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April 25, 2021BELLS OF SUBIACO: Ask any former boarding student of Subiaco and they will tell you that one of the unspoken benefits to later college life is that because a Subiaco student can sleep through bells ringing every 15 minutes of his life, then he can sleep through ANYTHING in a college dorm! Over the years, only a few select Subiaco students have been able to climb the internal ladder in the tower to see the bells in their home. For those not familiar, here is a little of our bell history:
In March of the year 1878, on the Second Sunday of Lent, over fifty persons assembled around a small log cabin near what is now a small field west of Michael’s pond on what we call the “Ridge.” At ten in the morning a small hand bell was rung notifying the congregation that services were about to begin. Since that Sunday in 1878, bells of various sizes and numbers have continued to ring out over the hills and valleys, inviting all to come and join the monks of Subiaco in giving praise to God. We will offer another post at a later date detailing the disposition of all those bells since 1878, but at present we will focus on the present bells that continue to ring out over Logan County.
On June 29, 1957, the Most Reverend Albert L. Fletcher of Little Rock consecrated our present four tower bells as seen in the attached photo. Each bell has a specific tone and a name. They were cast in a foundry in Aarle-Rixtel, Holland, in 1956 by Verdin Bell Company of Cincinnati, OH. They are made of 80% virgin red copper and 20% Banka Tin. The cost was $6,396 at the time, but we also received a trade-in for our previous four bells at a price of $800. Once the ringers and mechanisms were added, the total cost came to $8,000. They were raised and placed into our 132-foot, 7-inch, tower in 1959.
St. CECILIA (patroness of music) weighs 1,540 lbs., has a diameter of 41 inches, and her note is a G. She was donated by Mr. Constantine M. Haddad. St. GERTRUDE (mystic) weighs 880 lbs., has a diameter of 34 inches, and her note is an A#. She was donated by 25 families whose names you may have heard (Alyward, Bechner, Barton, Bergup, Dahlem, Dunn, Flusche, Fuhrmann, Hebert, Hess, Hofmaier, Johnson, Kleinschmidt, Landoff, Matthews, Reiter, Schoenbaechler, Slack, Smithhisler, Steiert, Walter, Wickstrom, and Yunker). St. MECHTILD (mystic) weighs 640 lbs., has a diameter of 31 inches, and her note is a C. She was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Post. St. HILDEGARD (mystic) weighs 440 lbs., her diameter is 27 inches, and her note is a D. She was donated by Mrs. Edward Bolger.
Two of the bells ring at every quarter hour (2 at the 15 mark, 4 times at the 30 mark, 6 times at the 45 mark), and the top of the hour is rung out by the correct number of bell tolls. One bell ringing swiftly for five minutes announces the call to Office prayers for the monks starting at 5:40 am each M-F morning, one bell announces the angelus three times a day, and a slow funeral toll will announce the death of a monk. In announcing the beginning of daily Mass, the bells will begin with the lone peel of St. Cecilia, and then the other three bells will gradually join her for five minutes of ringing. They will ring separately, then gradually come together ringing a single chord, and then separate again to hear them individually (as Fr. Hugh of blessed memory used to say for the 6:30 am bells: "ahhh, the girls are singing")! The Abbot assigns one junior monk the honor of serving as the official “Bell Master” of the Abbey to ring the bells. At present, our Bell Master is Brother André . The only time during the year that the bells do NOT ring are during Good Friday and Holy Saturday when a wooden “Clapper” will be used instead. UIOGD!
