610 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 165. 



Schaffhausen ; but there are many instances of this 

 kind. 



The above notices may afford some answer to 

 the first part of the inquiry of your correspondent 

 W. W., who writes from Malta ; but whether or 

 not the service of ringing bells in storms is at- 

 tended with danger, I cannot illustrate by any 

 examples. It has been supposed, I believe, that 

 the vibrations of the air produced by ringing great 

 bells, have some effect in dispersing storm clouds. 



W. S. G. 



Newcastle-upon- Tyne. 



In reply to W. W., it is to be hoped that there 

 Is no place in any Protestant country where bells 

 are rung with the view of driving away storms. 



It probably originated with the custom of the 

 benediction of bells according to the use of the 

 Church of Rome. Casalius de Ritibus Vet. Christ, 

 quoted by Picart, says that Pope John XIII. first 

 baptized bells by giving his own name to that of 

 St. John Lateran, in 965. Picart (London, edit. 

 1733) gives three views of the ceremony (vol. i. 

 p. 349.). 



According to the Pontifical of Clement VIII., a 

 portion of one of the prayers said on such oc- 

 casions runs thus : 



" Ubicunque sonuerit hoc Tintinnabulum procul re- 

 cedat virtus insidiantium, umbra Phantasmatum, in- 

 cursio turbinum, percussio fulminum, lassio tonitruo- 

 rum, calamitas terapestatum, omnisque spiritus pro- 

 cellarum." 



^ As for danger in the very act of ringing at such 

 times, there can be none ; but there is always 

 danger in being in any tower during a thunder- 

 storm, if it be not protected by a lightning con- 

 ductor. 



In a Commentary de Campanis, by A. F. Roccha, 

 4to., Romae, 1612, are chapters on the use of bells 

 on all the occasions referred to in the following 

 elegant distich inscribed in a bell at Bergamoz, by 

 Cardinal Orsini, Benedict XIII. : 



" Convoco, signo, noto, compello, conchio, ploro; 



I .1 I I I I 



Arma, Dies, Horas, Fulgura, Festa, Rogos." 



As the work is not, I believe, very common, I 

 will copy his twenty-first chapter, " De usu pul- 

 sandi Campanas ad improbas pluvias, vel tem- 

 pestates expellendas : " 



" Campanae, quatenus benedictas, sen consecratae, ut 

 plurimum nee fulgure, nee fulmine afflat£e, seu tactae 

 inuentae sunt, immo ea, nee non procellas, vel tem- 

 pestates expellunt, sicut ita fieri solere constat, et in 

 earundem consecratione, sicut in Pontificali Romano 

 videre licet, obsecratur Deus, ut ipsarum Campanarum 

 sonitu fragor grandinum, procellae turbinum, impetus 

 tempestatum, et fulgurum, ac fulminum teraperentur ; 

 infesta tonitrua, et ventorum flamina suspendantur ; 

 spiritus procellarum, et aereae potestates prosternantur. 

 Quae item omnia in Concilio Provinciali Coloniensi 



leguntur eo in capite, cujus Titulus est, 'Cur bene- 

 dicantur Campanae.' {Condi. Colon, i. c. 14. p. 9.; 

 torn. 5. ; A. Di. 1536.) Immo dicto in loco, ut su- 

 perius, et fusissime quidem in capite sexto videre est, 

 de ipsis Dasmonibus propulsandis expressa fit mentio : 

 Daemones enim, quippe quibus (quatenus Deus illis 

 permittit) quantum ad motum, ut Theologl omnes 

 affirmant, ad nutum, sicut etlam Angelis bonis, obe- 

 diunt ; pluvias, tempestates, fulgura, et fulmina, et id 

 genus alia, sed justa, et occulta nobis de causa, Deo 

 permittente, possunt efficere. Propterea, dum pro- 

 cella nobis imminet, sive turbo, vel grando, et gene- 

 raliter qulvis coeli status iuquietior sese nobis ofFert, 

 Campanas pulsantur, ut Daemones, quatenus dictarum 

 rerum interdum patratores, aut excitatores, Campa- 

 narum tinnitu, Christianos ad preces concitantium, 

 terreantur ; quin potius precibus ipsis territi abscedant, 

 illisque summotis,fruges, mentes, et corpora credentium 

 serventur, cunctis malis, quee ex tempestatibus oriri 

 Solent, Dffimonium fuga propulsis. Nee silentio prae- 

 tereundum videtur miraculum illud, quod narratur de 

 Campanula a S. Brunone Misnensi Episcopo benedicta. 

 Nam ad sonitum illius Campanulae (quae quodam in 

 loco extat apud Misnam Germanias Civitatem) totum 

 ejus Territorium a fulgure, et tempestate, ut incola; 

 ipsius loci affirmant, tempus usque in proesens conser- 

 vatur, etiam si loca viciniora ssepe ab illis Isedantur. 

 Istuc ipsum de alia Campana in Pago Scomberch ab 

 eodem benedicta Brunone (quod nomen ii Slavorum. 

 lingua translatum Benedictus I^atine dicitur) omnino 

 affirmatur. Sonitus namque illius Campanae omnem 

 vim cceli ab agris finitimis ac tuguriis avertit. 



" Quamvis autem per multiplicem Campanarum so- 

 nitum aer nubibus condensatus, ac turbulentus, con- 

 cutiatur, et ob hujus generis discussionem quandoque 

 serenus reddi queat ; earum tamen tinnitus, dum tem- 

 pestatum ostenduntur indicia, in Ecclesia Sancta Dei 

 etiam ad procellas repellendas institutus fuit; prae- 

 sertim vero ad fulgura et fulmina propulsanda, fugatis 

 Daemonibus, qui consecratas Campanas tantopere ab- 

 horrent, earumque sonitum tanto prosequuntur odio, 

 in quo Haeretici atque Turc^ Daemonibus valde assi- 

 milantur, quippe qui bellum Campanis indixerunt, ut 

 snperius dictum fuit. Haec de usu pulsandi Campanas 

 ad improbas pluvias vel tempestates expellendas con- 

 scripts in ipso festo Sanctorum Martyrum Gevvasii et 

 Protasii, die decima nona Junii, qua scilicet die, dum 

 h£ec de fulgure ac tempestate conscriberem in Apostolico 

 Vaticani Palatii Sacrario, ecce tibi procella fulmine as- 

 sociata suborta fuit, et a me non procul ictus est Aul« 

 Regise locus fulmine, non sine magni anlmi mei conster- 

 natione, absque tamen ulla tam hominum laesione, quam 

 rerum perditione, Misericordiarum Patre, totiusque 

 consolationis Deo adjuvante, dum Campanas ad preces 

 fundendas Christi Fideles excitabant pulsatae." 



To this I will append an extract from a Pro- 

 testant writer on the same subject, viz. Magius de 

 Tintinnabulis, 1608. I quote from his fourteenth 

 chapter : 



" Illud non est omittendum quod ad ea quK de tem- 

 pestatibus supra dicebamus (' cum ventorum aut gran- 

 dinis injuriam timent Christian!, Campanas pulsari 

 jubent')pertinet, Philosophos, qui saepe a Christiana fide 



