Why ring bells at consecration?

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FrankLawrence

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Some Protestant friends of mine were asking me why we ring bells at the consecration. While I am usually good at answering questions about the Catholic Church, this one I was clueless on, and I was an altar boy, as a child, waiting for my cues…"…which will be given up for you," and “Do this in memory of me.” So can anyone tell me why we do this, and when this Tradition, or tradition(I don’t know which it is) was started? I certainly went through the motions enough. Thanks.
 
In times past (and to this day in some places) church bells were rung at the consecration so that everyone in the area, sometimes even miles away, knew when Jesus was present on the altar. Over time smaller bells audible only within the church were substituted for big church bells in most places.
 
I thought it was to get people’s attention, if they were saying private prayer or meditation during Mass, which was in Latin and mostly inaudible to the majority of people. I used to close my eyes during prayer if I didn’t have my Latin/English missal with me. My husband does this today at the TLM we attend. When the bell rings he knows we are at the Conecration.
 
This is slightly off the original topic, but does anybody think that the modern secular association of bells with magic (e.g. Disney movies, when the fairy casts a magic spell her wand sounds like a bell) might stem from this point of the mass where a miracle is signified by the ringing of bells?
 
allaussie said:
This is slightly off the original topic, but does anybody think that the modern secular association of bells with magic (e.g. Disney movies, when the fairy casts a magic spell her wand sounds like a bell) might stem from this point of the mass where a miracle is signified by the ringing of bells?
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No, I think it’s just a natural artistic assumption that a fairy’s wand, generally pictured as a small, delicate object would have a small, delicate sound. Would you expect it to sound like an air raid siren?
 
Leopard said:
No, I think it’s just a natural artistic assumption that a fairy’s wand, generally pictured as a small, delicate object would have a small, delicate sound. Would you expect it to sound like an air raid siren?
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ROFL!!!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Peace,
Dante
 
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