Fiona Galea Debono
Żabbar Sanctuary gets six new bells
A set of six new bells for the Ave Maria clock at Our Lady of Grace Sanctuary in Żabbar were blessed yesterday by parish priest Fr Sebastian Caruana. The bells will play the Ave Maria every four hours daily and every hour on special occasions. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi.
Six new bells, cast at the "world's best" French foundry, have found their way to the Żabbar Sanctuary, replacing their old and rusted steel counterparts with a state-of-the-art set.
According to campanologist Kenneth Cauchi, the old bells, dating back to 1931, have been "beyond repair and could not play a decent tune" for at least 40 years.
The new bells were commissioned by the church and cast at the renowned Paccard bell foundry in Annecy, which is responsible for France's largest bell in the Sacre Coeur Basilica in Montmartre, Paris. Among the records it has broken is the casting of the world's largest swinging bell, weighing 33 tonnes.
It was thanks to the donations of parishioners and collections by the town's two band clubs, Maria Mater Gratiae and St Michael's, that the "extremely limited musical quality of the old, bad bells was replaced by the harmonically tuned set of instruments".
Mr Cauchi said attempts were made to get one of the old bells to work and the tone was restored once the rust was removed. However, they could not be reinstalled in the tower without protection and once this was applied, they lost their tone again.
Their rust has now been removed and they are being conserved in the sanctuary's museum. The plan is that they would be played again but funding was required for some sort of solution since they have been detached from the clock mechanism.
The pristine bells were yesterday transported from storage in Qormi to Żabbar and paraded in a carcade of around 75 motorbikes. Next, the locality's two bands joined forces and marched them to the sanctuary parvis, where they were placed on brick columns, decorated in red damask and palm fronts.
Later in the evening, the bells were blessed, and the plan is to hoist them up the tower as soon as possible, Mr Cauchi said.
During the ceremony, the singing was conducted by Mme Anne Paccard, curator of the Musée de la Cloche in Annecy and wife of M. Philippe Paccard, the seventh generation of the Paccard dynasty of bell founders, under whose patronage the ceremony was held.
The new set has raised the number of Paccard bells in Malta to 39, with the oldest dating back to 1910, and the largest in Balzan having recently celebrated its 60th anniversary.
Popular Stories
Update 3: Woman found dead in car,...
Updated: Woman dies in car crash
Carm Mifsud Bonnici resigns after...
Part of Dwejra 'Azure window' collapses
The end of the bar that ‘never closed’
Bundy does not know whether to...
Updated - Jason Micallef demands...
This WAS the night - Kurt makes it...
Petrol price up 6c
In Discussion
Updated - Jason Micallef demands...
Gozo tunnel could take 5-7 years to...
CABS remote controlled aircraft shot...
Carm Mifsud Bonnici resigns after...
Joseph Calleja condemns portrayal of...
Updated: Labour would give...
CABS drone shot down
Second group of migrants arrives
Adrian Vassallo in scathing...
10 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
r.cassar
Aug 17th 2009, 19:33
Well done to the Parish Priest and people of Zabbar! Perhaps the Gzira Parish priest will read this and do something so that the Ave Maria bells in his parish start chiming again.
Buhagiar Michael
Aug 17th 2009, 18:01
At Zabbar we are proud to welcome these bells and their wonderful tone. Apart from the prestige of having a set of Paccard bells in the Sanctuary. Also apart from this it was wonderful to see both band clubs working hard to collect the money for one of the bells and on Sunday accompanying the bells as one band. Hope that there will be no complaints in the future about noises from the bells and or a campaign to stop them.
Silvio Mizzi
Aug 17th 2009, 15:51
Well done !!!!!! Big thank you Fr Sebastian Caruana ......Ave Maria clock at Our Lady of Grace Sanctuary in Żabbar ......
And thank you for all...
Congratulations....
T. Pulis
Aug 17th 2009, 15:42
...and the beauty of the Sanctuary will be more visible once the baroque facade is fully restored.
Chris Ebejer
Aug 17th 2009, 15:29
Thanks to Mr Cauchi the Maltese islands will be graced with another top quality set of bells from another renowned bell foundry!
Charles Schembri
Aug 17th 2009, 15:13
I just heard the good news all the way from Canada . I will be in Zabbar for the feast next month and I am looking forward to listen to the sound of these new bells.
Well done everyone who participate for this project.
Andre` Micallef
Aug 17th 2009, 14:55
@ Mr Alfred Grech: The new set of bells will only chime the Lourdes Ave Maria, they are not replacing the other bells which are operated manually, i.e. hand-pealed. Anyway, during the Tal-Grazzja feast we should be in for a real campanological treat, so to speak! Mr Kenneth Cauchi, whom I happen to know, should really be commended for his efforts in the past decade in procuring new sets of bells for numerous Maltese churches.
Alfred Grech
Aug 17th 2009, 12:15
So it's going to be a feast with new bells! Congratulations, Zabbar. The beauty of the bells' tone will compliment the beauty of your church.
Frank Bowman
Aug 17th 2009, 11:46
This is quite an important event for the Zabbar Community, I feel we should be glad that both Band Clubs have show friendship and partnership on this occassion.
Thank you both band clubs, Maria Mater Gratiae and St Michael's for your kind gesture.
Marlene Aquilina
Aug 17th 2009, 10:40
well done Mr. Cauchi !!!!!!