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Dear Friends of the Cathedral Heritage Foundation,
Now that students are returning to school, our thoughts turned to the chime of school bells and the bells of the Cathedral of Saint Paul.
Class is now in session for "A Lesson on the Cathedral's bell rings and schedules."
The Cathedral staff schedules the five bells to ring in the south tower (the north tower stands empty), on a set daily schedule, plus a few changes for the weekend Mass times.
Westminster bells (Watch the video.)
- Rings on the quarter hour plus hourly toll (slower)
- Starts at 7:00 a.m. and end at 6:00 p.m. (ends at 8:00 p.m. on Saturdays).
- Tolling: Sounds similar to the hourly strike, but slower, and is used for funerals, anniversaries, and other events
The Angelus (Watch the video.)
- Rings at noon and 6:00 p.m.
- At 6 p.m., the Angelus rings after the Westminster and hourly toll.
- The Angelus is three tolls, a brief silence, three more tolls, another brief silence, three final tolls, then three bells go into a swinging peal for a few minutes.
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For Catholics, the Angelus dates back many centuries. The daily bell ringing began as a devotion to Mary, and the faithful would recite three Hail Mary's in between the tolls. It continues today as an invitation to prayer and meditation.
For weekend Masses
- A “call to Mass” peal of the bells rings five minutes before each Mass (lasting maybe three minutes).
- At the Sunday 10:00 a.m. Mass, the sacristan tolls a bell briefly during the consecration.
- After funerals, one bell tolls as the family leaves the church.
Special occasions
- Sometimes outside groups request that the bells be rung for special events.
- Those include the Peace Officers Memorial ceremony, start of Crashed Ice, other local events when all area churches are asked to rings bells at a specific time.
Next time you are on the Cathedral campus, you might want to linger and wait to hear the bells toll.
Cathedral Heritage Foundation Board of Curators
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