medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Jim:
In early Irish Christian tradition bells formerly belonging to
important saints were regarded as possessing great spiritual,
quasi-magical powers. As with the saint's 'bachall' or staff they were
treated as relics and enshrined in splendid, costly reliquaries. Their
functions included cursing offenders, healing the sick and administering
solemn oaths. They also were frequently given special names: St Fillan's
staff was the 'Quigrich' and his bell the 'Bernane'. The latter, according
to legend, would fly through the air to the saint when he called it. More
historically verifiable is the fact that it was used in the coronation of
James IV of Scotland.
The most famous bell of this kind is the bronze-coated iron bell
of St Patrick which has been preserved along with its magnificent gold,
silver and bronze shrine.
Cheers,
Martin Howley
On Wed, 4 Feb 2004, Jim Bugslag wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> > Oh, yes, and I think it's St Fillan's Bell which still
> > exists somewhere: the classic early-medieval bell,
> > rectangular in form, which produces at least three
> > different tones from different walls of the rectangle.
>
> Bells seem to crop up in the stories of a lot of early European saints, and they often
> have the status of relics of that saint, as I suspect is the case with St Fillan here.
> Does anybody have any idea why?
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