Inscriptions on bells are some of the most pristinely preserved records from centuries past. It is writing cast in bronze. At times curious and whimsical, beautiful and quaint, or downright secretarial – such as inscriptions attesting to the date of manufacture or listing the names of those donors whose patronage made the bell founding possible – bell inscriptions offer a window into the humors, aesthetics, and values of bygone eras.
A staple of ecclesiastical and municipal architecture, bells are often christened or blessed with great pomp and ceremony, which often includes the addition of inscriptions at the time of founding. These markings have been placed on bells for over 1,200 years in Western cultures. Bell inscriptions typically achieve one of four aims: to memorialize their origin, to add decoration or ornamentation, to state the bell’s purpose, or to imbue them with sacred or religious significance.
What are some examples of bell inscriptions? One of the most famous, of course, is the Liberty Bell, which features a quote from the Old Testament of the Bible (Leviticus 25:10) and reads, in part:
PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND
UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF
LEV. XXV X
Bell inscriptions are full of interest. Some are laconic, as in this Latin inscription:
VIVOS VOCO MORTUOS PLANGO FULGURA FRANGO
Which means: “l call the living; I lament the dead; I break the lightning.” Others are more specific in their function, as on this Veronese bell inscription from the fifteenth century (translation): “I announce the execution of criminals, and draw to the attention of those who have need of this lesson, not to let themselves be drawn into the evil instinct of crime.”
Some bear on their bronze surface their individual name or patronage, as in: “I have the name of heaven-sent Gabriel.” The largest bell at the largest church in North America, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., is named in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and carries this inscription:
MARY IS MY NAME
MARY IS MY SOUND
BELOVED MOTHER
QUEEN OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
QUEEN OF THIS DEAR LAND
FOR KNIGHTS TO GOD AND COUNTRY BOUND
AND ALL WHO HEAR MY VOICE
I SING THE PRAISES OF GOD
The words “in honor of” are frequent additions to bell inscriptions, a means to thank the individual who funded the bell’s founding. One of the oldest Christian bells, cast in the year 963 and suspended over Córdoba, Spain, records both the patron and intended destination for the bell: “The Abbot Samson offers this regalia to the House of St. Sebastian, Martyr for Christ.” Another at Bath Abbey in England is more tongue-in-cheek:
ALL YOU OF BATHE THAT HEARE ME SOUND
THANK LADY HOPTON’S HUNDRED POUND
Cheekiness seems to be a feature of many old English bells. Take, for instance, this inscription on a 1607 bell in Cambridgeshire:
OF ALL THE BELLS IN BENET, I AM THE BEST
AND YET FOR MY CASTING THE PARISH PAID THE LEAST
Or this example from Derbyshire:
MANKIND LIKE ME ARE OFTEN FOUND
POSSESSED OF NAUGHT BUT EMPTY SOUND
One of the most common bell inscriptions on English church bells is this familiar couplet:
I TO THE CHURCH THE LIVING CALL
AND TO THE GRAVE DO SUMMON ALL
A variation of this in Old English is found on a Yorkshire bell, cast in 1656:
WHEN I DO RING, GOD’S PRAYSES SING
WHEN I DO TOULE, PRAY HEART AND SOULE
A bell’s inscription tells us much about the people who cast it and how it was to be used. Most contemporary cast bronze bells continue to be marked with inscriptions, dedications, or ornamentation of some kind. Bellmakers often take great pride in a bell’s final appearance, which can hang in a bell tower for hundreds of years. This attention to detail helps preserve a moment of humanity for future generations.
