July 18, 2008
'Dear Father’
Why do the bells ring at the Consecration?
by Father Matthew Mitas
Last Sunday after Mass my little granddaughter asked me why the servers rang bells at the Consecration. Apparently they are not rung at her parish. Why is it that some churches do and some don’t?
Bells have been used in the Church going back many centuries and always for the same purpose, namely, to alert people to something important happening.
The custom of ringing bells during Mass seems to have originated in medieval times at monasteries, where only some of the monks would actually attend daily Mass because the other monks would be working out in the fields. The monks in church would chime the tower bells at certain points of the Mass so that their brothers could follow the progress of the Mass and pray along with them even though they weren’t physically present.
A big change occurred at the start of the 13th century when the Church instituted the practice of having the priest elevate the Host and chalice immediately after the Consecration. This was done as a result of an increased awareness of the mystery of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and everyone understood this was an important part of Mass. So much so, in fact, that it became a custom among the faithful to go from church to church just to witness the Consecration.
In time, churches adopted the monastic practice of ringing their tower bells at the Consecration so that anyone within earshot could pause and make an act of adoration to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
Through the centuries, the server’s ringing of a handbell replaced the ringing of the tower bells. This practice became almost universal (although I believe there are still a couple of churches in our archdiocese that have a button in the altar steps for the server to push to ring the tower bells).
We must also bear in mind that in those days the priest celebrated Mass facing away from the people and in an inaudible voice. The ringing bell served much like an alarm clock to focus the congregation’s attention to what they couldn’t see or hear.
Curiously, the instructions for the Tridentine Latin Mass (the extraordinary rite of the Mass) don’t mention bells at all, even though they were almost always used.
The current instructions for Mass say that bells may be used, but they’re not necessary. In other words, it’s a judgment to be made by the pastor of the parish whether the bells will be used.
I think it’s safe to say that the pastors who have retained the custom of ringing the bells have done so for the same reason it was first initiated: to call attention to the important parts of the Mass. And those who have discontinued it have done so because in the post-Vatican II liturgy there is no difficulty for the people to know exactly what’s happening at Mass and so no bell is needed to focus their attention.
Anyone making this decision has to bear in mind its consequences. In philosophy class we priests learned this maxim: "Whatever is received is always received in the manner of the one who does the receiving." This means that no matter what you were trying to say, and you may be convinced you made yourself perfectly clear, the people you were talking to may have gotten a whole different message.
If ringing the bells called attention to something important, then will a lot of people infer that to stop ringing them at the Consecration means that the Consecration is no longer important? Any deviation from custom needs to be explained exceedingly well.
Anyway, you can just tell your granddaughter that her pastor who no longer rings the bells is probably trying to win the "No-bel prize".
Father Mitas is pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Union.
Address questions of a general nature about the Catholic faith to be answered by priests in the St. Louis Archdiocese to Dear Father, St. Louis Review, 20 Archbishop May Drive, St. Louis, MO 63119. You can also fax them to (314) 792-7534 or send by e-mail to slreview@stlouisreview.com. One question at a time, please.
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