Centuries pass.
Their voices remain.

From the fully revised second edition, May 2011. “Today” and ringing times refer to that historical account. Old units and pitch notations are retained as source information; inconsistencies are not silently corrected. Private contact information and selected more recent personal details are omitted.

Bells are found in cultures around the world and have long been credited with magical and protective powers. Their origins reach far into pre-Christian times. The source describes Neolithic bells, around 3000–1800 BC, made from hollowed fruit shells, wood, or clay, and suggests that the earliest bells came from China in the fifth to second millennia BC. Copper gongs were hammered there around 3000 BC, followed by bronze bells struck with wooden beams. In the East, people used sounding boards, sometimes regarded as sacred. In the West, wooden boards and rattles served a similar purpose, much like those still used in Catholic churches during Holy Week. These early signals summoned people to worship or assemblies. The Israelites used bell-like instruments in Old Testament times, and Roman bells announced the opening and closing of public baths. Christian use dates from the sixth century. Beside the altar of St. Gall in St. Gallen Abbey is a forged bell associated with the saint and dated to the seventh century.

Iron bells gave way to the richer sound of bronze. From the ninth century, bells were hung in towers, including the freestanding bell towers found beside Italian churches. For centuries, bell bronze has been an alloy of 78% copper and 22% tin, prized for its sound.

From the eleventh century, bells carried inscriptions naming donors and the saints to whom they were dedicated. Early forms included beehive-shaped bells and four- or eight-sided examples forged from bronze sheet or copper plates. Commercial bell foundries appeared in the thirteenth century.

From the fully revised second edition, May 2011. “Today” and ringing times refer to that historical account. Old units and pitch notations are retained as source information; inconsistencies are not silently corrected. Private contact information and selected more recent personal details are omitted.

First, a hollow masonry core is built and coated with clay. A rotating template shapes the clay, which is then left to dry. A separating layer of fat, tallow, or graphite is applied, followed by more clay in the exact shape of the finished bell. This is the “false bell.” Once dry, it receives wax lettering and decoration. Successive layers of increasingly fine clay form the outer mold, or mantle, capturing those details. A fire inside the hollow core dries and fires the mold. The mantle is lifted off, the false bell is broken away, and the mantle is replaced.

Molten bell bronze at 1,100°C fills the space between core and mantle. The mold is buried in firmly packed earth to prevent it from shifting or coming apart during the pour.

From the fully revised second edition, May 2011. “Today” and ringing times refer to that historical account. Old units and pitch notations are retained as source information; inconsistencies are not silently corrected. Private contact information and selected more recent personal details are omitted.

The source dates the first documentary mention of Appenzell’s church bells to 1355: during a strong earthquake in October, they and the bells in Altstätten reportedly rang by themselves.

Old cantonal accounts record that on October 29, 1495, Appenzell’s chief magistrate and council commissioned the experienced craftsman Jörg Bisenberg in Kaufbeuren to make a new yoke for the two larger bells. This is an early indication that several bells already hung in the tower of St. Mauritius.

Around 1499, Appenzell’s churchwardens contracted Hans Nötwiler in Konstanz to cast a new bell at two Rhenish guilders per historical hundredweight.

The oldest Appenzell bell described as partly surviving is the fire bell of 1509. Its Latin inscription reads “AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA DOMINUS TECUM ANNO DOMINI M CCCCC IX”—“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, in the year of our Lord 1509.” It survived the village fire, but its tone suggested a hidden defect. Weighing 12 historical hundredweight, it was recast in 1560.

Another surviving bell, originally used to announce religious instruction for children, also dates from 1509. Plain and undecorated, it measures 85 cm across and weighs 6.6 historical hundredweight. It bears neither images nor a founder’s name, and its place of casting is unknown. The source translates its Latin inscription as “Let the little children come to me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” followed by the year 1509. Cast during Pastor Theobald Hurter’s tenure, it retained a clear tone, recorded as C–D-flat. During the replacement of the bells in 1923, its bright voice alone called worshippers to church. It survived both the Reformation and the village fire. Following Dr. Albert Rechsteiner’s intervention, the parish assembly of March 18, 1923, spared it from melting down. In the 2011 account it still hangs in the tower as the Guardian Angel Bell.

Hans Füssli in Zürich cast the next bell in 1521; it weighed 40 historical hundredweight.

In 1559, Peter Füssli cast an imposing set of six large and four small bells for Appenzell. The heaviest weighed 78.47 historical hundredweight. The bell rung for women weighed 44, the Mass or prayer bell 25, the fire bell 13, and the vespers bells seven and one respectively.

