Bells Their History, Legends, Making and Uses BY Satis N. Coleman File – 02 : Chapters X to XVII Pages 96 to 186 This document is provided for you by The Whiting Society of Ringers visit www.whitingsociety.org.uk for the full range of publications and articles about bells and change ringing CHAPTER X DIFFERENT USES OF CHURCH BELLS The important part which the church bell played in the lives of the people of Old England is perhaps best shown by the number of ways in which church bells were used. A quaint old writer thus briefly states their uses: To can the fold to church in time, We chime. When joy and mirth are on the wing, We ring. When we lament a departed soul, We toll. Church bells not only called the people to the various services of the church, but also rang for different parts of the service, reminded the people of the different days in the church year and the anni­ versaries that were to be remembered, announced the hours of the day, and told of the important things that happened in the community.' lA rich parish took pride in having separate bells. distinct in tone. for the different uses. These bells were put in different places about the church and were called by different Latin names. according to their uses. Here are some of the names given to distinguish the different bells: The cam pana was the big bell that hung in the steeple and called the people to church. It was called cam-pane from the name of the city in Italy where lived the bishop who first used a big church bell. The squilla was a small bell in the choir. rung at various parts of the service as a guide to the singers. and also to announce the different parts of the service to the congregation. Later this bell was called the DIFFERENT USES OF CHURCH BELLS 97 The big tower bell served many purposes, and rang $:0 often during the day that it must have been bl$wUclering to one who did not follow the meaning all the signals. In many places it rang early in the morning to waken the people of the parish. This was called the Gabriel bell. All the church services during the day were aj:l'tlQunced by the church bell. The Sermon bell indicated that there would be a sermon; the Pardon bell was tolled just before and after the service, at which time the worshipers prayed for pardon of their sins; the Pudding bell was rung immediately after the service was over, and was supposed to give notice to the cook to prepare the dinner. The Sacring or Holy bell (the same as the Sanctus bell) was rung to call attention to the more solemn parts of the mass. It is still used in Catholic churches. At a very important point in the service ¢:::tIled the "elevation of the Host" it is rung and everyone in the church kneels at the signal. For­ merly this little sacring bell was sometimes hung in a small turret outside the church, where it still may sancius bell, or holy bell, and it is still known by that name. Dupla was the name of the clock bell that told the hours of the day. (This wasused as early as the days"ofEdward the Confessor.) The cymbalium was the bell in the cloister to give signals to the monks. Nola was ~other bell named for the man who first used church bells, for he was l\lis'hop of Nola. The nola seems to have been hung in the refectory, Q:l7 m~tl,ks' dining hall, and was probably the ancestor of our modern ,(lil1J1<lt bell. The corrigiunculum was rung when some one had to receive the punishment of flagellation, or whipping. Parishes which could afford two big bells used one of them as the f'qmpq~a, or regular church bell, and the other one, called the signum, Was run" at least eight times a day for various announcements to the :g¢ppl¢ p£ the parish. BELLS be seen in some of the old churches. Often it was hung inside the church. Sometimes the sacring bell developed into a whole chime of bells. At ---From Jam;:-h and Out of the Old M:;;:;;;;of California FIG. 48. A wheel of sacring bells one place in England it was remembered that "in the tyme of the old law, eighteen little bells hung in the middle of the church which the pulling of one bell made them all ring, which was done at the elevation of the Host." Wheels of sacring bells are said to be very common in Spain. Figure 48 shows one brought from Spain to America, which was used in a California mission. In some places the bells rang to announce that someone was being baptized. There are still par­ ishes where it has been usual, from time unknown, to ring the Christening peal. The Angelus is a Roman Catholic devotion in memory of the visit of the angel who told Mary DIFFERENT USES OF CHURCH BELLS 99 was to be the mother of Jesus. A ngelus is the Latih word for angel. The text of the Latin verses ts recited three times a day in the Catholic church. A bell called the Angelus bell is rung at the same time, and all who hear it are supposed to stop their work and repeat these verses in devotion to Mary. The hours for this devotion are (since Louis XI so ordered in 1472) 6 :00 A.M., noon, and 6:00 P.M. GramstorfE Bros., Inc .. Malden, Mass. FIG. 49. "The Angelus," from the painting by Millet The signal is three strokes, thrice repeated, followed by nine in succession. 100 BELLS This was the "bidding to the people, to the sick in bed, and to the healthy, to those at home, and to those abroad, that they should, as the sound floated through the villages-the maiden in her cottage and the laborer in the field ~reverently kneel and recite the allotted prayers, beginning Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mtirie;» hence it Was called the Angelus bell. It was also called the ."Ave bell," and sometimes the name "Gabriel bell" was applied to all three services. In Millet's famous picture of the Angelus (see Fig. 49, p. 99) a man and a woman working in the fields in France have just heard the Angelus bell from the little church in the distant village. Being good Catholics, with bowed heads they are repeating the Latin verses. This picture vividly illustrates the power of bells in the daily lives of these people. The custom is a beautiful one, and it seems a pity that other churches have not some similar signal for a moment of daily reverence. In some parts of England the bells rang a muffled peal on Holy Innocents Day, in memory of the massacre of the early Christian martyrs. It was called the Holy Innocents bell. The believers in evil spirits thought that these beings wandered around in the air waiting for an ill person to die so they could pounce on his soul while it was passing from the body to its resting place. If, however, the baptized bells rang while 'Rev. H. T. Ellacombe, in Church Bells of Devon. DIFFERENT USES OF CHURCH BELLS 101 person was dying, the evil spirits were frightened ~w~y and the soul could pass on in peace. The ringing of the bell at this time was called the Pass­ bell. This was much like the custom in ancient Greece of beating on brazen kettles while a person was dying, to scare away the furies. The belief in this power of bells to help the depart­ ing soul led many people to give large sums of money for the support of bells. This was also one of the factors which encouraged the making of bells of monstrous size; for if bell tones could frighten away evil spirits, how much more effectual they would be if the bell were large and its tone far­ reaching! It was ordered that all within hearing of the passing bell should pray for the soul of the dying. The Death knell was rung when the person was really dead, and this custom lasted much longer than the custom of ringing the passing bell. The practice of tolling church bells at deaths and during funeral services is still very common even in this country, a$ a way of showing respect to the person who has died. It was the custom for the death knell to indicate, by a certain number of rings, whether it was a man, woman, or child who had died. The most common signal was three rings for a child, two times three for a woman, and three times three for a man, but the rule was not the same in all. places. Often a large bell was rung for adults and a small one for children: three strokes for a male, two for a 102 BELLS female, then it was toned for one hour. Sometimes the age of the person who had died was also rung at the end of the death knell. There is a story that a wicked squire died, and no death knell was rung because his spirit came and sat upon the bell so that all the ringers together could not toll it! In most cathedrals a "muffled peal" is rung when a church dignitary dies. This is produced by wrapping one side of the clapper in a thick pad so as to form an echo to the clear stroke of the other half, and this is considered the most magnificent effect which can be produced by bells'! In a Wiltshire village in England it is still the custom to have the church bell ring out a joyous wedding peal, instead of the doleful tolling of the muffled knell, at the burial of a young maiden.