The Angelus Bell

 

Fr. Alton with the Angelus Bell

Father Alton with the Angleus Bell on Friday, May 28, 1999.

 

An anonymous  donor has provided Saint Mark's Church with a new bell.  The Angelus bell weighs six hundred pounds and was cast by the Eijsbouts bell foundry in Asten, Holland.  The Bell was christened "Gabriel," by Father Richard Alton before being raised into the belfry.  Local Artist, Louise Pezzi, inscribed the bell. with the words "Ave Maria, gratia plena 1999. Eayre and Smith raised the bell into the belfry.  Starwood Construction installed the bell in the 1876 frame and they also installed the electronic striker. Crescent Steel, who  constructed the grillage beams, donated a steel beam to hold the bell.  The Angelus bell was first used to call people to worship for the eleven a.m. Mass on Sunday, September 19, 1999, the seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost.  The bell will ring the Angelus, (a series of stokes 3-3-3 then 9 strokes), at eight-thirty a.m. twelve noon and five-thirty p.m. The ringing in the morning and evening will signal the beginning of the daily offices. The bell will also strike the hours of the day and will ring  prior to the two Masses on Sundays.

 

The Bell Being Raised into the tower.

Robert Servante, bell hanger, works with the bell as it is raised.