Kristina Chetcuti discovers the ancient art of bell ringing at St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta and learns that new recruits to campanology are always welcome in the drive to keep the church bells pealing.

Kristina Chetcuti tries her hand. Photos by Mark Zammit Cordina, courtesy of St John’s Co-Cathedral FoundationKristina Chetcuti tries her hand. Photos by Mark Zammit Cordina, courtesy of St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation

When you think ‘bell ringer’, you imagine a chubby Friar Tuck, dangling from a bell rope, swaying to and fro.

Ditch the image. Bell ringing, even of a bell weighing seven tons, is actually all about standing still and tugging the rope deftly.

But when you’re in the belfry of the grandest baroque church in Europe, at 7.30am, you do tend to get carried away, particularly if your bell-ringing knowledge comes from a childhood diet of Don Camillo films.

When St John’s Co-Cathedral bell master Kenneth Cauchi hands me the ropes of the largest bell on the right tower – weighing 4.5 tons – I lean on the rope, and busily rush from one side to the next.

The result is an unhappy one – both for the tune and my biceps.

Fearing that the retired priests in the convent next door would think we were being invaded by the Saracens, the bell master quickly steps in.

The noise is too loud to attempt any explanation, and we are all wearing earmuffs, so he mimics the manner I have to hold the rope. One simple stretch of the arm, one giant grin on the face.

I compare this to football – St John’s Co-Cathedral to me is like the World Cup of Maltese church bells

As the bell master at St John’s Co-Cathedral – a post he has held since he was 15 – Mr Cauchi, 39, is like an orchestra conductor.

He directs all the six bell ringers on the two belfries, to herald the preparation for Mass and the arrival of Archbishop Paul Cremona.

“I was 12 when I first set foot in St John’s Co-Cathedral. I compare this to football – St John’s Co-Cathedral to me is like the World Cup of Maltese church bells.”

Mr Cauchi made bells his career. Today he is a campanologist, specialising in the technology of bells: how they are cast, tuned and sounded as well as the history, methods, and traditions of bell-ringing as an art.

“The bells here are without a standard pitch. They were all made in the foundry of the Order of St John – and in those times, size and weight was considered to be more important than mathe­matical harmonic precision,” Mr Cauchi says.

In the 17th century, bells were considered a show of power by the Knights of St John: case in point the seven-ton bell commissioned by the pompous Grand Master Manuel Pinto de Fonseca.

St John’s eight bells range in size from the smallest weighing a little over 550kg to the largest at a massive seven tons. The oldest was cast in 1636 and the most recent of the lot in 1748.

In the past the church bells were the only clock of the town and village – and different notes denoted different messages.

Ringing the cathedral bells.Ringing the cathedral bells.

Each bell, in fact, has a different note, depending on the size, and they all have different functions: one, for example, is used to announce the start of the bell ringing, another is only used during Mass of primary feasts; the smallest are used during the week. All the bell ringing is done manually – rain or shine.

“On a windy day it can be a real challenge up here,” Mr Cauchi says.

Although an electronic system could be installed, the size of the bells at St John’s is on the larger size, “so if bell ringing is done electronically the output would not be a satisfying one”.

In the coming months the belfries, under the keen eye of the cathedral’s curator Cynthia de Giorgio, will be undergoing a thorough restoration.

The upkeep of the cathedral and museum is constantly ongoing and has now been entrusted to St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation. “The foundation is making our dreams come true,” Mr Cauchi says.

Meanwhile, the search for more volunteer bell-ringers is on.

Anyone is welcome to join a free bell-ringing session: no pre-requisites are needed.

“All you need are two things: common sense and obedience. You have to understand what you are doing and you have to follow the bell master, because you are part of the team,” Mr Cauchi says.

Of course, punctuality is essential – Mass does not wait for latecomers.

For more information on bell-ringing e-mail kcauchi@gmail.com.

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