The great village fire of March 18, 1560, destroyed seven of these bells the following year. The source says that only the fire bell and the children’s instruction bell survived; the others fell and melted. A new set was needed.

From the fully revised second edition, May 2011. “Today” and ringing times refer to that historical account. Old units and pitch notations are retained as source information; inconsistencies are not silently corrected. Private contact information and selected more recent personal details are omitted.

On August 24, 1560, Peter Füssli of Zürich cast six replacement bells for St. Mauritius Parish Church and a small bell each for the charnel house and Holy Cross Chapel. With transport difficult, casting took place on the assembly square, then down in the Ziel district. Many workers first built a temporary foundry and brought fuel to keep its furnace burning. Much of that material came from the Trogner-Rhod area. The three large bell yokes were brought from Marbach.

The molds were set directly into firm ground. The recast Great Bell weighed about 120 historical hundredweight, but was recast again in 1598. The bell for women weighed just over 53 and lasted only six years; the Mass Bell weighed 29 and also lasted six years. The fire bell weighed 23.5, the larger vespers bell seven, and the smaller one 1.5. All six cost 2,417 guilders.

The bell for women and the Mass Bell cracked in 1566. Both were recast in 1567.

The bells were not consecrated until October 25, 1590, by Balthasar Wuhrer, auxiliary bishop of Konstanz.

Peter Füssli also cast the small death bell in Zürich in 1593, during the tenure of chief magistrate and churchwarden Johannes von Haim. The source gives its weight as 71 historical pounds.

Cracked and broken, the Great Bell had to be recast again in 1598. Mauritius Schwarz of Luzern made the replacement, weighing 95 historical hundredweight. Each male citizen was assessed one guilder for every 1,000 pounds of assessed wealth, expressed in the historical monetary system. The founder’s inscription declared: “From the fire I flowed; Mauritz Schwarz of Luzern cast me.”

It carried the names of two prominent figures: Captain Johannes von Haim, churchwarden and later chief magistrate, and Conrad Tanner of Herisau, a knight and cantonal military commander whose son was the Capuchin Philipp Tanner. Other names included deputy magistrate Ulrich Neff, treasurer Johann Georg Räss, master builder Jakob Ulmann, cantonal secretary Konrad Schiegg, and cantonal usher Willi Klarer. The bell remained in the tower for more than 150 years, an ancestor of the later Great Bell. A broken yoke sent it falling from the tower in 1704, reportedly without damage. It was recast in 1750.

Frequent services, numerous holy days, and plague-era funerals subjected the bells to heavy use. They often needed rehanging, and clappers and yokes required inspection and replacement.

In 1621, Hieronymus Gesus cast a children’s bell in his Konstanz workshop during the tenures of Pastor Abraham Fässler and churchwarden Sebastian von Haim. It measures 50 cm across and, according to this edition, weighs 1.5 historical hundredweight, with a B-natural tone. Reliefs depict the Crucifixion, the Lamb of God, and the Inauen coat of arms. Two narrow decorative bands accompany an inscription identifying Gesus, Konstanz, and the casting year 1621.

In 1629, the privy council decided to recast the bell for women made in 1567, reusing its metal and seeking a weight of at least 60 historical hundredweight. Michael Meyer of Waldshut received the commission. The new bell was tested by ringing it for an hour each day, but the 1630 casting proved unsatisfactory. Meyer was required to make a replacement elsewhere without payment, since a successful casting had been guaranteed. As the old bell weighed only 38 historical hundredweight, he could add no more than ten of new metal. The second attempt was also unsatisfactory.

The Great Bell required remedial work in 1636.

The bell for women was repeatedly broken up and recast, its metal returned to the furnace. A successful casting finally came in 1637 from Theodosius Ernst of Lindau, during the tenures of Pastor Abraham Fässler and churchwarden Sebastian von Haim. It weighed 53.6 historical hundredweight, cost 853 guilders, and had a tone recorded as C −02. Cast elsewhere, it was transported to Appenzell at the founder’s expense. The source praises its shape and purity of tone despite signs of wear. Auxiliary Bishop Franz Johann von Prassberg consecrated it on April 25, 1642.

An unidentified founder cast the single-strike bell in 1667, during the tenures of Pastor Wolfgang Aebisegger and churchwarden Jakob Gschwend. Its local name referred to its customary one-sided striking. Weighing 24 historical hundredweight, it went to the church in Schlatt in 1923 and was recast by Staal in 1928.

