Well you can’t get more incense than the Botafumeiro.
July 25th is the feast day of St. James The Greater. At Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain, they celebrate the feast in style. There is so much incense there that there must be no nonsense with at 20 mile radius during the mass. What is it that contains so much incense? This magnificent thing:
The Botafumeiro (literally the smoke boat) is a nearly six foot high thurible that is swung by a pulley system that would be a personal injury lawyers favorite dream were it here in the litigious states of America. Truly magnificent.
Taylor Marshall, from Canterbury Tales, writes about his visceral reaction to the Botafumeiro.
As I said last year, one of the best things about being Catholic is being in communion not only with the Holy Father, but also with the Botafumeiro itself. Catholic brothers and sisters, if you ever become discouraged, just know that there is a incense thurible over six feet tall swinging around in a Saint James Compestella in Spain. No other religion would dare to have something so awesome.
Awesome, that.
Anyway, check out the Botafumeiro in action. Too cool.
July 27, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Patrick,
Thak you for your post. I was ordained in that cathedral and it is always a pleasure to see the botafumeiro running. Our Archdiocese has a lot of very old traditions.
Blessings, Fr. Oscar Torres
July 27, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Celebrating my feast day with style!
Saint James the Greater, Pray for us!
– James Reyes
July 27, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Smells at their finest 🙂
July 28, 2008 at 1:41 am
Oh my! That’s complete sweetness! I want one of those.
July 28, 2008 at 1:47 am
If I’m not mistaken, that is the thurible which was seen in one of the recent movies about Christopher Columbus…”1492″ I think.
VERY cool.
Regards,
Jenny
July 28, 2008 at 2:03 am
Now THAT is a thurible!
July 28, 2008 at 4:04 am
Interesting voodoo ritual.
July 28, 2008 at 4:37 am
Saint James, the Moor-slayer, pray for us!!!!!
July 28, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Of course, with Santiago de Compostela being the goal of many pilgrims trudging across Europe for weeks and months on foot, it is said that the massive amounts of incense were necessary to cover the smell! And I believe them. 🙂
July 29, 2008 at 12:35 am
Patrick,
I was in Compostela for this year’s Mass on the feast of St. James and to be received into the Archicofradía Universal del Apóstol Santiago (the Universal Archconfraternity of the Apostle St. James), so I got to see it in action once more!
I started an apostolate called Pilgrim Pathways in order to organize Christian pilgrimages to the tomb of St. James along the Camino de Santiago, so if you’re interested in seeing it in person … 😉
August 14, 2008 at 1:19 am
Excellent.
But this is also cool – a website where you can swing your own Botafumeiro.
It’s in French, which I don’t really understand, but adjust the little red and purple speed bars on the left, then use the mouse to give the beast a shove, and see whether you can get it swinging properly.
For the truly expert, click on the hand box to choose the manual function, and then you can use the mouse to tug the rope at the right time.
It’s very difficult to get the timing right so that the swing increases rather than reduces. Hit it just right and it’ll loop the loop.
Enjoy!
http://www.sciences.univ-nantes.fr/physique/perso/gtulloue/Meca/Oscillateurs/botafumeiro.html