From Tennessee-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in downtown Springfield rang in a bit of history on Sunday following a donation from Tennessee’s historic past.
The Right Rev. John Bauerschmidt, Episcopal bishop of Tennessee, came to Springfield to consecrate, bless and name a historic bell that hung at Belmont Mansion in Nashville in the late 1800s.
“It’s a blessing reserved for a bishop, because it’s considered so very important,” said Jacoba Hurst, a priest and current vicar of St. Luke’s. “Part of the medieval ceremony is that he will pour holy water over it and name it. They often call it the quickening of the bell.”
A free-standing tower built next to the Seventh Street church to house the bell also was blessed during the ceremony.
“For us, it is a landmark occasion,” Hurst said.
History of the bell
The donated bell, which will be called “Luke,” once hung in the cupola of the mansion on the grounds of what today is Belmont University, Hurst said.
“When it was a university for women, with Belmont Mansion being the main building of that college, this bell was used to summon the women who were students to class and chapel,” Hurst said.
More here-
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130629/NEWS06/306290038/TN-s-Episcopal-bishop-blesses-bell-church-Springfield
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