Incense in the Catholic Liturgy: History, Blends and Thuribles

Incense in the Catholic liturgy is aromatic resin — almost always frankincense (olibanum), tapped from Boswellia trees in Oman, Somalia and Ethiopia — burned on lit charcoal inside a swinging metal censer called a thurible. It marks specific moments of the Mass: the entrance procession, the proclamation of the Gospel, the offertory, the elevation of the consecrated host and chalice, and funeral rites, as set out in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. Grains of frankincense are often blended with smaller amounts of myrrh, benzoin or storax to soften the smoke and add sweetness, though plain olibanum remains common. The custom has no unbroken line back to the Jerusalem Temple: the early Church avoided incense for nearly three centuries because it was the ritual gesture of Roman emperor worship, adopting it only after that association faded.

Biblical roots and a slow Christian adoption

The Hebrew Bible describes a specific temple incense — a compound of stacte, onycha, galbanum and frankincense burned daily in the sanctuary and forbidden for ordinary use. The Magi’s gift of frankincense and myrrh to the infant Jesus, recorded in Matthew’s Gospel, gave both resins a lasting place in Christian symbolism. Yet for the first Christians, burning incense before an image or altar was the exact test Roman officials used to identify apostates during persecution: refusal to offer a pinch of incense to the emperor’s genius marked a Christian, and those who complied were called thurificati, “the incensed ones.” Only after the Edict of Milan in 313 CE, once incense no longer signified emperor worship, did it enter Christian worship — first at funerals and processions, then gradually into the Mass itself, formalized centuries later in the medieval Ordines Romani.

What does church incense smell like?

The dominant note is frankincense itself: resinous, faintly citrus and pine-like, driven by monoterpenes such as α-pinene and limonene alongside the boswellic acids that give the aged resin its slightly bitter, waxy depth. Where myrrh is added, the smoke gains a darker, more medicinal, balsamic undertone. Benzoin or storax, when present, contribute a vanilla-like sweetness from benzoic acid and related benzoates — the same warmth found in Siam benzoin used across perfumery. The combined effect, thick white smoke with a resinous-sweet, faintly smoky-vanilla trail, is what many people recognize as “the smell of church” independent of any single ingredient.

Frankincense, myrrh, benzoin and storax: the blend

There is no single official recipe; parishes and suppliers vary widely. The table below summarizes the roles the four resins most commonly play in Western church-incense blends.

Commercial “church incense” sold today is usually frankincense tears coated in a thin sugar or resin syrup, sometimes with benzoin or storax powder mixed through, and occasionally a synthetic fragrance oil added for a more consistent scent from batch to batch.

When is incense used during the Mass?

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal permits, but does not require, incense at several points: the solemn entrance procession; incensation of the altar and cross; the Gospel book before its proclamation; the bread, wine, altar, priest, ministers and people at the offertory; the host and chalice at the elevation; and the body at a funeral Mass. At the Easter Vigil, five grains of blessed incense are pressed into the paschal candle in the shape of a cross, recalling the wounds of Christ. None of this is obligatory outside high or solemn celebrations, and many ordinary parish Masses use no incense at all.

The thurible and boat: how the tools work

A thurible is a metal censer, typically brass or silver, its perforated bowl suspended on three or four chains so it can be swung without spilling embers. A self-igniting charcoal disc is lit and lowered into the bowl; the thurifer then swings it gently to keep the coal glowing. Incense grains are carried separately in a small boat-shaped vessel, the navicula, and spooned onto the charcoal by the priest or deacon, who typically blesses the incense before its first use in a given rite. The pierced lid lets smoke escape steadily as the thurible is swung toward the person or object being honored, usually in sets of three double swings for the Blessed Sacrament and fewer for other objects and persons.

Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican differences

Eastern Orthodox liturgy uses incense far more continuously than the Roman rite, censing the whole church repeatedly through a service rather than at a handful of set moments, and Orthodox censers commonly carry small bells on the chains, made and kneaded somewhat differently from Western blends. Anglo-Catholic parishes within Anglicanism reintroduced incense in the nineteenth century as part of the Oxford Movement’s recovery of pre-Reformation ceremonial, adapting Roman practice rather than inventing a separate one. A side-by-side comparison of Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican recipes shows how much the underlying frankincense base stays constant while the additions and proportions shift by tradition.

Buying and burning church incense today

Sacristies generally buy pre-made granular or pastille blends rather than compounding their own, and quality varies considerably between suppliers, from pure frankincense tears to heavily perfumed, sugar-coated grades. The mechanics of burning are the same as for any resin incense: a hot, fully ashed-over charcoal disc, small amounts added at a time, and enough ventilation to keep the smoke from becoming acrid — the same basic technique used outside liturgical settings. Some parishes have scaled back incense use in recent decades over smoke-detector triggers or concern for asthmatic parishioners, but where it is used, the underlying material has changed little: dried resin from Boswellia trees, burned on coal, in a metal censer whose basic form has survived largely unaltered for over a thousand years.

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