VIEWS FROM THE BELFRY

“… and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it

tolls for thee…” John Donne

In the older days, before the war, our church had its belfry located at the now gate of Immaculate Heart of Mary Academy. Then shortly after the war a new one at the southern front portion of the church was erected, to replace it. It was not long when the construction of its partner belfry followed, and those twin steeples remained until today.

I was surprise to know from my father that it was him who constructed the latter belfry. He was a promising young construction foreman back then in the 50’s when he did the tower without the essential plans, he just did a mirror image approach of the existing lone belfry. There was a flaw in his work. He humbly admitted that there is a portion of the tower not plumbed. I ckecked, and true enough there isn’t.

The left belfry carries two bells, the big and the medium size, which are always rung. The right belfry housed a lone small cracked bell. The combination of these bells when rung produced a peculiar “ting-ting-tik” sound, which is not heard nowadays because that cracked bell is no longer there. That cracked bell is missing, and sad to know, it is not missed.

Bells are used for signals and to note time. Those are rung beckoning the faithful to worship, to mark important points in the liturgy, to announce births, weddings, deaths, victories and emergencies. Steeple bells can be sounded in three ways; first the chiming (bagting), in which the bell is moved to a point where the clapper will strike the rim- this is done for calling and reminding the faithful of activities soon to occur; second the ringing (royda), in which the bell swung in full circle, usually done in the past on a day before great feasts of the Catholic Church- reminding them to prepare for the morrow; and third the clacking (repeke), in which the clapper is moved while the bell remains stationary- this is done to signify the beginning and end of the Liturgy.

I remember in my youth that those bells were tolled to announce the time of the day. Angelus chiming was done three times a day. During burials, bells were tolled and we knew even from a far distance if the dead was male, female or a child. At mass during the consecration, bells are tolled to inform those outside that the most essential and sacred part of the liturgy is occurring. Eight in the evening is time for the de profundis, the prayer for the souls of the dead, and bells are rung for the last time.

Bells were part of our ordinary lives, as their sounds summoned our attention to rely on the church for information, refuge, and spiritual strength. We now have modern technology all around and it seems we don’t need their sound anymore, and we might just leave them hanging for aesthetic purpose. Perhaps we don’t need their ringing to remind us of our obligations to God because there other new ways to do that. However the Church like a mother, wishes her children to be always with her, is keeping the bells as a vintage but effective means of calling her children to be gathered for her liturgies as one worshipping people.