“The devil hates everything beautiful and the bells are specifically used to draw attention to the divine worship of God.”
“The devil hates bells,” a deacon and exorcist involved in the deliverance ministry recently told my husband and me. He is our daughter’s father-in-law, so it was just a casual conversation—or at least for us.
I had never heard of the bell-aversion, so I asked about it during my following interview with an exorcist from the mountain West. Father Theophilus (“loved of God” but is not his real name because exorcists usually need to keep their identity secret) confirmed it. “Devils hate bells,” he said. “I use them in sessions all the time. I have a nicely-toned consecration bell that I use.”
The devil has screamed, “Knock it off!” at the sound of bells during exorcisms and tried to knock them out of his hand. The Rite of Exorcism uses prayers and holy water. Still, Father Theophilus also brings many tools into the fight against evil, such as music, chants, sacred art, a team of prayer warriors, holy water, and blessed bells to overwhelm the devil.
“Why bells?” I asked. “Satan is always attacking us through our senses,” he said. “So the liturgy itself needs to be a holy assault on our senses: our sight, touch, smells, and hearing. We have prayed as a Church with all these sensual things because she learned through millennia that this is what repels the enemy.”
Father Theophilus uses his altar or Sanctus handheld bells. “When these consecrated bells are used at Mass, it is to say, ‘Look at him, the Word made Flesh!’” he said. “The bell humiliates the devil because it’s a non-rational object doing what they were made to do. They don’t want to adore God.”
Another reason the devil hates bells is that they hate everything beautiful and holy, according to Father Theophilus. “We are moved by beauty,” he said. “It stirs our souls—beautiful music, prayers, flowers, beautiful tones… the devil hates everything beautiful, and the bells are specifically used to draw attention to the divine worship of God.”
Father Theophilus said that it is customary to bless everything involved in the liturgy and to bless the church bells. “Blessings make things holy — set apart for God. Everything in the liturgy needs to be set apart for God.”
Just as the sanctus bells give God glory, so does the ringing of church bells, whether the Church has an old cast-iron bell or an electronic recording, Father Theophilus explained. Both can be blessed. “Traditionally, church bells called us to prayer,” he said. “If you have an Angelus app on your phone, a bell will ring to alert you.”
The Angelus is a Catholic prayer originating from an 11th-century monastic custom. Church bells called people at 6 a.m., 12 noon, and 6 p.m. to pray the Angelus—Latin for “angel.” People stopped what they were doing, knelt down, and prayed. The Angelus commemorated the Incarnation when the Angel Gabriel declared to the Virgin Mary. She responded: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to Thy word.” And the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us.
BLESSINGS OF THE BELLS
As God’s people, we ask God to bless and set aside these five bells, which are to be installed beginning tomorrow morning, for use in this holy Church, for his service and help. May by the Holy Spirit, God makes these five bells hallowed through our prayer this night. So that when these bells are tolled and rung in the future, the faithful may be invited and called to the House of God and to everlasting life.
May the Church’s faith and piety be made stronger whenever they hear its melodious peals. At the sound of these bells, may all evil spirits be driven far away! May thunder and lightning, storm and tornado, hail and wind, and evil be banished at the echoing of their sound. And may all evil flee at the sight of the holy cross that is engraved on each of them. May all evil and temptation flee at the sound of these bells.
Tonight, we ask that our Lord, Jesus Christ, grant this for us. Take notice of the incredible spiritual weight that the bells are given. Tonight, they become instruments of God’s power in the war between heaven and hell.
We pray tonight that whenever these bells may ring, may the ancient enemy take flight. May the Christian people unite and hear the call to faith. May the empire of Satan be terrified at their ringing. And may we as God’s people be strengthened as we are called together by these bells. May the sound of these bells be as pleasing to God as was Kind David’s playing of the harp in the Old Testament.
And as the peals of thunder frightened and drove away an army of enemies while Samuel slew an unblemished lamb as a holocaust to the Eternal King, so too, when these bells ring in the clouds over St. Maria Goretti and Westfield, as we gather in this Church for the Eucharistic banquet, the ultimate sacrifice of the Eternal King, may legions of angels stand watch and guard over the assembly of your holy Church, to protect us in body and spirit.
These bells will call down angels. Legions of them! God continues to watch over and protect his Church. These are no ordinary bells. And what we do tonight is no common blessing. And what we have built for God and am now close to completing has eternal significance.
Let us remember this from now on, every time we hear a church bell or bells, whether here or anywhere in the world. With each ring and each peal, spiritual power is being given to us by our God. May each ringing bell remind us to thank him for the many blessings in our lives.
WHY ARE BELLS USED DURING MASS
Bells have been a common part of divine worship since Moses. Depending on the church you attend, you may hear the sound of bells ringing at pivotal points in the Mass. While it is no longer a universal practice in the Catholic Church, it points to an ancient historical practice that awakens our senses during the liturgy.
In describing the vestments worn by the priests of Israel like Aaron, God explains to Moses how bells should be sewn on them.
On its skirts you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet stuff, around its skirts, with bells of gold between them, a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, round about on the skirts of the robe. And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord, and when he comes out, lest he die. (Exodus 28:33-35)
Bells were an integral part of divine worship, both to sound a joyful noise before the Lord and to ward off evil spirits. This particular feature of bells is still preserved in the Roman Ritual blessing of bells where the priest prays, “At its sound let all evil spirits be driven afar.”
As Christianity grew, bells were slowly added to the liturgy in various ways. At first bells were mounted in towers outside of churches to call people to worship, but soon enough handheld bells were used for similar purposes. For example, it is believed St. Patrick used such a handbell and “whenever Saint Patrick had set up a new Christian community or parish somewhere in Ireland, he would choose one of his disciples to lead it after he left, and present them with a bell to call the parishoners to prayer, and to use during religious ceremonies.”
More in line with the Old Testament, small bells were adapted in Eastern Churches in various ways, such as bells that were attached to the thurible that carried incense used at divine worship. In the Roman Rite handbells were eventually used by altar servers to mark important moments during the Mass. It currently remains an option, as it is noted in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, “A little before the Consecration, if appropriate, a minister rings a small bell as a signal to the faithful. The minister also rings the small bell at each elevation by the Priest, according to local custom” (No. 150).
The bells have great spiritual power and alert our senses to what is unfolding before us. They not only provoke our attention, but are also a “joyous noise” at the pivotal moments in the Mass when God comes down from Heaven and takes the appearance of bread and wine.
It is not meant to be a distraction, but another way to praise God and focus our wandering attention. Or as the Psalmist sings, “Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150:5-6)
Power of God 
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