Censing Deacon

17/9/06

In Mass when censing priest, deacon and subdeacon. When the priest is censed three times and the acting deacon is also a priest I have censed him twice. I have now been told I should cense him, as deacon, three times as he is also a priest.

Can anyone please advise as to the correct procedure?

Stephen


REPLIES 

Quintin Butcher - 18/9/06

I have been taught BISHOP is censed 3x3 times,  a PRIEST 2x3 times, Servers and Choir 2x2 times and congregation   1 centre ,1left and 1 right    
Quintin Butcher  
Holy Grail PG10.

Fr. Ray - 19/9/06

If a priest is acting as a deacon then he should be censed as a deacon. The same logic applies at the end of the Gospel. When the deacon (even if he is a priest) has finished reading he censes the celebrant (from inside the sanctuary upon his return, and not from somewhere else where the Gospel procession may be). If there is no deacon and the celebrant reads the Gospel he reads it as part of his diaconal duty and should never be censed by the MC or thurifer.
Ritual notes is quite comprehensive about the number of swings, and no-one (not bishops nor even the Blessed Sacrament exposed) receives three triple swings.
Fr Ray

Fr. Graham Colby - 17/10/06

If you wish to follow the Tridentine Roman use consult eg Fortescue/O'Connell or Ritual Notes. The deacon & subdeacon, even if actually priests, are treated liturgically throughout as deacon & subdeacon. There is no such thing as a ductus triplex, or triple swing of the thurible in the Roman rite, tridentine or modern.

In the modern Roman rite the deacon must actually be a deacon, and it is he who performs all the incensings at the offertory once he has received the thurible back from the celebrant. He doesn't appear to be incensed himself. Nor do servers. A second deacon who has assisted the celebrant at the incensing of the oblata and altar seems to be incensed together with the celebrant with three double swings. Concelebrants and clergy in choir are incensed in groups with three doubles - presumably centre, left & right, as previously in such cases. The people likewise now have three doubles - the previous three singles could look rather perfunctory! If there is no deacon the thurifer performs all these incensings in the same way. (cf Mgr Peter J Elliott, "Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite", revised edition 2005)

I was brought up in an Anglican Roman use parish, but I imagine Sarum "supporters" would have tried to reconstruct medieval English incensations perhaps from analogies with the rites of religious orders and European local usages. I'd be very interested to know if anyone has ever found any direct evidence of how these things were actually done in pre-reformation Britain.

Fr Graham Colby

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