Sunday, November 12, 2017

Earthquake Bells Consecrated to the Centenary of Our Lady of Fatima..., and Summorum Pontificum, etc.


Messainlatino.it; Tolentino (MC). On the Feast of St. Thomas of Tolentino, Martyr, in the area in front of the tent/Church of the Cathedral of San Catervo the Diocesan Bishop His Excellency Bishop Nazzareno Marconi blessed and consecrated the new five bells of the church of the Sacred Heart of Tolentino which together with the other three existing ones will form an octave of the E-flat major scale.



The Church of the Sacred Heart of the Brotherhood of the same name, which was generously restored in full by the Government of Hungary, will be solemnly reopened on Saturday, December 9th with the song of the first Pontifical Vespers of the Feast of the Transit of the Holy House of Loreto. It is the only church that will be reopened after the earthquake last year: anti-seismic security works funded by the Hungarian government have given jobs to various women and men in the building, restoration, planting, etc., industries.

The five new bells were dedicated:

1.In Fatimensium visionum saecularibus.
In honore beatissimae Mariae virginis, Christifidelium auxiliatricis,
Hungariae reginae

2. In Honor Sancti Iosephi Sanchez Del Rio,
adulescentis pro fide martyris

3. Sancto Emygdio martyri,
contra terraemotus patrono
(recalling Fabio Quarchioni who died prematurely: a lover of the art of the organ and of bells)

4. In honor of Sancti Nicolai in Tolentino,
animarum purgatorio igni poenas luentium patroni (recalling Niccolò: a boy victim of a motorcycle accident)

5. Sanctis angelis custodibus,
iuventutis patronis

The other three bells on the bell tower were blessed on October 30, 2007 in St. Peter's Square by SS Benedict XVI and then consecrated by Monsignor De Magistris, now Cardinal, in the Church of San Salvatore in Lauro in Rome. They were given the title " Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum " and are dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Thomas from Tolentino, martyr killed by Muslims and St. Vincent Maria Strambi Bishop.

The Pontifical Roman ( PONTIFICALE ROMANUM JUSSU EDITUM IN BENEDICT XIV AND LEON XIII RECOGNITUM AND CASTIGATUM DE BENEDICTIONE SIGNI VEL CAMPANAE ) prescribes that the bell, before being placed in the bell tower, must be blessed according to this order: first the bell itself must be suspended and placed in such a way that it can be touched, manipulated inside and out, and it can be circled all around, then near the same bell to be blessed the fadistorio (seat) for the bishop must be prepared, the holy water container, an aspergillum, 'a bowl of salt, clean bandages to dry the bell when needed, the vessel of the holy Oil of the Sick, the Sacred Chrism, the incense boat, the incense, the myrrh and the thurible with the coals '.

The blessing of the bell involves three main elements:
1) The lustration of the bell with mixed salt water
"The first of the two formulas gives details of the purposes of the blessing, which are not the fruit of magic but the effect of the virtue of the Holy Spirit: Benedic, Domine, hanc aquam benedictione caelesti et assistat super eam virtus Spiritus sancti, ut cum hoc vasculum ad invitandos filios eclesiae preparatum, in ea fuerit tinctum, ubicumque sonnuerit ejus tintinnabulum, longe recedat virtus inimicorum... incursio turbinum... calamitas tempestatum... et credscat in eis devotionis augmentum ut festinanter ad piae matris Ecclesiae gremium, cantent tibi canticum novum in eclesia sanctorum, deferentes in sono praeconium tubae, modulationem psalterii...

The thought of the festive note that the sound of the bell gives to those who listens to the symbolic voice is suggested at this point by the song of the six psalms of Laudes: psalms 145-150.

Meanwhile, the bishop with the blessed water he has mad, washes the bell inside and out, ending the lustration with a prayer to God, so that the sound of that instrument ... fideles invitentur ad praemium...; crescat in eis devotio fidei, procul pellantur omnes insidiae inimici... ventorum flabra fiant salubriter ac moderate suspensa, prosternat aereas potestas dextera tuae virtutis. Per Christum.."

2) Holy anointings. " In the present ritual of the Pontifical Council of Lion XIII, at first it is blessed with the Oil of the Sick and then with the Sacred Chrism. The rite is of Gallican origin, and the reason  is not apparent but it seems to be to complete the analogy with baptism.

The bishop does eleven anointings; seven on the outside of the bell, four inside. In the older Ordines , as in The Gellonense, only the last anointings are done with the Chrism; the first with other blessed oil without distinguishing between that of the catechumens or the infirm. Currently it is the latter which is prescribed.
The Roman Pontifical in the 13th century gives the formula of the anointing: Consecretur ut sanctificetur, Domine, signum istud in honorem S. Mariae Matris Christi, vel sancti illius, in nomine P. et F. et S.S. Amen.
The formula mentions the bell naming; the custom of giving her a sacred name during her baptism, is already evident in the tenth century.
Baronio reports that John P. XIII, in 961, was the first to impose a name on a bell, that of s. Giovanni in Laterano, ingraving it with the name Johannes.
The anointings also have a protective character. From sal. 28 Afferte Domino filii Dei..., prescribed during the ceremony, which affirms the sovereign power of God's voice on all elements, repeating the high concept in seven successive verses.
For this reason The Roman-Germanic Pontifical in its rubrics said: Quot vicibus in psalmis dicit: Vox Domini... totidem (episcopus) signa faciat cum chrismate..."

3) The Incensation
"Having anointed the bell, the bishop puts beneath it the smoking thurible, thimiamate, thure and myrra, so that scented vapors gather and all fill the funnel funnel.
Incense is first and foremost an act in honor of the instrument, which has become sacred; but at the same time continues the exorcist line that pervades the whole rite. The Schola, during the incensation sings the last seven verses of psalm 76 Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi... in which the idea of ​​God's omnipotence over the elements is reaffirmed. 
For his part the bishop in the collect which follows, after invoking the miraculous power of Jesus in the calming of the sea at Capernaum prays to the Lord that dum huius vasculi sonitus transit per nubila, Ecclesiae tuae conventum manus servet angelica, fruges credentium, mentes et corpora, salvet protectione sempiterna".

"From what has been said, it turns out that the bell is not considered a functional object, but almost as a living reality, as, moreover, the whole temple.
It has a name, a ritual similar to that of baptism (now non-existent in the Latin Church) and attributed to it a force derived from divine grace.
This is exactly what is explained the devotional attitude in the Byzantine liturgy of consecration of the bells ...
An attitude that the Christian Occident almost forgets as a result of a real shrivelling of its own faith in many respects. "

Source of liturgical and historical explanations of the ritual: Liturgical Tradition ( HERE ) AC