1861

Two bells out of France

The bells were cast at Valence in 1861, by the foundry of the widow Grégoire, and the man who paid for them put his name in the bronze: Casimir Grégoire. Fr Joseph Grégoire, who was building the church while they were being made, had been born at Valence himself — donor, founder and priest, one name and one town. They did not ring here for another eleven years. The crates came by sea and got as far as the District Collector's office at Tirunelveli, and there they stayed. What moved them in the end was the metal itself: someone looked at the bells and saw the cross cast into them, and Our Lady with the Child in her arms, and knew they belonged in a Catholic church, and said so to the Collector. In 1872 they were hung at last, one in each of the two towers. People here still say that when the two ring together there is a sweetness in the sound that is heard nowhere else in this country.

DocumentedThis moment rests on 5 sources.
150-Year Souvenirp. 21
150ஆம் ஆண்டு ஆலய நிறைவு விழா வாழ்த்துகள் — ஆலய மணியின் வரலாறு ஆலய மணியின் வரலாறு ஆண்டவன் உள்ளமும் ஆலயம் அழகு. ஆலயம் உள்ளமும் ஆண்டவன் அழகு. ஆண்டவன் அமைதிக்கும் ஆலயமணி அழகு. ஆலயமணி ஓலிக்கும் அழகே அழகு. ஆ்் ஆண்டவன் உள்ளமும் ஆலயத்திற்கும் கம்பீரமும் அழகும். அழகும் தருவது ஆலய கோபுரத்தில் அதிவறந்திருக்கும் ஆலய மணிகளே. மேலும் அதன்வழியே ஒலியெழுப்பும் இனிய ஓசையும். எனவே ஆண்டவன் உள்ளமும் ஆலயம் அழகு. வடகன்குளம் திருக்குடும்ப ஆலயத்திலிருந்து ஒலிக்கும் மணி ஓசையின் ஒலி கேட்டு நம் முன்னோர்கள் காலம்தொறும் இறைபணி செய்து வந்துள்ளனர். எனவே இந்த மணிகள் ஒரு சத்தோலிக்க ஆலயத்தைப் போல்ச் சேர வேண்டுமென தீர்மானித்து மாவட்ட ஆட்சியரிடம் தெரிவித்தனர். அந்த வேலையால் தூத்துக்கு்டிக கடற்கரை ஆலயங்களின் பிரித்தி பெற்றதாய் இருந்தது நம் வடசை நகரின் பரிஇத திருக்குடும்ப ஆலயமே. எனவே அந்தப் பெட்டியினுள் ஆலய மணிகள் நமது நாட்டுக்கு அனுப்பப்பட்டது. ஆலய அர்ச்சிப்பு 1872ல் நிகழ்ந்தது. சர். பெராட். அடிகளார் பங்கு குருவாயிருந்தார். அந்த நாட்களில் ஆலயப் பணிகளில் மிகந்த ஈடுபாடு கொண்டிருந்த உழைத்துக்கொண்டிருந்த கட்டளை விப்பான்சுளுத்தை என்பவரை ஆலய மணியை முதன்முதலாக அடியில் வைத்து அவரைச் கொஞ்சப்படுத்தினார் பங்குத் தந்தையவர்கள். அந்தப் பணியையும். கோவில் சார்ந்த இந்தப் பணிகளையும் அதே கட்டளைக் குடும்பத்தினர் இந்து தலைமுறையாக தண்ணார்வத்தோடும். முழு ஈடுபாட்டுடனும் செய்வலே செய்து வருகிறார்கள். *(Header now reads: "150th-Year Church Completion Festival Greetings — The History of the Church Bell".)* The History of the Church Bell The Lord's heart, too, is the church's beauty. The church, too, is the Lord's beauty. The church bell, too, is the beauty of the Lord's peace. The very ringing of the church bell is beauty itself. Ah! What gives grandeur and beauty, beauty, to the Lord's heart and to the church are the church bells that hang high in the church tower. Moreover the sweet sound that rings out through them. Therefore the Lord's heart, too — the church — is beauty. Hearing the sound of the bell ringing from the Holy Family Church of Vadakankulam, our forefathers down the ages came performing God's service. Therefore, resolving that these bells should be assembled as befits a Catholic church, they informed the District Collector. By that effort, our holy Holy-Family church of the northern (Vadasai) town came to have the distinction of the Tuticorin seashore churches. Therefore, within that box the church bells were sent to our land/country. The consecration of the church took place in 1872. Sir Perratt Adigal was the parish priest. In those days, the one of the Kattalai (family-order) named Vippanchulutthai, who had great involvement and was toiling in the church works — the parish priests laid the church bell at the foundation first and consoled/honoured him. That work, and these works connected with the church, the same Kattalai family-order, for many generations now, do with great fervour and full involvement.
21

In English

“They saw that upon the bells were engraved the sign of the cross and the picture of the Mother of God bearing the Child Jesus, and they learned the other particulars. Therefore, resolving that these bells should go where they belonged, to a Catholic church, they informed the District Collector.”

ஆலய 150-வது ஆண்டுவிழா மலர் — the 150-Year Jubilee Souvenir2022 — the parish's own jubilee book

The parish's own record, printed here by the parish.

150-Year Souvenir · p. 21

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The printed page 21 of ஆலய 150-வது ஆண்டுவிழா மலர் — the 150-Year Jubilee Souvenir, photographed from the book

What this source establishes

⭐ THE BELLS' OWN STORY, and it was in the parish's jubilee book all along, in a dedicated article headed “ஆலய மணியின் வரலாறு” — The History of the Church Bell — running across souvenir pages 21–23 and signed by Jo. Thomas Veena. It explains the eleven-year gap between the casting of 1861 and the hanging of 1872: the crates reached the DISTRICT COLLECTOR'S OFFICE at Tirunelveli and stopped there, and what freed them was somebody recognising the cross and Our Lady with the Child cast into the bronze and telling the Collector these belonged in a Catholic church. ⚠ WHO that somebody was is LOST: the sentence opens mid-word on a garbled page and the subject is gone. Do not supply one — in particular do not write ‘French visitors’, which is village memory and is in no text we hold. ⚠ The page also seems to say the bells had been associated with the Tuticorin coastal churches before they came here, but that clause is too broken to publish. Ambiguous match is expected: the souvenir prints this article three times over, on pages 21, 22 and 23.