The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-09-26
Ancient Bells in Ireland.

We know, from the authentic lives
of st. Patrick. and of other early
preachers of Christianity in Ireland,
that they constantly used bells in their
minfstrations. which were sometimes
made of iron, sometimes of bronze
The ancient consecrated bells were
generally quadrangular in shape,
small in size, and open at the mouth:
although there was also in use a small
per-shaped bell. closed up. except a
small opening in the side, for the es-
cape of the sound, and rung by d
small metallic pellet. St Dagens. who
fiourished in the early part of the
sixth century, was a celebrated artif-
icer; he fabricated crozieTs. crosses,
shrines and chalices. and among the
rest, bells, some plain. and some orna-
mented with gold. silver and precious
stones.
The bells that belonged to the print
tive saints were regarded by their sue
cessors with the most intense venera-
ton; and in order to better preserve
them. they wer GOTTEN furnished with
covers, which were sometimes made of
gold and silver and other metals, elab-
orately ornamented with interlaced
work and precious stones. They were
often like croziers and other relics, used
for swearing on: and it was customary
to bring them into the presence Of par
ties who were entering into compact,
to render it more solemn and binding.
st. Patrick had a celebrated bell,
which plays an important part in
many of the Patrician narratives, both
legendary and authentic; it was called
Finn faidheed.'' or the fair-sounding:
and it would appear that other saints
called their bells by the same name. in
imitation of their great predecessor.
Many of these quadrangular bells are
now preserved in the museum of the
Irish academy in Dublin. as well as in
other collections; and among them one.
in particular is believed. with good
reason, to be the very bell-the melodi-
Gus Finn-faidheeh-of st. Patrick
In the neighborhood of many of our
ecclesiastical ruins the people have
beautiful legends about the church
bells: that in some far distant time,
when despoilers-Danes or natives
came to plumber the monastery. the
bells, which some of the legends say
were of silver, were hastily taken
down and thrown for safety into the
nearest irevr or lake. where they re-
main to this va. But at intervals
some say every seven years-they are
heard to ring with faint muffled
melancholy sound.
The bell that hung in the church of
Rattoo. in Kerry. is now at the bottom
of the river Brick; it's voice has often
been heard but the people have never
been able to find it, though they have
often searched.
The bells of the ancient church of
Drumcliff. near Ennis. in Clare lie
beneath the waters of lakelet in the
townland, which is called Poulnag-
lug, the pool Of the bells: and the
thieves who stole the silver bell OF
Killodonnell abbey. near Rathmelton,
in Donegal. were drowned in crossing
Tough Swilly in a boat with their prize;
but the bell still lies at the bottom of
the Tough, and is heard to ring every
seven years.
IT would appear that those stories are
not always without a foundation. There
existed for generations a tradition that
the bell Of st. Mioch, who founded
the monastery at Kilwherry. on the
bank of the river Brosna, near Ferbane.
in Kings county, was, in. time of perse-
cution. thrown for safety into a par
ticular pool of the Brosna During the
drainage work in 1S49, the bed of the
river was altered and the bell was
found in the very pool pointed out by
tradition. 1t was enclosed in a shrine
which was taken away and sold: but
the bell itself is still preserved.-T |
Irish World.