Amalarius of Metz, was a Bishop and liturgical commentator on the various Western Orthodoxritual ordines; he lived in the late 700s and mid 800s, reposing around 850. Dumbarton Oaks has published an English translation of his most well-know work in two volumes; however, here we are concerned with the "Lost Work" of Amalarius.
Amalarius is probably most famous [and controversial in his own lifetime] for his heavy allegorical interpretations of all rites and customs. However, for our purposes, it is not the allegorical interpretation that is of interest, but, the fact that he records the actual rites and customs, with good detail.
The Henry Bradshaw Society, most well-known for publishing early Western liturgical texts, has recently published the text, "A Lost Work by Amalarius of Metz: Interpolations in Salisbury, Cathedral Library, MS 154", as Volume 2 of their Subsidia series. It is from this we shall be taken excerpts.
In this recently published work, we have clear evidence that by the time Amalarius was writing in the early 800s, incense was clearly used, not just in processionals, but, at the Altar and church in general. For example, Amalarius records that at Nocturns, Lauds, and Vespers, the Altars of a church are censed. Some will not consider this controversial, but, there have been scholars who have attempted to contest that the censing of the Altars is something of late 10th or early 11th century, but, Amalarius bears witness to this much earlier.
I cannot type out all the text, but, I will give some excerpts from the English translation of Amalarius:
"And at the terminus of each individual group of Psalms we recite a versicle and prayer [i.e. at the end of each Nocturn on Sundays]; and we require the burning of incense, at the hand of acolytes or of subdeacons, on the altars and in the church." [6.1.1]
Then, in reference to the Benedictus at Lauds:
"After that, at last, the Gospel trumpet resounds, when the Priest himself burns incense upon the Altars. Afterwards, he makes the round of all the Altars, with incense, antiphons and a collect. Coming back, finally, before the main Altar, he finishes his prayer, exchanges a greeting with his brethren, and they all retire." [6.1.2]
"Well then, brother, since we bring up the subject of incense, may it please you -- or rather, may it please our True Master Jesus Christ --- that he would open up to us something of its sweetness. Now, we above observe that in certain places of devout worship incense is offered in such a way as we have already described, that is, after the prayer and at the start of the subsequent readings in each individual Nocturn, and again at the Gospel Canticle [Benedictus]. Four censings take place in all. Let us knock at the door, brother. For He is faithful and merciful, Who said, "I Am the Door"; may He not send us empty away. For no one will doubt but that the practice of burning incense exists from the Fathers and, rather, from the very instruction of the Lord. Nevertheless, if God should open, it is agreeable that we say what thing those four censings accord with, and what the rationale is for their being offered at the end of the prayer and start of the reading.
"You know, my friend, that the power of prayer is expressed through incense, as the Psalms says: 'Let my prayer be directed as incense in Thy Sight.' For words are heard outwardly, but compunction of spirit is manifest to God alone, in the hour we pray to Him. Through this incense displayed outwardly is signified the Grace of the Lord, by which the spirit is moved to compunction and tears. For incense, when fire is applied to it, gives off an aromatic smoke. So indeed does our devotion, when the First of the Holy Ghost is applied, elicit the smoke of compunction and tears, both of which are sweet before the Lord.
"That we burn the incense upon the Altars reveals that in our hearts our prayer should be of a kind that ascends before the Lord. Or, alternatively: we offer incense on the Altar because, following the faithful example of the ones in whose honour that temple has been consecrated, we pray to God that, by their merits, the Holy Ghost would deign to illumine our heart for the seeking out of all that is good. Afterwards the incense is offered to the nostrils of the whole church, so that every single person may know that he ought to seek in prayer the same thing that he who lights the incense has sought over the Altar.
"After the censing, all shall listen to the reading, because it is obviously necessary that after prayer and tears the spirit should not turn away to idle words or deeds; rather, at the end of prayer it should guard itself in the same fervour of devotion that it undertook while at prayer. This censing is performed four times in the aforesaid Office, because there are four surpassing virtues for which we ought especially to pray: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.
"Since we have introduced these meagre observations about incense, it is fitting to incorporate here the incense offering of morning and evening, about which the Lord has instructed, saying: 'And he shall burn sweet smelling incense upon it in the morning when he dresses the lamps. And he burns it when he places the lamps in the evening.' Incense is burned in the morning, so that at the beginning of every good that, by God's inspiration, we set out to do, we would call upon this help whereby to bring it to completion. Incense is burned in the evening, sot hat, when we finish those works well begun, we would return prayers of thanks to him, from whom we have received, for those things that he has given; or indeed, because in the morning, with the sunrise, we see everything around us clearly, but in the evening we become benighted as our sight grows unreliable. For we behold as if by day the sacraments and sayings of Our Redeemer, which we are able to make out clearly by the working of human reason, in whatever small measure we possess. But in some matters human reason falls short and there, as if in the night, when the eyes of our understanding grows dime, we ought to follow only the authority of Holy Scripture. Incense gives off its scent in the morning when the Lord sets aflame for the gift of compunction the hearts of the faithful, which are now able to comprehend the Mysteries of truth. And he also burns incense in the evening when, out of even those things that men cannot yet comprehend, in their very affirmation that such, too, are Holy and Divine, He moulds them to a love for the things of Heaven, where all secrets shall be laid bare.
"Some of those who leader our worship are accustomed, at the time when the Gospel Canticle is sung, to light the incense and dispatch it to the Altars by assisting ministers, and others who light the incense make the trip themselves. Rightly does it happen at that time, because the thurible is the body of Christ Who preached the Gospel, which body is full of the prayers of the saints, and through which our prayers are offered up to God the Father. This humble author would prefer to address what they are offering who light the incense, the greater the gift of rank bestowed upon them, the more worthy and abundant should be their prayers ascending to God, both on their own behalf and on that of the people, especially since the Lord commands Aaron, the high priest, to do this, and as we read the Prophet Zechariah did (who was high priest at the time) when he was favourably heard, as the Gospel says: 'And it came to pass when Zechariah executed the priestly function in the order of his course before God, accordingly to the custom of the priestly office, it was his lot to offer incense, going into the Temple of the Lord. . And all the multitude of the people was praying without, at the hour of incense' and so on." [6.6.1-6.6]
It is thus safe to say that the usage of censing altars and the church during Matins and Vespers were fully developed by the year 800 AD in the West.
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