The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-09-12
SIGNIFICANCE OF CHURCH BELLS

| SAAlSllaH OdDUdLH! III JOylul ZONES
1t speaks of rest and peace. It's every
vibration proclaims that the day is
sacred to the Lord. At it's sound the
storms of passion, the hurricane of
evil desires, the rumblings of discon-
tent subside as did the winds and
waves at the command of Jesus voice.
The vain phantoms of wealth and
power and all earthly concerns flee
away. Clad in joyous raiment, with
elastic step and beaming countenance
the faithful hasten to the bosom of
tender mother Church and there in
their hearts, if not also with their
| lips, join in songs of alteration and
praise and thanksgiving and love.
And as their devotion increases and
their prayers multiply and coalesce
into one harmonious votive offering to
the Lord, the spiritual sense can dis
Germ in this floating body of song as
it rises heavenWard the blare of the
trumpet, the soft candences of the
psaltery and the harp, the eXultation
of the timbrel, the sweetness of the
organ, and the glory of the high
sounding cymbal. So passing sweet
and so enchanting is this song of
praise that it draws down from high
est heaven the multitude of angelic
| choristers, who catching up the glori-
GUS refrain bear it aIoft, purified,
sWeetened and strengthened, to the
very throne of God. How sublime
this conception of the Sunday bell
blending into one paean of harmoni-
GUS praise the notes of the Church
militant and the Church triumphant!
Oh, Inspiring Bells.
'Who has listened to the Christmas
bells as at midnight or at early morn
their silver tones f1oated out from bel
fry and tower and turret upon the
crisp December air without being car
ried back in memory to that first
Christmas night when the eternal
Word of God, who was forgotten of
the Father before all ages, reclined
tiny infant in the arms of Mary?
A Child is born to u.s. they seem to
OoJ1 " SOI1C anu 1SL us WOISulD
Christ the Lord And as we wendell
our way to the church we could al
most see the star that led the Magi
to the cave, hear the songs of the
shepherds and the glorious canticle of
the angelic host, and with Mary and
Joseph bow down in alteration before
the manager of the newborn king
so real did the mystery of the Nativ-
ity become to us under the magic
spell of the silvery chime.
During the last three days of holy
week the bells are not rung out of re-
spect to the voice of Christ, which for
three days was still in death; but
when during the singing of the Gloria
in Excelsis on Holy Saturday the
deafening clangor of the hand bells
breaks upon the ear and the uproari-
GUS sounds of the brazen cymbals in
the tower rend the air, we are trans
ported in spirit to the holy sepulcher,
we feel the earth tremble again, hear
the great stone rolled back and behold
the, terror-stricken guards become as
dead men, while above the din ring
out the clear, triumphant tones of
the angels: He is risen, He is not
here O, then the beautiful sequence
of the Easter mass, 'Victimae Paschali'
comes back to us with impressive
grandeur: Life and death have met
in awful conflict. The King of life
having died, now lives and reigns for
evermore.'
mot only on Sundays and the prin-
cipal feasts of the ecclesiastical year
does the bell teach us the great truths
of Christianity, but every day it bears
to us upon the wings of the wind
blessed messages from on high"
Here the Bishop gave a sublime de-
scription Of the Angelus bell as Eat
morning, noon and twilight hour" it |
recalls the great mystery of the Incar-
nation. He then said that the chief |
events of the Christian life are sung
by the bells, and in chosen words in
terpreted their music from the Joyous |
peals of baptism and the merry mar
rage bells to the sad and solemn |
tones of the passing bells and the |
weird, lugubrious requiem of the fu- |
neral knell.
Finally, he made the new bells i'm |
personate the fifteen mysteries of the |
Rosary whose names they bear, and |
babe the people hearken to their
voices as they would to the person
ages of the holy mysteries themselves.
The Bishop said it was the sad privi-
lege of the bells to commence today |
their career of service by tolling the
passing of Plus X under whose ponti-
ficate they had been donated and cast.
Tribute to Colonel Cruise.
In conclusion he paid a splendid |
tribute to Colonel Thomas Cruise to
whose generosity the city and the do
cese of Helena owe the sweetest chime |
of bells in the country. '"The gift of
Mr.. Cruise" he said, ''is enhanced by
the fact that it is memorial to his
only child upon whom he lavished all |
the affections of a father and whose
taking off still fills his heart
with sorrow. 1t is, therefore, a gift
which is not measurable in terms of |
as was the amount |
necessary to purchase it-but only by
the love of fathers heart.
MAY she whose memory ia en-