(First, count to ten.)
A reader writes:
When the priest walks around the church incensing, do the people in the congregation make the Sign of the Cross when he gets to their area (they way they do when he sprinkles holy water)? I am unsure whether I should bow, make the Sign of the Cross, or what.
A check of the (current and previous) GIRM reveals little on this question. Here is the most significant discussion of what actually happens when things and people are incensed:
277. The priest, having put incense into the thurible, blesses it with the sign of the Cross, without saying anything.
Before and after an incensation, a profound bow is made to the person or object that is incensed, except for the incensation of the altar and the offerings for the Sacrifice of the Mass.
The following are incensed with three swings of the thurible: the Most Blessed Sacrament, a relic of the Holy Cross and images of the Lord exposed for public veneration, the offerings for the sacrifice of the Mass, the altar cross, the Book of the Gospels, the Paschal Candle, the priest, and the people.
The following are incensed with two swings of the thurible: relics and images of the Saints exposed for public veneration. This should be done, however, only at the beginning of the celebration, after the incensation of the altar.
The altar is incensed with single swings of the thurible in this way:
a. If the altar is freestanding with respect to the wall, the priest incenses walking around it;
b. If the altar is not freestanding, the priest incenses it while walking first to the righthand side, then to the left.
The cross, if situated on or near the altar, is incensed by the priest before he incenses the altar; otherwise, he incenses it when he passes in front of it.
The priest incenses the offerings with three swings of the thurible or by making the sign of the cross over the offerings with the thurible, then going on to incense the cross and the altar.
That’s it. It just says that the priest incenses the people with three swings of the censer. It doesn’t say for the people to do anything.
Neither does a check of the rubrics (so far as I could see) direct the people to do anything when they’re incensed. Checks of the BCL Newsletter and the Documents on the Liturgy (a standard collection) also turned up bupkis.
Thus, unless someone can show a binding document that says otherwise, it seems to me that the default option is for the people to do nothing.
That is definitely not the custom in some rites, however. In some Eastern rite services I’ve been to, it’s clearly the custom for folks to cross themselves.
Also, since the above text directs the incensor to make a profound bow (a bow of the body) before he incenses, it seems natural for folks to want to bow back to him. That’s a human politeness impulse, though. One might argue that in the act of incensing the people the incensor is being directed to show reverence to them on account of their sacredness to God (being made in the image of God). Since they are the recipient of this reverence and are not directed to reciprocate, one could argue that they ought not reciprocate at this point.
It seems to me that, although the default option seems to be to do nothing, Rome generally allows the laity a considerable amount of leeway in terms of their own gesture and posture (after all, we laity are peasants just in from slopping the pigs in the grand scheme of things; you can’t expect too much from us) and so (unless a binding document says otherwise) I don’t think Rome would mind if the faithful wanted to express their own piety by crossing themselves or bowing when they’re incensed.
It’s certainly better than forming a mob with pitchforks and torches.
The Ceremonial of Bishops, n. 149 says that everyone is to stand for the incensing after the incensing of the gifts. “After this, all rise, and a deacon, standing at the side of the altar, incenses the bishop, who stands without the mitre, then the concelebrants, then the people.”
This is an unapproved translation of Caeremoniale Episcoporum published by Liturgical Press in 1989. The Latin has “… omnes surgunt, diaconus stans ad latus altaris incensat Episcopum …”. It applies for a Stational Mass of the Diocesan Bishop.
So there is no direction for the people to remain sitting until after bishop or concelebrants are incensed. Everyone stands after the gifts are incensed.
No mention is made of people standing to be incensed in the 2002 GIRM. (For example n. 75, 276, 277). On the contrary, 2002 GIRM 43 and 146 say they should sit during the preparation of the gifts and stand for the prayer after it. So the liturgical books instruct people to sit for this incensation, except for a Mass with a bishop.
Generally the liturigical books do not direct any gesture for a blessing. I believe the only case when a person being blessed is directed to make the sign of the cross is a deacon before reading the Gospel. (2002 GIRM 175, Ceremonial of Bishops, n. 140).
At the beginning of Mass it is clear that all make the sign of the cross. At the end of Mass only the person doing the blessing is described as making the sign of the cross (see 2002 GIRM n. 167).
2002 GIRM 275 explains that “A bow of the head is made when the three Divine Persons are named together and at the name of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor Mass is celebrated.” So a bow of the head should be made for the final blessing at Mass.
John Lilburne said:
>2002 GIRM 275 explains that “A bow of the head is made when the three Divine Persons are named together and at the name of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor Mass is celebrated.”
Um. Well. It would be nice if somebody would tell us about this little wrinkle, instead of having to read about it on the Internet….
At the name of Jesus, every head must bow,
But also for Mary, the saint honored now,
If you’d read the GIRM, you might also divine
That God in three Person gets a head inclined.
I would gladly bow down, I would bob my head,
But I cannot hear commands that are never said.
I would like a small cue that it’s time to nod,
So my head too honors Mary, saints, and God.
And I still can’t figure out how you’re supposed to beat your breast without hurting yourself. I thought it was sufficiently impressive that I finally found out ten years ago that people were making crosses before the Gospel, not just doing the Salaam or the spacesuit sealing gestures of Leela’s tribe of the Sevateem.
I’m sorry, you were speaking of Who?
Oh, now I remember what I meant to say!
*embarrassed look*
I believed the correct verb is “censed”. You cense people with incense in a censer. But when I looked it up, it turns out that both “to incense” and “to thurify” are equally correct. (And obviously “censed” could be misunderstood in oral use….)
Maureen, who saw lumps of frankincense at the international grocery today
Oh, some of this in noncense….
In Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite, Mgr Peter Elliot suggests that “The people stand and bow before and after they have been incensed.” He doesn’t provide any reference for this statement so I assume it is based on custom rather than any specific passage in the liturgical documents.
In the Anglican church the universal custom is for the thurifer to bow to each party being censed, either the clergy in the sanctuary, and to the people in the congregation when it is their turn to be censed. The action is completed when the people bow in return after being censed. Thx.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve been censed (saying that one has “been incensed” implies that one has gotten angry about something, no?) in the modern rite of Mass — because it’s never happened!
Where I attend the traditional Mass it is customary to bow in response to the thurifer’s bow. He bows before he censes and then afterwards.
Where did you acquire this information: “The following are incensed with three swings of the thurible: the Most Blessed Sacrament, a relic of the Holy Cross and images of the Lord exposed for public veneration, the offerings for the sacrifice of the Mass, the altar cross, the Book of the Gospels, the Paschal Candle, the priest, and the people.”
“The following are incensed with two swings of the thurible: relics and images of the Saints exposed for public veneration. This should be done, however, only at the beginning of the celebration, after the incensation of the altar.”
Here is what the Catholic Encyclopedia has to say about incensing: “The dignity of the person or thing will determine whether the swing is to be single or double, and also whether one swing or more are to be given.”
As I read this I get the impression that the presider whether bishop or priest receives two swings of the thurible. What about the incensation of the concelebrants? and the deacon who passes the thurible to the presider and receives it back from the presider, does the deacon receive on swing? So I guess I am asking is the incensing protocol to be 2 swings for a bishop and/or presider at the celebration; 1 swing for the concelebrants and the deacon doing the incensing of the presider, concelebrants and the people. And finally, how many swings does the assembly receive in light of this protocol? Please write me back and help me out with this. I am an MC for my bishop, but no one seems to be able to give me a straight answer one way or another.
Deacon Master of Ceremonies