Friday, February 04, 2005

More bells...

Lauren of Cnytr complains that none of the University of Dallas bells are names after St Thomas Aquinas.
I'm sure some Domincan church somewhere has done this, but the complain reminds me of the charmingly named Great Tom of Christchurch College Oxford. It's located in Tom Tower which is in Tom Quad. But who was Tom? There's more info on the tower and bell here including the bell-inscription:
"Great Thomas Jane of Oxford Recast April 18th 1680. In the Reign of Charles 2.nd John (Fell) Bishop of Oxford being then Dean, William Jane DD sub-Dean. Henry Smith DD Treasurer. By the Care and Art of Christopher Hudson."
However, that doesn't answer my question - why 'Thomas Jane'?
Another One
We all know that Big Ben is not a tower or a clock, but is instead London's most famous bell. Less well know, but with an interesting history is Great Tom of Westminster and laterly St Paul's Cathedral. Latin freaks will appreciate the following:
The inscription, if accurately transcribed on later castings, suggests that the original bell was cast as a clock bell:
Tercius aptavit me rex Edwardque vocavit
Sancti decore Edwardi signantur ut horae

This translates as:
King Edward III made and named me
So that by the grace of St Edward the hours may be marked

However, as St Edward is genitive and the grace/beauty is ablative, the second line may have been intended as a pun with the alternative inference ‘So that the hours of St Edward [presumably the Confessor, but possibly Edward of Westminster the original contractor] may be marked with grace/beauty’.

And while I'm talking about bells...
Here's a folktale about a bell called Great Tom of Kentsham.
There's also Great Tom of Lincoln:
Lincoln has a wonderful bell called Great Tom of Lincoln. It has been recast, having been accidentally broken, and is of immense weight and size It is six feet high, six feet ten and a half inches broad, and weighs five tons eight hundred-weight. Its tone and volume are very grand and melodious
There is a fascinating correspondence here concerning the recasting of Great Tom of Linclon.
How Strange
The strangest theory I ever came across concerning bells is the following Anti-Catholic silliness:
A baby gets water poured over its head. Shocked by the cold water, separated from its mother by the godmother and exposed to an unfamiliar environment, the baby experiences a feeling of helplessness.
In the baby's mind, this feeling becomes inseparably connected to the sound of the ringing bells, forming a psychological image. This image finally settles inside the subconscious thinking.

The bell tower: Later in life:
Each time a bell is sounded, this same feeling of uneasiness and being at someone's mercy and the helplessness encountered during the baptism becomes re-activated in the subconscious (depending on the individual's sensitivity). The countless bells ringing from every church tower - 24 hours a day - have for many centuries guaranteed a life-long, subconscious helplessness of the baptized against the sinister machinations of Catholicism. This method finds a more primitive application in the form of cowbells which are attached to the grazing cows!
Catholicism may be compared to a cow which forgets that it is her own bell that she is chasing after!
Catholicism must not be confused with Christianity:
Christianity is the Philosophy of Jesus Christ,
Catholicism is the teaching of Roman Empire
There are many traumatic occurrences during childhood, but none of these is used for systematic manipulation and constantly renewed as follows:

Pawlow's cows:

The period of seven years plays an important role in human biology. (Human cells become renewed every seven years). The rituals of Catholicism follow the same pattern:
In the beginning there is the ritual of baptism, accompanied by bells;
about seven years later, the First Communion ritual comes along, again accompanied by bells;
about seven years after that, the ritual of confirmation takes place - again with bells;
about seven years later, the wedding bells ring.
In between these rituals there is the constant ringing of bells from the church towers, every 15 minutes around the clock. Other religions are not very different, besides the fact that the methods have been adapted to the different cultures, providing different psychological images.

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