In the meantime it has become a running gag in the editorial department of DOMRADIO.DE. When the third-biggest bell in Cologne Cathedral rings at 3 p.m. on Friday, the last regular working day of the week, the telephone also rings and the question is asked in the chat groups: “Why are the bells ringing now?” – The reason for this regularly recurring occasion every week has long been explained and the answer to this question is then less random, but a reason for it is mostly invented and derived from the daily church events.

In the three synoptic gospels—those after Matthew, Mark, and Luke—the events surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion are fairly accurately given in terms of timing. Around the sixth hour, darkness falls over the whole land, and around the ninth hour, Jesus utters his last words on the cross before finally dying. The ninth hour according to Roman time measurement corresponds to 3 p.m. in the afternoon. This calculation then also gives the beginning of the Good Friday liturgy, which IS celebrated at the time when, according to tradition, Jesus died on the cross.

Holy Week Ringing Cycle

In the Roman liturgy, however, it has long been unusual to ring bells on Good Friday. In some places, wooden rattles and so-called Good Friday ratchets take their place. These go back to the wooden boards that were struck and thus called to the service before the bells took over this task. In some Eastern European countries, this beating is still practiced very artistically and rhythmically to this day.

But just as every Sunday is a small Easter festival, every Friday also points to Good Friday, both in the church liturgy and in the way of life. While the latter is guaranteed by not eating meat, the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours, especially on Fridays, comes up with Passion texts. And so the memory of Good Friday and the death of Jesus on the cross is supported in some places by the repeated ringing of a bell. Supplemented by the analogous ringing of the bell to commemorate Jesus’ prayer on the Mount of Olives on Thursday evening and the ringing in of Sunday as an announcement of the day of resurrection, a whole ringing cycle of the Holy Week is created.

Mainly distributed in southern Germany

It is not entirely clear where the commemorative ringing on Thursday and Friday came from. In 1740, Pope Benedict XIV decreed that the leaders of the churches ring the bells every Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. in honor of the dying Saviour. Most likely, the pontifex fell back on an already existing tradition and gave it general validity with his decree.

This commemorative ringing is widespread in southern Germany and especially in Bavaria; And not just in Catholic churches. In the Protestant towns and regions of Franconia, too, the bells of Protestant churches are a reminder of Good Friday events. In Swabia and in the Allgäu, in some places, the Friday bells are rung at 11 a.m., the time of the condemnation or crucifixion, which, however, takes place at the third hour in the Gospel of Mark. But the further north you go, the fewer these ringing customs are to be found. The Rhineland in the Cologne area is an exception here.

Holy Year 1933 gave the impetus

As Pope Pius XI. 1933 proclaimed an extraordinary holy year for the first time and considered the return of the year of the redemption of mankind through the cross and resurrection of Jesus, he decreed in his apostolic constitution “Nullo non tempore” to grant indulgence to all those who died to ring the bells the angel of Jesus Lord or just say five Hail Marys.

The Archbishop of Cologne, Karl Joseph Cardinal Schulte, referred this decree to the death bells ordered by Benedict XIV at 3 p.m. on Fridays and noted in a decree that this exercise had “unfortunately been forgotten in many places”. The devotional exercise “to the dying Saviour, who offered himself for us to God the Father as a sin offering” was also provided with corresponding indulgences.

When the bell rings on Friday afternoon, everyone – possibly kneeling – should pray devoutly five Our Fathers and Ave Maria and add in the opinion of the Holy Father: “We adore you, Lord Jesus Christ, and we praise you!” – The pastors like the believers on this pious Exercise awareness and ring the bells every Friday during the Holy Year at 3:00 p.m. At the end of the Holy Year, the Archbishop of Cologne decreed that this exercise should be “permanently maintained in the future”.

Still widespread in the Archdiocese of Cologne

Even if not every church practices this Friday ringing – many places of worship were only built after the Second World War – the weekly death ringing is still widespread in the area of ​​the Archdiocese of Cologne and thus also fulfills the adhortative (admonishing) and significative (Indicative) function of the bell ringing beyond the call to church service. The requests of the dioceses and regional churches to ring the bells every evening during the first lockdown and thus give comfort can be seen in a similar way. And at the moment it is a call for peace in Ukraine that can be heard from the church towers every evening.

Especially in times when the number of church services celebrated in the churches is constantly falling, such ringing events are very important in order to keep the message of the cross and the resurrection present acoustically and to invite people to prayer. Against this background, each parish could consider for itself how to use its bells sensibly and, for example, ring in Sundays and high festivals the evening before, even if there is no (anymore) service in the church itself.