November 11, is coming up...known as Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, it marks the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities. I thought about the current wars. WWI was tagged..."The War to end all Wars".
I went online to find out what has been said in the past... Pope Francis...who signs everything just Francis…in his New Years message a few years ago for the 48th anniversary of the Day of World Peace...he spoke in front of a screen that had the Maria Dolens bell ringing in the background. The Maria Dolens? And so I was off on a history quest.
The Maria Dolens is the name of a bell that was cast from the bronze of many of the cannons - 19, one from each of the countries that participated in WWI. It sits in Roverto, in today’s northern Italy and it rings 100 times each day in the evening to honor the fallen and to many to act as a symbol for peace and an end to war.
The Bell was the idea of Don Antonio Rossaro, called the Bell of the Fallen. It was given the name Maria Dolens and placed on the Malipiero tower of Castello di Rovereto. It has been recast many times because of fractures from ringing 100 times a day no doubt... but it has always been recast and returned to the tower where is nightly reminds the world of the price of war. The latest recast was blessed by Pope Paul VI and on November 4th, 1965 was placed on the Colle di Miravalle where it today rest above the city of Roverto.
On the bell, which is the second largest swinging bell in the world, were added at its recasting the statements of the Pontiff Pius XII "With peace nothing is lost. Everything is to be lost through war." John XXIII: "In pace hominum ordinata concordia et tranquilla libertas."
Today, as always, it rang 100 times at midday...in Italy as I am writing this..... just as it was shown on the large screen in St. Peter’s square that day.
It is said that it tolls in the hope that Man, in the memory of the Fallen of every war and every nation in the world, may find the path that leads to Peace….
I say AMEN to that…! Sit and listen and think quietly...It is big it takes a bit or so to start ringing!
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