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Views from the Choir Loft

More on Angelus Bells

Veronica Brandt · April 9, 2016

Angelus Glocke The Angelus Bell from Cologne Cathedral. From Wikimedia Commons. FEW MONTHS AGO I wrote about Angelus Bells and the Raspberry Pi where I set up a tiny computer to play a sound to remind us to say the Angelus at 6am, 12 noon and 6pm.

A month ago the arrangement was damaged in an electrical storm. Fortunately the computer itself was alright but I needed to reformat the memory and set it all up again.

I had another look for recordings of bells and found some very interesting articles on the internet:

The Bells of Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral is home to the relics of the Three Magi. It also hosts an amazing collection of bells from over the centuries.

In 1418 a huge bell was cast in honor of the Magi. It weighed around 3400kg. In 1448 it was joined by an even larger bell weighing around 10 000kg. The Magi Bell sounded a B and the new bell called the Pretiosa, sounded a G. One year later they were joined by a third bell, this one in A, called the Speciosa.

There is an Angelus bell, but much smaller. Bells for every occasion!

You can read more about them and listen to them here.

A recording from a French countryside

When ringing the bell for the Angelus, it is a custom to ring three sets of three then a set of nine. The way I was shown was to ring three clear notes, then silence for the time it takes to say a “Hail Mary”, then three more strikes, another silent “Hail Mary”, last three strikes, last silent “Hail Mary”, then nine rings to finish.

This recording from the Internet Archive seems to miss out the first set of three rings. You might edit the sound file to copy one of the three rings a suitable length before the rest of the recording. It is in the public domain,

Verdin Bells and Clocks

Lastly, there is a company still making bells in Ohio. As well as real cast bells, they have a range of digital bells. You can listen to samples here.

The Angelus sample gives three clear “dongs” and then a peal of three bells.

So, there you have a whole lot more options for your home Angelus bells.

Of course, in the Easter season the Regina Caeli replaces the Angelus. In case you missed it, watch some young children sing Regina Caeli.

Photo credit: SaintOuen via Wikimedia Commons. There are lots of photos of Cologne Cathedral on Wikimedia Commons. Well worth browsing to get an idea of the scale of the place.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Raspberry Pi Last Updated: October 29, 2020

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About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

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Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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— Archbishop Viganò (16 February 2019)

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