Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/787

 INCENSE

717

IN CCENA

it employed at the vigil Offices of the Sunday in Jeru- salem (cf. Peregrinatio, II). Almost all Eastern lit- urgies bear witness to its use in the celebration of the Mass, particularly at the Offertory (cf. Goar, "Eucho- logium GrEECorum", 73; Renaudot, "Coll. liturgiarum orient.", I, 200). In the Roman Church incensation at the Gospel of the Mass appears very early — at the Offertory in the eleventh, and at the Introit in the twelfth century, at the Benedictus and Magnificat of the canonical Hours about the thirteenth century, and, in connexion with the Elevation and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, about the fourteenth cen- tury. " Ordo Romanus VI " describes the incensa- tion of the celebrant, and in the time of Durandus (Rat. off. Div.) the assisting clergy were incensed. In the present discipline of the Western Church in- cense is used at solemn Mass, solemn blessings, func- tions, and processions, choral offices, and absolutions for the dead. On these occasions persons, places, and things such as relics of Christ and the saints, crucifix, altar, book of Gospels, coffin, remains, sepulchre, etc. are incensed. When used the incense is generally burned. There are two cases, however, when it is not consumed: (a) the grains put into the Pa.scal candle and {b) the grains put into the sepulchre of con- secrated altars. At Mass incense is generally blessed before use.

Symbolism and Manner op Incensing. — Incense, with its sweet-smelling perfume and high-ascending smoke, is typical of the good Christian's prayer, which, enkindled in the heart i)y the fire of God's love and exhaling the odour of Christ, rises up a pleasing offering in His sight (cf. Amalarius, "De eccles. officiis" in P. L., CV). Incensing is the act of im- parting the odour of incense. The censer (q. v.) is held in the right hand at the height of the breast, and grasped by the chain near the cover; the left hand, hokling the top of the chain, is placed on the breast. The censer is then raised upwards to the height of the eyes, given an outward motion and slightly ascending towards the oliject to be incensed, and at once brought back to the starting point. This constitutes a .':ingle swing. For a double swing the outward motion should be repeated, the second movement being more pro- nounced than the first. The dignity of the person or thing will tletermine whether the swing is to be single or double, and also whether one swing or more are to be given. The incen.se-boat is the vessel containing the incense for immediate use. It is so called from its shape. It is generally carried by the thurifer in the disengaged hand.

Encyclopedia Biblica (London, 1901). s. v.; Dictionnaire de la Bible (Paris, 1899), s. v.; Martene, De antiquis ecclesice ritibus (Antwerp, 1764), passim; Rock, Hierurgia (London, 1S57); O'LoAN. Ceremonies &c. (Dublin, 1891); Van Dek Stappen, Sacra Lilurgia, V (Mechlin, 1902).

P. MORRISROE.

Incense Altar. See Altar (in Scriptitre).

Incest (Lat. in, not, and castus, chaste) is sexual intercourse between those who are related by blood or marriage. Its specific malice is contracted by such unlawful commerce between those related within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity, as com- puted by canonists. The guilt is incurred not only by those sinful acts which are, as theologians say, fully consummated, but also by incomplete acts. The particular deformity of incest comes not merely from the violation of the virtue of chastity, but also from the offence against the mingled affection and reverence with which parents and, proportionately, other relatives should be regarded. It is certain that this crime has its distinctive enormity from the pro- hibition of the natural law, where there is question of the first degree in the direct line, for instance, be- tween parents and children. For the other degrees it is probable that recourse must be had to the eccle- siastical law which invalidates marriage within those limits. It is commonly held, with regard to

those related by consanguinity or affinity, that with the exception of the first degree in the direct line all forms of incest are, morally speaking, of the same species, and therefore for the integrity of confession there is no necessity to distinguish fjetween them. It must be noted, however, that carnal sins between those who are spiritually or legally relatefl within the degrees that would render their marriage invalid, are separate species of incest. A decree of the Holy Office, 2,5 June, 1SS5, ileclares that in applications for matrimonial dispensations it is no longer necessary to make mention of the circumstance of incestuous re- lations between the petitioners.

Slater, Manual of Moral Theology (New York, 1908); Genicot, Theologies moralis institutiones (Louvain, 1898); Bal- LERiNi, Opus theologicum morale (Prato, 1899).

Joseph F. Delant.

Inchbald, Elizabeth, novelist, dramatist, and ac- tress; b. at Staningfield, near Bury St. Edmunds, 15 Oct., 1753; d. at Kensington, London, 1 Aug., 1821; daughter of John Simpson (d. 1761), a Catholic farmer of some social position. From an early age she wished to be an actress, but an impediment in her speech raised a difficulty. She visited London several times and then suddenly left her home in 1772 and went to town to seek her fortune as an actress. In the same year she married Joseph Inchbald, actor, artist and Catholic, whom she had met some months earlier. From that time her career was marked out. She be- gan by plajnng Cordelia to her husband's Lear and continued to act in a large number of characters until she retired from the stage in 1789. She is said to have won warm praise from her audiences though she was not a great actress. Her husband died in 1779, and in 1782 she had her first play accepted. As a dramatist she produced more than a dozen plays (cliiefly to be found in old dramatic collections), of which some, however, were translations or adaptations. None of her dramatic work takes a high rank, though the char- acters are fairly well drawn, and the dialogue is vivid and witty. Her life during the time following her husband's death, and, indeed, before, was by no means an easy one, but she made goofl friends, amongst them Mrs. Siddons and John Kemble, anil her wit, warmth of heart, and talent won for her a place in society which she greatly enjoyed. In 1791 she produced her first novel, " A Simple Story ", which was successful at once. The story is one of much interest and pathos, and is simply and vivaciously told; it is one of the earliest specimens of the English novel of passion and has been very often reprinted (latest edition, London, 1908). Her second story, " Nature and Art", is not so good, but it won popularity and is still interesting to the student of the eighteenth-century novel. It contains in a mild form some of the revolutionary opinions con- cerning society which nearly all the young literary people of that time discussed in their work (a handy modern edition of it is that of Cassell, London, 1886). Though at times she grew lax in the practice of her faith, Mrs. Inchbald all her life was a sincere Catholic and at the close of her life turned fervently to the ways of piety. On the advice of Dr. Poynter, vicar Apos- tolic of the London district, she burnt her memoirs which she had prepared for publication. All her biog- raphers agree as to her beauty and charm, her stainless life, and her generous charities.

Knight in Did. Nat Bioq.. X (London, 190S): Hatthohn- THWAiTE in The Dublin Review (London. April, 1SS5) ; Gillow, Bibl. Diet. Ena. Catholics. (Ijondon, 1888): Raleigh, Hist, oj the English Novel (Lomion, 190;i). KatE M. WarREN.

In Coena Domini, a papal Bull, so called from the feast on which it was annually pul:)lished in Rome, viz. the feast of the Lord's Supper, or Maundy Thurs- day. The ceremony took place in the loggia of St. Peter's in the presence of the pope, the College of Car- dinals, and the Roman Court. The Bull was read first in Latin by an auditor of the Sacred Roman Rota,