History of Our Bell

THE REVISED HISTORY OF THE ST. JEROME BELL

July 9, 2011

As told by R.D. Baker

In 1845 a terrible famine swept over the country of Ireland. It lasted over six years and caused the death of over a million people throughout Ireland and Europe. Millions more were forced to flee, most of whom tried to come to America. Some of them made it. New Orleans at that time was a major port of entry for many of these immigrants who were not often welcome in this country. They spoke peculiar languages, were extremely poor and in addition to having different cultures, were mostly Roman Catholic. The established Protestant society was not overly willing to help them or to give them jobs.

In New Orleans, there was a religious order called the Redemptorists, who in an effort to assist these immigrants, established three “national” parishes that were within a half-block of each other. There was the Irish church named St. Alphonsus, the French church Notre Dame Bon Secours, and the German church St. Mary’s Assumption. These magnificent churches were all built by the nickels and dimes of these poor immigrants. These churches were works of love and were precious to the people who built them, but even after all their hard work there wasn’t enough money to furnish them with bells. In 1858, they had saved enough to buy bells for their new churches. The bells were ordered from the French foundry J. Goussel Jeune located northeast of Paris in a village called Metz. Each bell was hand made of bronze and engraved to identify the church in which it would hang. The cost of 8,165 French francs was equivalent to $1,600 in the late 1800’s. At today’s exchange rate a bell like this would cost $37,900.

Meanwhile, in San Antonio, the Redemptorists were busy building “mission” churches in poor communities such as Saspamco, Elmendorf, Canada Verde and Martinez. The first Catholic Church in our area was called Martinez Church and was built in 1868. Later, in 1930 the “little red brick” church was built on a two acre tract of land donated by John and Brigitte Jonietz and given the name of St. Jerome when dedicated. The church was built by the contributions and labor of the farming community around Martinez; however, they could not afford to purchase a bell and decided to pray for one. For many years the St. Jerome Church was without a bell.

It just so happened that the Redemptorists in New Orleans decided to close the French church, Notre Dame Bon Secours and have it demolished. When the Redemptorists priests in San Antonio heard about this, they asked if they could have the Bon Secours bell for one of their churches. After much deliberation and spiritual negotiation, the New Orleans Redemptorists priests decided to give it to the San Antonio Redemptorists who selected St. Jerome’s as the most deserving home for this historic bell. The parishioner’s prayers had been answered! Now all they had to do is get it here.

The bell was loaded on a flatbed truck and hauled to the Southern Pacific railroad terminal in New Orleans where it shared a ride with a load of coal bound for El Paso. Its journey took it through quaint little towns such as Toomey, Liberty, Beasley, Louise, Inez, Nursery, Westhoff, Smiley, Pandora, Adkins, and of course Martinez! The train had to make a scheduled stop in Martinez to pick up several carloads of cotton. This is where some local parishioners decided to save some transportation time in getting the bell over to the church. They somehow convinced the engineer (with the help of a six-pack of beer) to let them unload the bell in Martinez instead of taking it downtown to the main terminal. The moving crew consisted of Mr. Leick, Mr. Kott, Mr. Wiseman, a big black man named Ben and a Shetland pony called Pulleybone. After they wrestled the bell off the train, they put it on a wagon and hauled it over to the little red brick church where it was eventually hung in the wooden bell tower. For the next 25 years it was rung every Sunday by Mr. Felux (with the help of several rowdy young parishioners).

Ground breaking for a new church began in 1975 on an eight acre parcel of land donated by Mrs. Veronica Zigmond. The new white brick church was completed in March 1976 and the old bell was hung in a new tower next to it. In August 2001, Fr. John Flanagan was appointed pastor of St. Jerome. His goal was to build a larger church that could accommodate the ever growing parish population. Land was purchased west of the old white church and ground breaking for the new church began shortly thereafter. The church was completed in August 2011. Since the new church has an electronic chiming system, it appeared there was no longer a need for the old bell. Many parishioners felt the old historic bell should be a part of the new church. The Men's Club funded the erection of a new bell tower and on 9 July 2011, the old bell was moved to its new home. Fr. Flanagan supervised the moving crew composed of Mark Blandford, David Schick, Dylan Cranford, and myself.

Whether you’re Irish, Spanish, Polish, French, German or Czech, the St. Jerome Bell should remain a constant reminder of the hardships and sacrifices our ancestors made while building our wonderful little community and our great nation. This bell is directly associated with an event that shaped the history of the world. Let us not forget!