To the Editor of the Times.
Mr. Editor,—Having read in your paper of to-day, that the king of France “has been pleased to grant to the parish of Notre-Dame, at Nismes, two unserviceable pieces of cannon from the arsenal of Montpellier, for the purpose of forming a parish bell” it has occurred to me that the following description of the practice of baptizing bells, used by the Roman Catholics, may not be unacceptable to your readers. This account is a true translation from a book entitled “Pontificale Romanum, Autoritate Pontificia, impressum Venetiis, 1698. Lib. ii. Cap. de Benedictione Signi vel Campanæ.” I have run parallel with their method of baptizing children and bells, in twelve particulars, as follows:—
| Of the Baptism of a Child. | Of the Baptism of a Bell. |
|---|
| I. |
| The child must be first baptized, before it can be accounted one of the church. | The bell must be first baptized, before it may be hung in the steeple. |
| II. |
| The child must be baptized by a priest or a minister. | The bell must be baptized by a bishop or his deputy. |
| III. |
| In baptizing a child there is used holy water, cream, salt, oil, spittle, &c. &c. | In the baptism of a bell, there is used holy water, oil, salt, cream, tapers for lights, &c. |
| IV. |
| In baptism, the child receiveth a name. | And so it is in the baptism of bells. |
| V. |
| The child must have godfathers, &c., &c. | The bell must have godfathers, and they must be persons of great rank. |
| VI. |
| The child must be washed in water. | The bell must be washed in water by the hands of the bishop and priests. |
| VII. |
| The child must be crossed in baptism. | The bell is solemnly crossed by the bishop. |
| VIII. |
| The child must be anointed. | The bell is anointed by the bishop. |
| IX. |
| The child must be baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity. | The bell is washed and anointed, in the name of the Trinity, by the bishop. |
| X. |
| At baptism they pray for the child. | At the baptism of the bell they pray literally for the bell. |
| XI. |
| At the child’s baptism the scriptures are read. | There are more psalms read at the baptism of a bell than at the baptism of a child; and a gospel also. |
| XII. |
| At child-baptism there are public prayers made. | At the baptism of a bell there are more prayers used, and (excepting salvation) greater things are prayed for, andmore blessings on the bell, than on the child. But for the better proof of this point, I shall here give part of one of the very curiousprayers put up for the bell at its baptism:— |
| ———— Lord grant that wheresoever this holybell, thus washed (or baptized) and blessed, shall sound, alldeceits of Satan, all danger of whirlwind, thunders, lightnings, and tempests, may be driven away, and that devotion may increase inChristian men when they hear it. O Lord, sanctify it by thy Holy Spirit; that when it sounds in thy people’s ears they mayadore Thee! May their faith and devotion increase, the devil be afraid, and tremble and fly at the sound of it. O Lord, pour upon itthy heavenly blessing! that the fiery darts of the devil may be made to fly backwards at the sound thereof; that it may deliver fromdanger of wind and thunder, &c., &c. And grant, Lord, that all that come to the church at the sound of it, may be free from alltemptations of the devil. O Lord, infuse into it the heavenly dew of thy Holy Ghost, that the devil may always fly away before thesound of it, &c., &c. |
The doctrine of the church of Rome concerning bells is, first, that they have merit, and pray God for the living and the dead; secondly, that they produce devotion in the hearts of believers; thirdly, that they drive away storms and tempests; and, fourthly, that they drive away devils.
The dislike of evil spirits to the sound of bells, is extremely well expressed by Wynkin de Worde, in the Golden Legend:—“It is said, the evil spirytes that ben in the region of th’ ayre, doubte moche when they here the belles rongen: and this is the cause why the belles ringen whan it thondreth, and whan grete tempeste and to rages of wether happen, to the ende that the feinds and wycked spirytes should ben abashed and flee, and cease of the movynge of tempeste.”
As to the names given to bells, I beg leave to add, that the bells of Little Dunmow Priory, in Essex, new cast A. D. 1501, were baptized by the following names:—
Prima in honore Sancti Michaelis Archangeli.
Secunda in honore S. Johannis Evangelisti.
Tertia in honore S. Johannis Baptisti.
Quarta in honore Assumptionis beatæ Mariæ.