Baptism of Bells

[Will_Pick]

In the Catholic faith has any one heard of the Baptism of Bells it was some thing by Pope John xiv in 965Ad if you can help,Thank you and God bless

 

[Irish_Melkite]

Will,

Scroll down to the section on Benediction or blessing of bells in the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Bells

Many years,

Neil

 

[Matthaeus]

Will Pick:

In the Catholic faith has any one heard of the Baptism of Bells it was some thing by Pope John xiv in 965Ad if you can help,Thank you and God bless

Bells in the Catholic Church are blessed, not baptised. Thi has always been the case. The current ritual can be found in the Book of Blessings.

A past blessing included the “washing” of the bells with holy water and applying Chrism (blessed holy oil.) Given the use of Chrism, some (particularly some anti-Catholic Protestants) began to refer to the process as the “baptism of bells” so they could decry the ritual.

Today the blessing is very similar to the Liturgy of the Word. The bells can indeed be incensed and sprinkled with holy water, but the ritual has been changed so no one will confuse it with a baptism.

 

[puzzleannie]

everything I know about church bells I learned from Dorothy Sayers’ best book the Nine Tailors, in which the church bells figure in a murder mystery. The bells were blessed as described above, christened and given a name. Sabaoth, John, Sanctus were 3 I remember from the book. The names were enscribed on the bell when it was cast (a process also described in the book).