Ringing of Bells During Consecration of the Host?

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Hi,
I am newly returning to the Catholic Church after years away. At the church I have started attending, I noticed that there is one difference during the Consecration of the Host. While growing up, the church we attended would always ring a small set of bells after the words, "this is my body" and “Do this in memory of me.” At the current church, they don’t do this.

Is this just not done anymore at Masses in general, or is it this particular church?

Thanks,
Aunt Martha
 
Hi AuntMartha, and welcome to the Forums and welcome back home to Rome!

I love the bells, and I have noticed that they are rung at some parishes and not at others, and I am not sure why there is this variation. I miss them when they are not rung! I don’t know if the parishes are offered a choice or not about whether they are rung, but it would seem like it is so, because not all parishes I’ve been to in the last few years ring them…

Thanks for the interesting question! I look forward to reading all the posts!
 
Some parishes do, some don’t. As I understand it, the bells were more important in the old (Latin) mass where it was often hard to tell exactly what was going on.

In our parish, the bell is sometimes rung at the phrase “we offer you these gifts” which I don’t understand, have never seen anywhere else.
 
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AuntMartha:
Hi,
I am newly returning to the Catholic Church after years away. At the church I have started attending, I noticed that there is one difference during the Consecration of the Host. While growing up, the church we attended would always ring a small set of bells after the words, "this is my body" and “Do this in memory of me.” At the current church, they don’t do this.

Is this just not done anymore at Masses in general, or is it this particular church?

Thanks,
Aunt Martha
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Sorry, I don’t have a source for this. However, there seems general agreement that the bells are optional.

I miss them.
 
I miss the bells too. Our parish has started ringing the bells during the “Glory”, but that’s more for musical purposes than spiritual I fear.

I’m also tired of serving as backup to the choir and the organist too.
 
Thanks all. I miss them too! I wonder if I politely asked if they’d consider them again.

Aunt Martha
 
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rcn:
Some parishes do, some don’t. As I understand it, the bells were more important in the old (Latin) mass where it was often hard to tell exactly what was going on.
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I had forgotten those! and yes, they were a great place-marker! 😉
 
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AuntMartha:
Thanks all. I miss them too! I wonder if I politely asked if they’d consider them again.

Aunt Martha
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Never hurts to ask. I have a priest friend who said a nun scolded him for using bells at the Consecration. She claimed Vatican II prohibited them. :rolleyes: Being the gentle soul he is, he didn’t laugh in her face or walk away.

Your priest might never have thought of using them and if someone (like you) plants the seed, he might start the practice. :clapping:
 
A wonderful treatise on the history and use of Sanctus bells in the Catholic can be downloaded at no cost from:

geocities.com/sanctusbells/

This treatise was also excerpted this month in the Adoremus Bulletin which is also on-line at:

adoremus.org/0305SantusBells.html

This should answer all of your questions. While the ringing of the bells is certainly allowed today per paragraph #150 of the GIRM (they do it at St. Peter’s Basilica), it is no longer mandated as it is in the Tridentine Mass under the 1962 Missal.
 
I currently attend two Churches…one does it…one doesn’t…the one that does is my home Parish that I love dearly…they also offer the Indult TLM and communion in only one species on the tongue…the other is more liberal
 
I have never been to a mass where this has been done. Though I do remember a priest explaining why it the bells are generally not used anymore. He said that in the old days the bells were a signal like, “Oh–look who just arrived…Christ just got here” type of thing. He said that Christ is present with us in the Liturgy of the Word as well and that the bells placed too much of an emphasis on that one moment in the Mass. He said we should be conscious of Christ’s presence in every part of the Mass–not just that one moment.
 
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Corinthians:
I have never been to a mass where this has been done. Though I do remember a priest explaining why it the bells are generally not used anymore. He said that in the old days the bells were a signal like, “Oh–look who just arrived…Christ just got here” type of thing. He said that Christ is present with us in the Liturgy of the Word as well and that the bells placed too much of an emphasis on that one moment in the Mass. He said we should be conscious of Christ’s presence in every part of the Mass–not just that one moment.
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That priest has an extremely flawed (and now retrograde) understanding of the use of Sanctus bells. Maybe you should print that booklet out for him so he can upgrade his understanding?
 
