Cracks Silence San Luis Obispo Mission’s 183-Year-Old Gloria Bell

SAN LUIS OBISPO —  The historic, 2,000-pound Gloria bell that has called people to Mass at Mission San Luis Obispo for 183 years has gone silent.

Dan Krieger, a mission expert and history professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, said a crack in the iron bell has widened, possibly from the exertions of a new generation of bell ringers.

Whatever the reason, fears that the bell could break and fall on passersby has led the mission to stop using the bell. On the one-month anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, when bells across the nation sounded in solemn remembrance, San Luis Obispo rang only its two smaller bells.

“The power [of the big bell] is very much missed” in town, Krieger said. He is searching for a foundry that could cast a replacement. “I found one in the Netherlands, but that’s a long way to ship it.”

The bell was cast in Peru in 1818 by famed bell-maker Manuel Vargas. “This is a very historic bell,” Krieger said.

Its smaller sisters were broken almost upon arrival in California, but the big Gloria bell was intact. Early mission officials treasured it so highly, so the story goes, that they buried it to keep it safe from the depredations of Hippolyte Bouchard, a French pirate who raided settlements along the West Coast in the early 19th century.

Krieger said the bell isn’t the oldest mission bell in California, but it is among the best known. “In the old days, it rang daily, five times a day,” Krieger said. The ringing could be heard all over town. “People in the fields were summoned to Mass by the ringing of the bells.”

Since the bell tower was rebuilt in 1936 after an earlier collapse, the sound of the bells didn’t echo as widely, but they have remained an important part of the cultural life of the city of 40,000. Bells were heard across the nation in the early days of television, when Christmas shows would include bell-ringing from America’s churches and cathedrals. Bell ringer Gregario Silvera represented the West Coast, pulling the ropes in San Luis Obispo.

Bell ringers were local celebrities who took the ceremonial duties very seriously. Silvera passed down the tradition to Paul Jackson, a blind judge without law school training who presided over the municipal court from the 1930s until 1975.

Silvera’s training technique was legendary. Emphasizing the need for a gentle touch, he required students to hold a dove in each hand as they tugged on the ropes.

Mission officials had known of two tiny cracks in the Gloria bell. Krieger said they’ve grown recently. He suspects that may be an unfortunate result of an effort to train a new generation of bell ringers to keep the skill alive. John Noggle, one of the last remaining bell ringers, began instructing half a dozen younger ringers several years ago.

Krieger suspects the crack grew because the bells were being rung more often. One bell ringer defended the new generation. “New bell ringers coming in is wonderful,” said Greg Dillman. “We were coming close to losing the tradition.”

Dillman also said the Gloria bell should never have lost its voice. He said the crack is the same size it always was. “The bell ringers don’t believe the bell is damaged,” he said.

Krieger said he sent pictures of the damage to a bell expert, who agreed the bell could be destroyed by continued use. “I love the bells,” he said. But he said nobody should be taking any chances with it. “In the spirit of conservation, I’m on the side of the resource.”

Krieger said the bell will be placed in a museum when a new bell is raised into the 40-foot-high tower. “The Liberty Bell is a classic example,” he said. “You can’t mend a bell.”