Even as the state of Perak rejoiced over the reverting of the CMCO (Conditional Movement Control Order) to RMCO (Recovery Conditional Movement Order) on Dec 7, 2020, the dreadful Covid-19 pandemic still hangs over our heads.

Do we dare to anticipate some form of Christmas celebration this year? Can we attend Midnight Mass and joyously sing all our favourite Christmas Carols?

And can we rejoice together in the glorious ringing of our century-old church bells at the beginning of Mass?

So, here is a story about Taiping Catholic Church’s bells to warm the heart.

All three bells have been named after girls. And the femininity of their names is like a mother’s arms, all-embracing and inextricably linked to Christian churches throughout the world.

Although Ernest Hemingway’s novel, ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’, originally announces the death of a person, it is not like this here.

Singing trio

The bell, with the carefully chosen names of Maria Marcelina (283kg), Josepha Bertha (197kg) and Angela Susanna (142kg) — chime pretty well together, or on their own.

In the early days, two bells were rung three times every Sunday, while all three were rung on special occasions like important feast days.

In the morning, the parishioners were awakened at 5.30am by the Angelus Bell for prayers and, when the bells were rung a second time at 8am, it was a sign to get ready for mass.

“Every Sunday, parishioners were called to church again for vespers at 5pm, except on racing days. The priest thought it was wise to cancel the evening service on such days — even on the patronal feast day of the Assumption — because he knew that most of his parishioners would be at the racecourse, which was not far from the church,” said Father Paul Decroix of the Foreign Missions of Paris in ‘A Short History Of The Catholic Church In Taiping’, published in 1987.

“It would have been hard to make them choose between vespers and the races!” he added.

Although the race tracks have presently been replaced by a school, SMJK Hua Lian, the road beside the church still bears the name of Jalan Lumba Kuda (Race Course Road).

In 1884, the small, original church on the hill was demolished and some of the timber and bricks were used to construct a new church building at the foot of the hill.

It was named the Church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH). This 136-year-old church possesses a charm of its own, despite an antiquated architectural design of 12 wooden pillars supporting the rafters running through the middle of its interior.

After more than a century, the termite-ridden wooden bell tower behind the church was weakening and near collapse.

When the two Catholic parishes of OLSH Church in Klian Pauh and St Louis in Taiping town were amalgamated into the Taiping Catholic Church (TCC) in 1997, the three bells were transferred to the preparation room at the back of St Louis Church.

It is important to note that the first Christian church in Taiping was the OLSH, established in 1875.

After the assassination of JWW Birch, the first British Resident of Perak, Sir Hugh Low took over the reins. He was supportive of the French Christian Fathers of the Foreign Missions of Paris.

Father Francois Allard was sent to Taiping to start a church. He built a small wooden church on a hillock in Klian Pauh, the tin mining area of 19th century Taiping.

Tin mining drew in thousands of immigrant Chinese miners and the surrounding rubber estates had many Indian workers. Soon there were 200 to 300 Christian families.

The three bells faithfully summoned these families for prayer and church attendance.

The stolen bell

At the end of the First World War in 1918, the three bells in Klian Pauh tolled for 15 glorious minutes to celebrate the Armistice. The bells were installed in this church by the seventh parish priest, Father J Mariette in 1897, during the pontificate of Pope Leon XIII.

They were cast in bronze (copper and tin) in the workshops of Ville Dieu, Normandy, France and cost US$653 (RM2,276).

There are no existing records to show shipping and other transfer costs involved. Imagine the task of transporting and installing these extremely heavy cast bronze bells!

Yet, one of them was stolen from St Louis Church in 1997! In the midst of extensive renovations, a back door was carelessly left unlocked.

The biggest bell was stacked over the smallest one while the middle-sized bell, on its own, was spirited away one night on a tricycle, and buried. Poor Josepha!

Angela, the lightest, would have been kidnapped too if the thieves had seen her.

According to the Parish Council, a police report was made. Eventually, clues and lots of prayers led the search to Aulong Lama, a village settlement on the outskirts of Taiping.

The thieves had intended to melt down the bell and sell it to an agent in Penang. Through persuasion and some threats, the thieves confessed and led the search party to where the bell was buried under tons of earth.

For better security, a new concrete bell tower was built in 2004 at the front of the St Louis Church where the Angela and Josepha Bells were installed.

Maria, the largest of the bells, was transferred back to Klian Pauh OLSH Church and now hangs in a concrete belfry too.

And so the story of the three bells comes to a happy ending.

As we roll towards the end of 2020, we hope that the new year 2021 will bring greater cheer, accompanied by the glorious ringing of these vintage bells in Taiping.