On May 5, 1750, the combined councils unanimously ordered the cracked Great Bell recast. A founder from Feldkirch received the commission; Peter Ludwig Kaiser of Zug had sought it unsuccessfully two years earlier. Franz Anton Fässler was churchwarden and Johann Baptist Bischofberger pastor. A proposed casting site beside the charnel house proved unsuitable because of underground water. A new site investigated in the Ziel district on May 27 was also too wet, so the temporary foundry was built on the assembly square above, near Holy Cross Chapel.

The Feldkirch founder raised the foundry’s roof ridge on June 2. Four days later, the old bell rang for the last time before being broken up. Casting of smaller bells began on June 10 under an armed guard. On June 28, the furnace was lit at noon and tended for six and a half hours. With clergy and laypeople kneeling in prayer, the plug was opened at 6:30 p.m. and the pour began.

The renowned tower roofer Jakob Grubenmann of Teufen and his brother Ulrich arrived on August 4, 1750, to prepare the hoist. At 3 p.m. the next day, more than 400 people helped move the bell from the foundry, drawing it on an unusually broad sled through Hauptgasse to the church. Rain postponed the lift. The following afternoon, after the Lord’s Prayer and Hail Mary, about 200 men hauled it into the tower. It rang for the first time that evening.

The bell bore the names of chief magistrate and banner bearer Karl Jakob Schiess; deputy magistrate Anton Maria Meggeli; treasurer Johann Baptist Streuli; military commander Johann Konrad Fässler; churchwarden Franz Anton Fässler; master builder Karl Franz Fässler; standard bearer Franz Josef Schiess; Felix Clemens Antoni Geiger; and cantonal secretary Anton Geiger. Johann Baptist Bischofberger was pastor and Carl Marian Trinkh the presiding cleric.

This Great Bell also proved short-lived. In 1765, a new agreement was made with Peter Ludwig Kaiser and Christian Anton Brandenberg of Zug. The first casting in 1766 failed, after which the master founder fled, according to the account.

In 1766, a senior journeyman offered to recast the Great Bell if its metal could be replenished. Its local nickname referred to its use at men’s funerals. Pastor A. J. Büchler successfully appealed for old silver: people donated spoons, shoe buckles, silver ornaments from traditional dress, and hair ornaments. This casting succeeded, and the bell’s tone came to be considered among Switzerland’s finest. Auxiliary Bishop Hornstein of Konstanz consecrated it on May 18, 1779.

The bell weighed 122.3 historical hundredweight, with a clapper weighing five. Its tones were recorded as G +03, B-flat +02, and E-flat +05. A Rococo ornament decorated the shoulder. A Crucifixion image was flanked by God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and St. Maurice with a flowing banner. Joseph Ulrich Hörler designed the decoration. Five-centimeter coats of arms appeared beneath the sponsors’ names. An inscription on the sound bow named Peter Ludwig Kaiser and Antoni Brandenberg of Zug as its founders in 1766.

Its inscriptions named chief magistrates Joseph Anton Sutter and Johann Jakob Geiger; deputy magistrate Johann Konrad Fässler; treasurer Johann Fässler; military commander Johann Josef Signer; master builder Franz Anton Fässler; standard bearer Franz Josef Schiess; churchwarden Josef Antoni Broger; secretary Bischofberger; usher Knechtli; and Pastor Anton Josef Büchler. Sutter, executed in 1784 and rehabilitated in 1829, was a bell sponsor. At his burial on March 9, 1784, the bell did not ring; it sounded instead at his rehabilitation on November 29, 1829.

Another small bell was cast in Feldkirch in 1779.

Johann Leonhard Rosenlächer of Konstanz cast a vigil bell in 1793, during the tenures of Pastor Johann Baptist Gschwend and churchwarden Karl Jakob Füchsli. It weighed three historical hundredweight and sounded the upper E-flat. Its Latin inscription meant “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Spared from melting down in 1923, it went to the Catholic church in Gais.

By 1923, none of the six bells cast after the 1560 fire remained in its original casting. All had been recast over the years, some several times.

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From the fully revised second edition, May 2011. “Today” and ringing times refer to that historical account. Old units and pitch notations are retained as source information; inconsistencies are not silently corrected. Private contact information and selected more recent personal details are omitted.

In 1847, churchwarden Bischofberger proposed ringing the Great Bell less often to reduce damage. His warning went unheeded, as did another warning in the 1890s.

On November 21, 1922, retired priest Carl Albert Zotter was buried in Appenzell, where he had sought relief from a long illness. Following the custom for an adult man’s funeral, the Great Bell was rung. Its first strokes carried a harsh, unfamiliar sound across the late-fall landscape, and each successive stroke lost more resonance. A long, fine crack was discovered. A voice that had accompanied so much joy and sorrow had fallen silent.

