Miss the bells at Mass?

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BayCityRickL

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If the smell of Satan was ever in the Church, it is also in the elimination of the beautiful hand bells used at Mass at ordinary and special times.

The bells were rung three times as the priest genuflected, raised the consecrated host, and then genuflected. And, then the bells were repeated similarly for the chalice.

They were used again before Communion, as the priest said in Latin, “Behold the Lamb of God…”

And, at Christmas and Easter, the bells were rung for an interval, like a minute, after the priest sang “Glory to God in the highest!”

We old altar boys knew the bells and we loved them.
 
oh - THOSE bells. not really. i’ve only experienced them a couple times, so it’s hard to ‘miss them’.

i thought you meant the bells that call us to mass, and to prayer, throughout the day. i wish i lived near enough to a church to hear them, and that the church would ring them for mass - and the angelus - so that we’d stop and pray.

beautiful thought.
 
The bells injected a musical element, even in “low” Masses.
 
ya, you’re right. they contribute to the ‘all senses’ aspect of the mass.

it’s just that, as a convert, i’ve only experienced the bells a couple times. most the churches where i’ve been for mass have not had them. so i don’t ‘miss’ them, cuz i’m too used to them not being there.
 
We still use them at every Mass, so, no I don’t miss them.
 
We always have them at the noon Mass, which is the one I prefer to attend, so I don’t miss them either. 👍
 
We have them at EVERY Mass I attend and I would be unhappy if they were not there because it is as he raises the host/cup that I cry out in my soul. “My Lord and my God”
 
Church Militant:
We have them at EVERY Mass I attend and I would be unhappy if they were not there because it is as he raises the host/cup that I cry out in my soul. “My Lord and my God”
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Good Morning.

I miss them as we only have them on special times.

A
 
My parish has them for Daily Mass even! We hardly ever go without bells!!!
 
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pnewton:
We still use them at every Mass, so, no I don’t miss them.
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Yes, we still use them, too. When I was an altar boy many years ago, we used to argue to see who got to ring the bells.
 
Exactly. And, then, there the styles of ringing the bells.

…wimpy and anemic.

…sure and strong

…average and long

…rarer: bells rung, but always slow off the mark. (are you daydreaming?)

This is good news. I thought all the bell ringers were retired.
 
Our parish uses the bells. Quite beautiful and really calls the attention to were it should be focusing our attention. We have a weekend associate who also teaches at Catholic University and he is the only one who prefers the bells not be rung.
 
Huh? We still have them. I remember my son being very nervous the first time he had to do them… so he held them the whole time, and they jingled a little. He only missed one ringing, bless his heart. He eventually got very good though. Yes, I would miss them if they were gone.
 
They are not missing at Sacred Heart Church in Tampa, Florida 🙂
 
I miss the bells! At the Cathedral which I now attend they only ring the outside bells…no one can hear them during Mass. We asked our Rector about getting some hand bells and he said they are the “old way” and not appropriate when the Mass is in the vernacular…strange logic, but anyway we have just received a new Rector, perhaps we can give him a try.

Children look up with awe when they hear the bells, even the really young ones, even they know it shows that something very special is happening.

God bless,
Debbie
 
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BayCityRickL:
If the smell of Satan was ever in the Church, it is also in the elimination of the beautiful hand bells used at Mass at ordinary and special times.
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I’m a member of a very progressive parish and we use them at every Mass.

However pleasing they may be, I don’t think failure to use them is an indication of the smell of Satan.

In fact, if their use is considered to be saving us from that, I would ask for their discontinuation rather than suggest a falsity.
 
We use them at every mass. 👍 This had not been the case previously. When a new priest came to our parish, a parishioner asked if we could use sanctus bells. Fr. thought it would be a wonderful idea, but he couldn’t find any in the church. Fr. immediately found someone to donate the bells to the parish. I have found I miss hearing the bells when I travel and attend a mass where they are not in use.
 
Yup we have them too. We have re introduced the triple ring at the elevation of host and chalice. The Altar servers love ringing them and i could never envisage them as a thing of the past. They are very beautiful indeed.

The reason we re introduced the triple ring was to eliminate the quasimodo factor!! Now all ring it in exactly the same way. Marvellous.
 
If you miss the use of Sanctus bells at your parish, why not print-out a copy of my monograph and cover letter and send them to your pastor or administrator? They are available on-line at no charge:

geocities.com/sanctusbells/
 
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