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Corinthians:
I have never been to a mass where this has been done. Though I do remember a priest explaining why it the bells are generally not used anymore. He said that in the old days the bells were a signal like, “Oh–look who just arrived…Christ just got here” type of thing. He said that Christ is present with us in the Liturgy of the Word as well and that the bells placed too much of an emphasis on that one moment in the Mass. He said we should be conscious of Christ’s presence in every part of the Mass–not just that one moment.
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Sounds like a peculiar explanation to me. Yes, Christ is present always, but He becomes *actually *present at the Consecration.

But then, I didn’t go to seminary for 6 or 8 or 10 years, so what do I know?
 
Dr. Bombay:
Sounds like a peculiar explanation to me. Yes, Christ is present always, but He becomes *actually *present at the Consecration.

But then, I didn’t go to seminary for 6 or 8 or 10 years, so what do I know?
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Jesus Christ becomes sacramentally present at the time of consecration. That aforementioned priest sounds a great deal like a Protestant apologist.
 
Pariah Pirana:
Jesus Christ becomes sacramentally present at the time of consecration. That aforementioned priest sounds a great deal like a Protestant apologist.
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That’s what I meant. Me and my woeful lack of seminary training. :banghead:
 
One of the Parishes at which I attend Mass does it, as does the one parish with the Tridentine indult, of course. In a third parish, the one in which I am actually registered, the bells are not used, because, in my opinion, the parishioners are much too sophisticated for something deemed so rudimentary. After all, WE KNOW when the Consecration takes place. :rolleyes:

The problem with this (aside from overweening pride), is that there are many small children that do NOT know when it takes place. 😦 Even children being prepared for First Communion need this to call their attention to what is going on.

How do I know? I taught in that very parochial school years ago when children were far better catechized than today. I’ve been wondering for a long time just how to go about getting the bells back. It’s a shame I can’t pass them off as a form of Social Justice since anything that appears under that rubric is a “go” in that parish.

I’m glad to hear that use of the Sanctus Bells is rising.

God bless,

Anna
 
I am a strong advocate for the sanctus bells. To say the least, it accentuates the significance of the Consecration. As some have noted, even children (and unfortunately, some adults) who may be easily distracted during Mass stop and pay attention when the bells ring.

The largest parish in Detroit actually sounds the tower bells at the moment of Consecration, as well. If this is not evidence of the importance of that moment, I do not know what is! I bet when the surrounding Polish neighborhood was flourishing in the early 1900’s, everybody within earshot knelt down in reverence.

I do not know the significance of ringing the sanctus bells during the Epiclesis (when the priests positions his hands over the Sacred Species and asks the Holy Spirit to come upon the Gifts), but I believe the Eastern Churches believe this is the moment of transubstantiation.
 
What’s interesting is after almost 20 years of not having the bells, I still hear them in my head at the appropriate times.
 
Anna Elizabeth:
One of the Parishes at which I attend Mass does it, as does the one parish with the Tridentine indult, of course. In a third parish, the one in which I am actually registered, the bells are not used, because, in my opinion, the parishioners are much too sophisticated for something deemed so rudimentary.** After all, WE KNOW when the Consecration takes place.** :rolleyes:

The problem with this (aside from overweening pride), is that there are many small children that do NOT know when it takes place. 😦 Even children being prepared for First Communion need this to call their attention to what is going on.

How do I know? I taught in that very parochial school years ago when children were far better catechized than today. I’ve been wondering for a long time just how to go about getting the bells back. It’s a shame I can’t pass them off as a form of Social Justice since anything that appears under that rubric is a “go” in that parish.

I’m glad to hear that use of the Sanctus Bells is rising.

God bless,

Anna
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You’re missing the primary reason for ringing the Sanctus bells. I suggest you read the booklet…
 
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