The Story Behind Notre Dame’s New Bells

I, like million of others have always been thrilled to hear the bells of Notre Dame, so I had no idea they were claimed by an imminent campanologist (bell expert) to be “the most dreadful set of bells in France, damaged and badly tuned”.  Really?

Those bells in question, except one, were all  bells made in 1856 to replace those destroyed in the French Revolution.   From 1791 to 1792, all the bells of Notre Dame, except one were torn down and melted to make cannon balls.

Bell experts said the replacements were cast with inferior metals and were damaged over time.  Therefore they were all deemed not in tip-top shape to keep ringing in the most famous Cathedral in the world.

The only bell saved from destruction was Emmanuel, which was cast in 1685.  The largest of all the bells weighing in 13 tonnes , he shared the South Tower with the original Marie.  Though Emmanuel  was torn down by the revolutionaries, the bell was  fortunately rehung by Napoleon in 1802.

Said to be the finest example of any bells, his tolls remain today  as beautifully clear as before.  But, unfortunately his exquisite ring was said to be marred somewhat by his aging replacement bell Marie.  Nevertheless she has served well throughout with her faithful ringing, as best she could, announcing  several coronations, the end of two world wars, the liberation of Paris, and the grief of 9/11.

I remember well in 2011, the developing scandal when it was announced that faithful Marie and her likewise “damaged” sisters were to be torn down and replaced with new ones that were to be cast for the 850 th year celebration this year. The announcements stirred up several emotional campaigns, that apparently fell on deaf ears.

I too thought, so what if she rings somewhat out of tune?  After all, she deserves to be honored for all that she has gone through and witnessed, however “marred”  her ringing.  Besides  how many people would even know she was “out of tune”?

But winds of change come sometimes whether the populace wants it or not and the  Rector, Archpriest Patrick Jacquin of Notre Dame  insisted that Marie and her sisters were to be torn from their towers and shipped off to the foundry, where the news bells were  cast.

It was then that the story turns murky and begins to be shrouded in rumors about the pending fate of these aging bells.  Apparently a priest in an abbey had contacted Father Jacquin at Notre Dame and asked if his abbey could have Marie to grace  the new church currently being constructed.

Father Alain Hocquemiller, the prior of Riamount , a Benedictine abbey near Pas de Calais, said his multiple letters and communications went ignored.  A proposed visit to talk about the possibility was rejected.

Despite his attempts for dialogue, he became very dismayed and shocked to learn that the bells had been sent to the foundry.   With rumors that they were to be melted down into little publicity bells, now denied, he then set out on a mission to save them.

He enlisted a lawyer to peruse an old French law dating back to 1905, stating that France’s religious heritage can not be destroyed and that therefore the bells of Notre Dame belongs to the French government, not to the diocese of Paris.

With the law clarified and perhaps aided by the spirit of Victor Hugo, who was partly responsible for the restoration of  the cathedral in mid 1800; this diligent priest and bailiffs presented themselves to the foundry with the petition to save these poor discarded bells from destruction!  Bravo!

So while Angélique-Francoise, Antionette-Charlotte, Hyacinthe-Jeanne, Denise-Daniel and poor old Marie are shuffled back in the attic, the foundry Corneille-Havard in Villedieu les Poeles have casted 8 new bells in the same medieval way. The new Marie was made at Royal Eijsbouts foundry in the Netherlands.

There was a lot I did not know about bells before this post, and how bells were cast in the old fashion way was certainly one of them!  Today computers now allows bell casters to design bells to ring any octave or tone, which is determined by their shape and size of their rim.  It is amazing the old masters knew all the same principles of sound associated with shape without this technology!

Casting remains the same as in the olden days.  The molted metal is still poured into moulds made of  horsehair, horse dung and clay.  I have yet to find out why and how this contributes to the quality of a bell!

Each of the bells were inscribed with a name, and even before and during the casting they were blessed by clergy!  Maybe it is the same on the other side as in Jeremiah 5:1, in that before we are born, we are given a name and designated out into our mothers wombs to grow and mould into human form.

Newly casted Marie, along with Gabriel, Anne-Geneviève, Denis, Marcel, Etienne and Benoit-Joseph, arrived at Notre Dame on the 2nd of February 2013, all bright and shiny. Each was formally “baptised” with their names and blessed, with children giving them their first ring.

We will be able to hear them all ring in harmony on Palm sunday, each in their respective tower, supposedly to sound like the bells did in pre revolution days.  Since all of the new bells except two have masculine names, perhaps the tone back then was decidedly more baritone.  At least I am hoping that was the reason, rather than the ever present misogyny that has flared up again recently.

Whether or not the state will award the discarded bells to the abbey has not been decided as of yet, but I hope they get them.  Marie and her sisters deserve to keep ringing and chiming, regardless of them being decried as being less than perfect.

In some ways bells and human share some similarities. Besides being “casted” and given names , we all end up being molded by life and get a little worn on the edges, much like Marie.  Like bells, we should all contribute towards chiming in and bringing about a more harmonious tone in the world.

Perfection is an ideal, but whether we are bells are humans, in the end, we all end up with a  few cracks and dents.  Nevertheless we have much to offer and share with others.  I hope that Marie and her aging companions all get new homes to keep on ringing!

I like to think that we are all perfectly created rather imperfect in the scheme of things, and that whatever we may lack in our “tune” as we get older is certainly made up for in our patina of wisdom from living.   So despite a little wear and tear, I hope we will all proudly ring truer to ourselves than ever before!