Category Archives: Bells

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Another Buckeye Bell

Awhile back I attended a concert of the Eric Whitacre Singers at the Cathedral of St. Paul. During the intermission, I joined a long line waiting to enter the restroom.

Sitting just outside the ladies room was this bell:

As you can well imagine, I am immediately drawn to church bells, so I gave it a close inspection. To my surprise and delight the inscription on it says “Buckeye Bell Foundry.” That’s the same foundry that produced the first bell I found in Sichuan that set me on my journey of researching church bells in China, and then eventually writing my book The Bells Are Not Silent: Stories of Church Bells in China.

On the wall above the bell was a small plaque with information about the bell:

The “Voice” of the Cathedral — Cast by G.W. Coffin Buckeye Bell Foundry, Cincinnati, Ohio–1850.

“Between 1915 and 1986 the Cathedral’s “voice” consisted of one bell, cast in Cincinnati in 1850. It had been given to Bishop Cretin by Louis Robert, and had hung in the second and third cathedrals, before being installed in the south tower of the present Mother Church.” (from Eric Hansen, The Cathedral of Sant Paul: An Architectural Biography)

If you’re ever in the Cathedral, be sure to head to the basement to check out the bell, and other interesting historical artifacts.

Related Posts: 

A Tale of Two Bells

Buckeye Bell Foundry

A Reunion in Coffeyville

Church and State

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A Reunion in Coffeyville

With plans set to drive with my sister and mom to Wichita, Kansas for the weekend, I checked out my trusty Rand McNally Road Atlas, which I never go anywhere without, to see how far it would be to make a side trip over to Coffeyville, KS. For those of you who have read my book, you will remember that the first bell I found hanging in a church in China has an inscription saying that it was cast for the First Baptist Church in Coffeyville, KS. I figured if it was close enough, we could make a slight detour on our weekend road trip so I could give the pastor a copy of my book.

While not particularly close, it seemed doable. So, on Thursday night I sent a message to the church via their Facebook page, introducing myself and saying that I had information on their old bell. I asked if the pastor would be at their Sunday night service and if so, I’d like to visit and give him a book.

On Friday morning, the pastor wrote back that yes, he would be at the Sunday evening service, and not only could I give him a book; he wanted to turn his time over to me so I could share the story with the congregation.

And so it was that on Sunday evening, I (along with my sister, mom, and a friend who drove over from Arkansas) had the privilege of facilitating a sweet reunion; not between relatives or long lost friends, but between a church family and its history.

Since the bell had been shipped to China in 1911, it was a piece of history that had been lost to them. They have a photo of the old church in which the bell had been, as well as the cornerstone of the church, but they knew nothing about the bell or its new life in China.

When I showed them the photo of the bell and read the inscription, “Presented to the First Baptist Church of Coffeyville, Kansas by W.S. Upham, Praise Ye the Lord,” there were audible gasps and not a few tears. I told them that the story of their bell is also a story of God’s faithfulness to the church in China and to their church. They were excited to hear of what God is doing in China and to realize that this bell connects them to that work in a way that had been unknown to them.

After the service, we all gathered for a photo in front of the picture of their bell. Then we lingered as they showed me various historical artifacts from their church: an old photograph of the first church building, erected in 1886 (the bell’s original home); the cornerstone from the 1907 church building; an old photograph of Mrs. Upham.

As we said good-bye to our new friends, they were already making plans to reinstitute the ringing of their church bell on Sunday mornings.

To Pastor Dean and the people of the First Baptist Church in Coffeyville, KS, I say thank you. Thanks for welcoming this crazy lady from Minnesota into your home to tell you “an old, old story.” Thanks for an evening of sweet fellowship; it was a taste of heaven. But most of all, thanks for sending your bell to China, where it continues to herald the preaching of the Gospel on Sunday mornings in Yibin, Sichuan Province!

First Baptist Church, Coffeyville, KS 1886

The first church building, erected in 1886, the same year the bell was cast. Perhaps it is in this photo, unseen.

Emma Upham, the wife of W.S. Upham, who donated the bell to the church in 1886.

Related Posts:

A Tale of Two Bells

1907 – The Bell Begins Its Journey 

Mr. Upham and the Bell

 

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Casting a Bell

Each time I discovered an old bell in China, I found myself wondering “how in the world did it get here?” They were, after all, from the United States, Russia, France, and Germany.

I didn’t give much thought to how the giant bells were made. So when I ran across this video recently, I was dumbfounded. I had no idea of what was involved in casting a big bell. Now I have an even greater appreciation for them! (email readers, go here to see the video)

This is a fast-motion clip from a German documentary about bell-casting. The entire documentary can be found here; but take note: it’s in German!

 

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Casting a Bell

In my book The Bells Are Not Silent, I write about the origin of the use of bells in the church:

Catholic tradition has it that the first time bells would have been heard in a church was in the Roman city of Nola, near modern-day Naples. Saint Paulinas, the Bishop of Nola, initially used them to call the monks to worship. Pope Sabinianus approved them to call parishioners to mass in the seventh century, and in the eighth century they were being used at Requiem Masses. By the ninth century, bells were being rung from churches in towns and hamlets all over the Europe.

One of the oldest foundries casting bells is the Marinelli Bell Foundry, in Agnone.

Campane Marinelli foundry has a very long history; the first bell was made around the year one thousand and since then their work has been a long sequence of success and honors. One of the most significant honor that the foundry can boast, is the possibility to use the Papal Arm Coast in their production; it was Pope Pio XI in 1924 to grant the privilege to the foundry. Campane Marinelli foundry, considered to be the oldest foundry in the world, is located in Agnone (Agnéune in the local dialect), a small Italian town of 5,200 inhabitants in the province of Isernia in Molise.

Here’s a short video about the history of the foundry: (email readers, go here to see the video)

Something tells me I’m going to need to make a research trip to Italy!