Bells

Statema, B. C. P.

Sacramental

Bells

Campane

Known today as: Church bells blessed by the bishop in a rite popularly, and wrongly, called their “baptism.”
Kind: Sacramental, in 1 older authority
Earliest authority here: The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914)
In the Canale glossary: On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched, Appendix A: Treatise Two: Blessed Objects and Materials

Revised October 1, 2026: An authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.

Bells: what did Canale use it for?

Their ringing “is so hateful and hostile to demons that storms stirred up by them are either kept from breaking, or, once broken, are stilled, or turned aside” (Treatise Two; note LXXIII).

Bells: what does modern science say?

Blessed bells were rung against storms, but bell towers, being the highest points, drew lightning: a book published by Fischer in Munich in 1784 reported that in thirty-three years lightning had struck 386 church towers and killed 103 bell-ringers. The blessing of bells continues.

What Medicine Makes of It

Dancing Manias and the Convent OutbreaksStrasbourg 1518, Loudun 1634, and mass psychogenic illness.
The Rite as TherapyWhy exorcism works when it works: persuasion, community, and the ending.

Bells: what did the older authorities say?

The Catholic Encyclopedia: The Catholic Encyclopedia calls the “baptism” of bells “merely popular and metaphorical,” a phrase “tolerated, but … never been formally recognized by the Church.” In the rite the bishop “mixes salt with water, reciting prayers of exorcism analogous to those always used in the preparation of holy water, but making special reference to the bell and to the evil influences of the air—the phantoms, the storms, the lightning—which threaten the peace of devout Christians.” The bell is washed inside and out, anointed “with the oil of the sick in seven places” outside and “with chrism in four places” within, named for a saint, and the thurible with incense and myrrh is placed under it “so that the smoke arising may fill its cavity.” The ritual “agrees with that in use in Carlovingian times … dating probably as far back as the pontificate of Egbert of York in the middle of the eighth century.”

Sources

[21] Herbermann, C. G., et al. (eds.) (1907–1912). The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Online at newadvent.org. Articles: Agnus Dei (H. Thurston); Amulet (M. Hassett); Ash Wednesday (H. Thurston); Bells (H. Thurston); Holy Oils (H. Leclercq); Paschal Candle (H. Thurston); Scapular (J. Hilgers). Read in part · the text read
[79] Liturgy Office of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. Book of Blessings (resource sheet). liturgyoffice.org.uk. Book, not indexed
[102] Rakov, V. A., & Uman, M. A. (2003). Lightning: Physics and Effects. Cambridge University Press, ch. 1, p. 2. Verified against its record · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107340886

The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914), “Epiphany.” newadvent.org/cathen/05504c.htm Standard reference work
The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914), “Bells.” newadvent.org/cathen/02418b.htm Standard reference work

Verification

Checked

October 1, 2026

Passes

Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full

Sources

5 cited: 1 read in part, 1 verified against its record, 2 standard reference work, 1 book, not indexed.

Corrections

None were needed.

What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.

Cite This Entry

Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026

Chicago: “Bells.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bells.
MLA: “Bells.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bells. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Bells. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bells

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