Sanctus bells

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YoungTradCath said:
Oh, well that’s more elegant and much more acceptable than what I imagined. I was seeing the big dinner-gong-type things.
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I think that’s what the document prohibited. Not explicitly (I remember seeing the same document), but in spirit.
 
YoungTradCath said:
I don’t know exactly where to find this, and someone correct me if this was changed, but I recall reading in some Church document that gongs are strictly prohibited.
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There is a footnote in the sanctus bells booklet at www.SmellsBells.com that cites the Church source that rejects gongs. Those 3-tied instruments are bells not gongs, yet they care called gongs.
 
trobinson017 said:
My wife and I have been looking for a new parish after our previous one went seriously awry and all avenues of relief were exhausted. After visiting most every church within a reasonable distance we were overjoyed yesterday to find the only one in our area which has dozens of Catholic churches that rings the bells exactly as described above. 3 rings when the Host and Chalice were raised. I got goosebumps! Everything else about the Mass seemed so perfect and exactly what we’ve been searching for. Altar boys, priests offering Communion, no talking in the church before Mass, mostly sacred music (a couple “modern” tunes tho), etc. We have found a new home!

Praise be to God!!!

Trob
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Glad you were so fortunate. You’d be hard pressed to find Sanctus bells rung or even extant in most Catholic churches in this midwest diocese. A priest explained to me he found it a “curiosity” that many Anglicans still hang on to those old catholic practices that have long been discontinued here like kneeling at a Communion rail.
 
jimrob said:
Ringing bells during Mass is a tradition that has grown up over hundreds of years. Churches would have an external bell that was rung shortly before the consecration and during the elevations so that agricultural workers could pause to pray.

In the Tridentine Rite, a hand-bell was rung three times at the Sanctus to tell the congregation to kneel. That’s why it’s called the Sanctus bell. It was rung once just before consecration and three times during each elevation. And it was also rung immediately after the priest’s Communion to let the congregation know that it was time to come forward to receive the Host.

With the modern rite, there is a greater involvement of the congregation and so less requirement to ring bells to tell them what to do. Ringing the bell at the Sanctus seems to have largely died out (so what do we call the bell?). It is common, but not universal, to ring a bell just before the consecration and during the elevations. Ringing the bell after the priest’s Communion is less common. There appears to be no direction in the GIRM requiring, encouraging or prohibiting the use of bells in church, so it’s largely a case of local custom. The only mention in the Missal is that bells should be rung during the Gloria on Maundy Thursday and then remain silent until the Gloria at the Easter Vigil.
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The primary reason for using sanctus bells has never been to “tell them what to do” inside of a church. Originally they were a signal to people outside of the church that something spernatural was taking part inside of the church. Even more primal is the voice of the bell being offered as a joyous sound at the coming or point of the miracle.

The problem with suggesting the reason for sanctus bells was to “tell them what to do” is that some will now say that with the Mass in the vernacular and the priest facing the people there is no longer a need or use for the bells. This is simply not true. The primary reason for the bells (creating a joyous sound) remains.

There is a nice reference on sanctus bells available at www.SmellsBells.com
 
Ad_Altare_Dei said:
I found this at adoremus.org/0305SantusBells.html. Your answer is at the end but the rest gives a great explanation of when the bells can be rung. It’s short. 🙂

Nearly 350 years after the introduction of the Sanctus bells rung during the Liturgy, the Council of Trent (1545-1563) formally mandated their use during the celebration of the Mass. Thus for the first time the use of the bells became a required part of the official rubrics of the Mass. Ringing the bells is still required for the “Tridentine” Mass; though the practice was made optional when the post-Conciliar Missal was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969.

Ringing the Sanctus Bells
Sanctus bells are traditionally kept on the epistle (left) side of the credence table during the Mass, and ringing them has long been the responsibility of the instituted acolyte or altar server.

The bells are rung at three or four points during the celebration of the Mass:
  1. Sanctus bells are first rung prior to the consecration at the epiclesis when the priest prays to the Holy Spirit to change the gifts of bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
  2. The bells are rung a second time as the priest elevates and presents the Body of Christ.
  3. The bells are rung a third time as the celebrant elevates and presents the chalice filled with the Precious Blood.
  4. The bells may be rung a fourth time as the priest-celebrant consumes the Precious Blood. This custom, which originated from the rubrics of the Tridentine Mass, may be continued since it is not forbidden nor suppressed in the latest version of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.
In some cases the bells are rung for three short bursts at both of the elevations/presentations as defined by the rubrics in the 1962 Missale Romanum. These three short bursts are said to represent the three persons of the Holy Trinity. If executed well this triple ringing can sound quite solemn, but a single ringing of the bells at each specified point in the Mass is adequate.
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Is the ringing at the Sanctus after the preface suppressed in the OF?
 
h1478971 said:
Is the ringing at the Sanctus after the preface suppressed in the OF?
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There actually is no mention of ringing bells in the Missal now, except for (I believe) during the Gloria during the Easter Vigil.

So, quite honestly, you can ring bells whenever you want.
 
YoungTradCath said:
There actually is no mention of ringing bells in the Missal now, except for (I believe) during the Gloria during the Easter Vigil.

So, quite honestly, you can ring bells whenever you want.
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No, there is, just not at the sanctus. It mentions that they may be rung “a little before the consecration” (ie, the epiclesis), and at the two elevations.
 
YoungTradCath said:
There actually is no mention of ringing bells in the Missal now, except for (I believe) during the Gloria during the Easter Vigil.

So, quite honestly, you can ring bells whenever you want.
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As someone else pointed out it’s paragraph #150 of the GIRM. I also don’t think there’s harm ringing the bells as the celebrant completes taking communion at least per the material at www.SmellsBells.com

A couple of years ago I saw an altar server swinging a rope of about a half dozen beautiful sounding small bells. He was in procession right behind the thurifer. I thought it made a great deal of sense just smell and sound together. It sure made people focus on the procession and it was in no way an abuse.
 
I prefer the way and times the bells are rang during the ExtraOrdinary Form of the Mass. I wish it would be brought back to the Ordinary Form of the Mass.
 
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