The source remembers the Great Bell as one of the finest in the region, its full, gentle tone bringing a solemn Sunday atmosphere to the village. People deeply regretted its loss and hoped modern technology might save it. Oxy-fuel welding was considered, but specialists advised against it. Recasting seemed unavoidable, raising a larger question: should the other bells also be recast to create a harmonious set?

From the fully revised second edition, May 2011. “Today” and ringing times refer to that historical account. Old units and pitch notations are retained as source information; inconsistencies are not silently corrected. Private contact information and selected more recent personal details are omitted.

Before the 1923 parish assembly, information meetings were held on Wednesday and Friday at the Vereinshaus and Hotel Säntis. Pastor Andreas Breitenmoser, president of the church council, explained that recasting the cracked Great Bell would cost CHF 20,000. Recasting the entire set and providing a new iron bell frame would cost about CHF 90,000. The uncertain remaining life of the bell for women strengthened the case for a comprehensive replacement.

The annual parish assembly of March 18, 1923, debated both options at length: replacing only the Great Bell or commissioning a completely new set.

With only two dissenting votes, the assembly approved an additional tax of 0.5 per thousand. A two-thirds majority then commissioned a harmonious set of bells and a new iron frame from H. Rüetschi AG in Aarau. The resolution called for the old bells to provide metal for the new casting, except for the still-serviceable fire bell and children’s instruction bell of 1509.

On May 13, 1923, the old bells, weighing 220 historical hundredweight in total, rang for the last time with the damaged Great Bell. Each of the seven rang separately for three minutes before they sounded together one final time.

The account dates the first removals to Friday, May 16, 1923. It then dates the removal of the Great Bell, recast in 1766, and the bell for women, cast in 1637, to Whit Tuesday, May 20, at 2 p.m. Master builder Adolf Schmid, the Rempfler brothers, and Rüetschi of Aarau helped lower them from the west side of the tower. They were taken straight to the station: the Great Bell was pulled by townspeople, while a team of horses drew the other bell.

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They were loaded onto railway wagons the following Wednesday.

Official weighing put the Great Bell at 122.3 historical hundredweight and the bell for women at 53.6 historical hundredweight.

The fire bell, first cast in 1509 and recast in 1560 after surviving the village fire, weighed 14.5 historical hundredweight. The small bell from the former St. Lawrence Chapel, which burned on April 19, 1911, was also handed over.

It weighed 1.2 historical hundredweight.

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In 1936, the church administration gave the death bell of 1593, the smallest of the old bells, to Lourdes Chapel during its exterior renovation.

The children’s bell and the single-strike bell initially remained on an improvised outdoor frame on the cemetery side of the church. This paragraph dates that summer to 1933; the surrounding narrative and photograph caption refer to 1923.

The children’s bell, recast in 1621, moved to the new St. Anthony Chapel at the college in fall 1923 and remained until 1957. After the chapel’s demolition, Pastor Dr. Anton Wild gave it to Lourdes Chapel as a second bell in 1958.

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Once the new bells were installed, the congregation at Schlatt acquired the single-strike bell of 1667 at the value of its metal. The source says it had spent 356 years in the tower, although the dates 1667–1923 span 256 years.

The vigil bell of 1793 was given to the Catholic church in Gais on condition that it accompany the men of the Stoss pilgrimage through the village.

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The children’s instruction bell of 1509 survived both the village fire and the replacement of the peal. In the 2011 account it hangs once more in the tower as the eighth bell, now called the Guardian Angel Bell.

Rüetschi cast the first four new bells—the largest and the three smallest—in Aarau on November 2, 1923. Residents wishing to witness the casting could take the 8 a.m. train from Appenzell. The other three were cast on November 16.

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From the fully revised second edition, May 2011. “Today” and ringing times refer to that historical account. Old units and pitch notations are retained as source information; inconsistencies are not silently corrected. Private contact information and selected more recent personal details are omitted.

The new bells arrived by train on Wednesday evening, December 12, 1923, during the local St. Nicholas celebrations. Crowds came to the station and examined them by bicycle lamps and flashlights. On Thursday and Friday they were transported to the parish church and hung on a temporary frame for the blessing on Monday, December 17.

The account likens the ceremony to a child receiving the sign of the cross in chrism at confirmation. Bishop Dr. Robertus Bürkler came from St. Gallen to bless the bells on December 17, 1923. The source emphasizes the solemnity of the rite and the bishop’s authority to perform it.

The bishop first blessed salt and water. His prayer asked that the Holy Spirit descend upon the bells, that their blessed sound summon the faithful, break the power of evil, and ward off lightning, severe weather, and storms.

