Does Your Parish Ring the Bells at the Epiclesis?

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JillianRose said:
Yes it does. My kids like to pretend they are the ones ringing the bells. LOL I have never heard a mass without it. Lucky me, I guess. 😛
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I go to 2 parishes and one rings them (except for Lent and Advent) and the other one doesn’t ever. I like the bells. It reminds me to have my focus on where it belongs.
 
Irishgal49 said:
I go to 2 parishes and one rings them (except for Lent and Advent) and the other one doesn’t ever. I like the bells. It reminds me to have my focus on where it belongs.
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I have to admit, it also make my boys excited to become alter servers. They can’t wait. In our church the Alter servers do the bell ringing…
 
JillianRose said:
I have to admit, it also make my boys excited to become alter servers. They can’t wait. In our church the Alter servers do the bell ringing…
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I altar serve at age 48. It is a great privilege and honor to do it.

Actually, I forgot to ring the bells once. I was praying as father was at the altar. I was kneeling and praying and father had the host in his hand and said, “Do this, in memory of me…” and I remember thinking “Wow, there are no bells, that’s odd.” Then it dawned on me that there were no bells because I wasn’t rining them. Big DUH! :blushing: I grabbed them, gave them three quick rings and remember praying, “Sorry Lord, but I was busy praying!”

Now I don’t close my eyes when I serve, even to pray for just a moment. I keep my eyes open and on the priest. :o

-Tim-
 
Bells ring once at the Epiclesis and thrice at the Consecration, during consecration a server tolls the bells of the steeple too.
 
TimothyH said:
I altar serve at age 48. It is a great privilege and honor to do it.

Actually, I forgot to ring the bells once. I was praying as father was at the altar. I was kneeling and praying and father had the host in his hand and said, “Do this, in memory of me…” and I remember thinking “Wow, there are no bells, that’s odd.” Then it dawned on me that there were no bells because I wasn’t rining them. Big DUH! :blushing: I grabbed them, gave them three quick rings and remember praying, “Sorry Lord, but I was busy praying!”

Now I don’t close my eyes when I serve, even to pray for just a moment. I keep my eyes open and on the priest. :o

-Tim-
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Hey Tim!!

Wow I learned something new today. In the Gary, Indiana diocese and the Chicago, Illinois diocese, I have only seen middle and junior high student as servers. I never knew. Then again you could probably fill a whole library with things I don’t know! LOL 👍

Thanks !!
 
Drat - I voted wrong. 😦 I thought you meant the large bells in the bell tower, not the bells in the sanctuary.

So move one NO vote to the YES pile.

That’s what I get for not reading before voting.
😊

~Liza
 
My home parish does not; neither have the last 3 or 4 parishes I have belonged to. Most of the churches I have been to in this area of the midwest do not. Perhaps it is a regional thing. The bells have been rung in some of the churches I have visited in other parts of the country; but I would say that it has occurred at less than 50% of the Masses I have attended.
 
chaunceygardner said:
My home parish does not; neither have the last 3 or 4 parishes I have belonged to. Most of the churches I have been to in this area of the midwest do not. Perhaps it is a regional thing. The bells have been rung in some of the churches I have visited in other parts of the country; but I would say that it has occurred at less than 50% of the Masses I have attended.
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Hey we might be on to something. It might be either a diocesan thing or parish…HMMMMM

😛
 
Honestly I never heard of a Latin church ringing the bells at the epiclesis, just at the elevation.

Being Eastern we believe the consecration happens at the epiclesis which comes after “this is my body”.

I always thought that to westerners the consecration happens at “this is my body”, has there been a change?
 
No, just bells at the elevation, which is actually a nice change, because all other parishes I have been a member of don’t use bells at all. (Well the parish I grew up in rang the bell outside for the Gloria during High feasts (Christmas, Easter mostly).
 
andrewstx said:
Honestly I never heard of a Latin church ringing the bells at the epiclesis, just at the elevation.

Being Eastern we believe the consecration happens at the epiclesis which comes after “this is my body”.

I always thought that to westerners the consecration happens at “this is my body”, has there been a change?
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We do so at our Latin parish, and pretty much always have.

The altar boys ring the bell once at the Epiclesis, 3 times at each of the Major Elevations, and once again when the priest Communicates.
 
andrewstx said:
Honestly I never heard of a Latin church ringing the bells at the epiclesis, just at the elevation.

Being Eastern we believe the consecration happens at the epiclesis which comes after “this is my body”.

I always thought that to westerners the consecration happens at “this is my body”, has there been a change?
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The Latin anaphoras have two epicleses, one before the institution narrative (the “epiclesis of consecration”), and one after (the “epiclesis of communion”). The bells are rung at the first epiclesis, where the priest says something along the lines of “May you send your Holy Spirit upon this bread and wine so that it may become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ…”, then proceeding to the institution narrative.
 
No, we just ring them at the consecration. “This is my body”
 
:confused: I wish we would, but I’m not sure how to even breach the question. A lot of folks are still stuck in the mindset that the bells were a preconciliar thing to remind the congregation to put down the Rosary and pay attention. :rolleyes:
 
At my new parish there is no bells at all.
At my old parish they only rang the bells at elevation.
At the parish near my work they ring the bells at both epiclesis and elevation.
 
Not at my parish, unfortunately. At my grandparents church they do.

I was told a story of an altar boy who recently fell asleep at the end of the priest’s homily at my grandparent’s church. The two altar boys sit at opposite sides of the altar from each other. One fell asleep and stayed asleep until the elevation of the host. The bells woke him up. He looked embarassed. As the priest knelt after the consecration of the host he quickly stood up and took his normal position on thr side of the altar. Apparently he caught heck from his parents after Mass!
 
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