BLESSING OF THE BELLS

This was one of those really good days when one receives a special feeling of grace. There was a brief service at 4:00 p.m. for the blessing of the bells which were cast by Whitechapel Foundry in London, who also cast the Liberty Bell and the bell(?s) of Big Ben. These have been on order for the cathedral I don’t know how long. We have been without the use of our smaller parking lot for about three months in order to prepare the bell tower to receive them. They arrived last week, and today was our opportunity to see and touch them for once they are placed hardly anyone will be able to get to them. Believe me, they are most impressive and each seems to be a character in its own right. Well, I guess each one really is.

Some were donated by individuals or families in honor of someone or several family members; some were donated by groups, like the choir, or altar guild. I chose to sit near the bell honoring the choir master though I’m not in the choir. He’s a special person. The biggest bell of all honored our first Dean of the Cathedral (We’re only on our second Dean now.), and he was present, and I was happy to receive a hug from him.

There had been a write-up or two about three months ago when some of our parishioners went to England to see a portion of the casting process, and we also had a picture of Her Majesty Elizabeth II visiting the foundry as our bells were cast. I mean it actually showed Shreveport, LA on the bell next to her. How cool is that?

Though the service was brief each bell was blessed. Everyone who came seemed surprised to see so many people there. I think we all just dropped what we were doing and just went; I in blue jeans and boots. There were probably 300 or so there. Because the weather turned decidedly chilly overnight the service was moved indoors, and each of those enormous bells moved inside. They filled the central aisle of the nave.

Want to take a look? O.K., here we go. The first picture is to show the foundry name. I had to use the flash to get the lettering to show up so it is not the true color. You’ll see that in the other pictures.




This is the choir master bell; it’s an F, musically speaking. Sorry, I cut off the top, but I was trying to get the inscription---didn’t use the flash; my mistake. I think it has the bridge on top, but I don’t really remember for sure.




These bells with the bridge on top, my word for it, can swing 360 degrees, whereas the others don’t. I can’t imagine what strength it takes to make these suckers sound out.




As the cathedral cleared after the service I got this last picture. There are seventeen bells in all. I think I’m inspired to reread Dorothy Sayers’ mystery, The Nine Tailors. If you haven’t read it, do.