Bells at the Elevation of the Eucharist

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EcceAgnusDei said:
The EF is the Traditional Latin Mass. Low Mass has one priest and altar servers. High Mass has a priest, a deacon, and a sub-deacon. Here’s a beautiful Solemn High Mass at a seminary:

youtube.com/watch?v=enWiFcsBqIE
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Thank you for sending me this link. I haven’t watched it all yet, just skipped through it, but I intend to when I can watch it in peace. (Kids off school :hypno:)
 
I wish bell(s) were used during the elevation at our parish. I believe it helps add to the reverence of the congregation.
 
I think bells were needed also when there were a number of masses celebrated more or less at the same time in one church at different altars. Some people used to attend as a devotion, most of the time praying rosary or something of the sort, and they needed the bell to know when and at which altar elevation took place.
 
Anna_Claire said:
The ringing of bells at the consecration began in the 13th century to draw attention to the fact that the priest had reached that part of the mass. Many people couldn’t see the altar or were wandering about praying devotions (or watching multiple masses going on at the same time). The tradition continued until the reforms of Vatican II which made it an optional practice. It is now seen as a tradition instead of a needed call to attention. Today, our mass is in the vernacular , the priest faces us and can be seen, aind emphasizes the active participation of the faithful. The focus is not only on the words of consecration but on the entire Eucharistic Prayer.
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👍

Just got home from Sunday Eucharist .

No bells .

No need for them .
 
My parish never uses bells during the Eucharist. However, I did go to the parish about ten blocks down on the same avenue a few times and they do use bells–three loud, fairly long rings at elevation.
 
We use bells at every Mass, for the elevations, but also for the epiclesis. Servers ring on the weekends and school Masses, and the Deacon does it for daily Mass. I love the joyful sound of our bells. I’ve been in places where either the bells just aren’t melodious, or a server shakes them so hard and stiffly three times that they clack rather than ring.
 
We’ve always used the bells (at least on weekend Masses, not during daily Mass which is down in the chapel). That said, there are very few churches I’ve been to in the area that still use them.

I went to a parish not far from my house for one Sunday this past Lent and instead of the traditional bells they used a single large bell (like something you’d find in a bell tower). They would hit it three times, pausing between each ring, while the Eucharist was elevated. I liked it, though I wasn’t sure if that was a Lent thing, or an all the time thing. I’ll have to pay attention next time I go there.
 
EvelynEVF said:
We use bells at every Mass, for the elevations, but also for the epiclesis. Servers ring on the weekends and school Masses, and the Deacon does it for daily Mass. I love the joyful sound of our bells. I’ve been in places where either the bells just aren’t melodious, or a server shakes them so hard and stiffly three times that they clack rather than ring.
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That’s right. In the church where I grew up, there used to be four rings: epiclesis, the two elevations, and one that marked the beginning of communion for the people (which was just after the priest received). The altar server actually had to know when the epiclesis took place, which sometimes presented a problem with the Roman Canon, because it has the sign of the cross over the gifts way before the actual epiclesis, not after it, like in EP2 or 3, and also because our priests used it so rarely. Almost always they used EP2 or 3. It is probably still like that today (even though I have been back there only once in the past 22 years and don’t remember if there were bells on that occasion or not), also because the pastor is still the same priest (he’s been there for at least 35 years now).
 
There is also the tradition of ringing the church bells at the consecration (not the so-called Sanctus bells, but the bells in the church tower). This allows everyone around the church to take a moment of reflection and adoration at the miracle of transubstantiation that has just taken place.
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EcceAgnusDei said:
There is also the tradition of ringing the church bells at the consecration (not the so-called Sanctus bells, but the bells in the church tower). This allows everyone around the church to take a moment of reflection and adoration at the miracle of transubstantiation that has just taken place.
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That was the original point of the Sanctus Bells. The told the men on the Church bell ropes when to ring the big Church bells. And everyone in the town\village could stop and spend a moment in Adoration.
 
A good set of hand bells is $400. That may be why some don’t use them. The are ex-pen-sive!

The practice of ringing bells is not universal in the Church. Many monastic communities don’t use them. Franciscan’s wont use them unless someone donates them. Even in secular parishes bells are not universal.

There was a thread on bells a while back.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=603503&highlight=bells

-Tim-
 
TimothyH said:
A good set of hand bells is $400. That may be why some don’t use them. The are ex-pen-sive!

The practice of ringing bells is not universal in the Church. Many monastic communities don’t use them. Franciscan’s wont use them unless someone donates them. Even in secular parishes bells are not universal.

There was a thread on bells a while back.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=603503&highlight=bells

-Tim-
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You will find that many older parishes have bells that they have buried deep in a closet and have no intention of using. I know one Sister came to our parish at the end of the 90s and that’s one of the first things she did when she got here. She’d dig them out for Holy Thursday and Easter then she’d hide them again.

The bells only resurfaced a few years ago and they are used at Masses that have altar servers in attendance – that means no bells during the week and often none at the Saturday evening Mass.
 
TimothyH said:
A good set of hand bells is $400. That may be why some don’t use them. The are ex-pen-sive!

The practice of ringing bells is not universal in the Church. Many monastic communities don’t use them. Franciscan’s wont use them unless someone donates them. Even in secular parishes bells are not universal.

There was a thread on bells a while back.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=603503&highlight=bells
-Tim-
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Actually you can get a first class set of 4 bronze sanctus bells for about half that. There are many less expensive options including since bells for less than $20.00
 
And while blessed things aren’t supposed to be sold, an awful lot of closed parishes’ stuff is getting liquidated on eBay and similar sites for pennies on the dollar. And I mean prices like fiddleback chasubles starting at $20 and ornate copes for $50, because the sellers seem to think it’s just old church junk. More like old church treasures that somebody hid in the back of a closet decades ago.

I cannot wrap my brain around people wanting to hide beautiful things and worship in stripped-down sanctuaries.
 
I always hear them at the EF Masses. Its a rarity to hear them in the OF Masses, but its more when I am going to Mass outside of my geographic area. I wish they would return to the OF permanently.
 
Hokomai said:
I know a pastor who decided ‘no more bells’. One old lady objected. He would not listen. So she brought her own! 😃
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And it is a good thing for a random parishioner to start ringing bells from the pews during the consecration?!? :eek:

The bells are not required; the priest saying the Mass makes the decision to use them or not. We can have an opinion, but we don’t get to dictate to the priest or set up our own bell choir in the pews!
 
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