Credit: The Catholic Source Book by Rev. Peter Klein)

Origin: Frankincense, boswellia carterii, is the main ingredient in the incense used in today’s liturgies. A resin produced by a family of desert trees that grow in southern Arabia, it is derived from a sap that dries, forming crystalline lumps of an amber/gold color.

For Christians, it has a rich prayer and purification symbolism. From earliest Christian days, it has been associated with Christ, beginning with the magi gift (Matthew 2:10-11). Even before that, the Jews regarded its rich spicy scent as a pure offering, pleasing to God. Even beyond Judeo-Christian circles, frankincense was prized for centuries in Palestine, Egypt, Greece, and Rome not only as a way to honor gods, but as a medicine and as a base for perfume.

Purpose: veneration is shown by incensing, as in the incensation of the altar, the Book of Gospels, the gifts of bread and wine, the clergy, the assembly, and the body of the deceased during a funeral. Five grains of it can be deposited in the Paschal candle at the Easter Vigil, representing Christ’s Five wounds. The old blessing of incense included the prayer, “Be blessed by him in whose honor you will burn.”

Symbolism: Its burning represents zeal and fervor. Its fragrance represents virtue. Its rising smoke represents acceptable prayer, as noted in Psalm 141:2.

Censer: A vessel for burning incense (mixture of aromatic gums) at solemn ceremonies. Its rising smoke symbolizes prayer. It’s also called a thurible, a thurifer being its user. The Supply container for the incense is called a boat.

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