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The bishop washed the bells with blessed water. In the religious understanding described by the source, each now belonged to God and should call people to worship and charity rather than purely secular festivities. This washing explains why the blessing was often called a baptism and why bell sponsors were honored with the first opportunity to strike the bell.

During the washing and blessing, singers performed six psalms. The bishop anointed the bells outside with the oil of the sick and inside with chrism, then filled them with incense, symbolically carrying the people’s prayers and offerings before God’s throne. After further psalms celebrating God’s power and wonders, the clergy sang the Gospel passage from Luke 10 about Jesus visiting Mary and Martha.

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In place of the ill Father Dr. Gallus Manser, the bell expert and musician Father Friedrich Schefold of St. Anthony’s College preached the sermon. The Harmonie band, Harmonie singing society, and St. Cecilia choir took part. Guests included the cantonal executive, church council, sponsors, and clergy from Appenzell Innerrhoden and neighboring areas. Students and the male section of the St. Cecilia choir sang the liturgy; the men’s choir performed “Bells of Home.” The ceremony ended with the hymn “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name,” accompanied by the band.

Invited guests then gathered for a modest reception at Hotel Löwen. A simple meal was followed by official speeches. Colonel Amsler was among Rüetschi’s representatives, while the choirs and Harmonie band provided music.

The account gives particular credit to Pastor Andreas Breitenmoser, whose tenure was 1908–1933. He won support for the project and helped finance it through house-to-house collections.

From the fully revised second edition, May 2011. “Today” and ringing times refer to that historical account. Old units and pitch notations are retained as source information; inconsistencies are not silently corrected. Private contact information and selected more recent personal details are omitted.

The bells were hauled into the tower on the following Tuesday, December 18, 1923, in exceptionally fine weather. Rüetschi commissioned a special rope in Rorschach: 400 meters long and weighing eight historical hundredweight.

Cheers greeted each command to pull. In the morning, children from the first three primary-school grades raised the St. Barbara Bell, then the St. Charles and St. Martin bells. In the afternoon, the four upper grades and the girls’ secondary school hauled up the four larger bells. At 4 p.m., seventh graders raised the Trinity Bell to the sound openings. Students from Appenzell Innerrhoden attending St. Anthony’s College finished by lifting the yokes. The five-hour operation passed without accident. More than 1,000 pupils were then served soup, sausage, and bread in local taverns.

The names of all the children who helped are recorded in a document placed in the gilded sphere beneath the tower cross.

On Wednesday afternoon, the old children’s instruction bell, now the Guardian Angel Bell, was taken from its temporary frame outside the church. Village boys hauled it into the tower during a snowstorm, returning it to the place where it had already hung for four centuries. It was not part of the new seven-bell harmony.

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The village remained without a peal for several more days. Installing eight bells in the new frame within three or four days was a major undertaking, with the aim of ringing them for the first time on Christmas Eve.

At 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve 1923, the foundry workers opened the belfry’s temporarily fitted windows and shutters. A few minutes later, the Trinity Bell began to ring. People waiting in the street removed their hats as they heard the restored Great Bell for the first time. After a short silence, the smallest bell, St. Barbara, sounded. The others joined one by one until all seven formed a full harmony. For the following weeks, the tower opened to visitors at specified times so they could inspect the completed work. A guard in the belfry provided information.

The entrance leads from the lower gallery through a wall 2.30 meters thick. A hundred steps climb to the spacious belfry. Former master builder Schläpfer and locksmith F. Brander constructed the new iron frame for CHF 9,000. The source records CHF 79,002 for the new bells and CHF 11,500 for equipment. Pastor Andreas Breitenmoser collected CHF 55,638 in voluntary donations; the old bells brought CHF 27,002.

The large Trinity Bell stands at the center of the frame, with St. Maurice to its right and Mary to its left. Above are the smaller St. Joseph and St. Charles bells; St. Martin and St. Barbara occupy the other side. At the far right is the surviving bell of 1509, now the Guardian Angel Bell, formerly the children’s instruction or passing bell.

Dr. Strauss of Zürich and the Capuchin Father Friedrich Schefold of Appenzell designed the tonal arrangement. Father Schefold and music director Schenk’s assessment concluded:

“The new Appenzell peal is a masterpiece in purity, beauty of sound, delightful variety, and unity of effect. Rüetschi deserves full recognition, and the fortunate parish our warmest congratulations.”

From the fully revised second edition, May 2011. “Today” and ringing times refer to that historical account. Old units and pitch notations are retained as source information; inconsistencies are not silently corrected. Private contact information and selected more recent personal details are omitted.

All seven new bells carry Latin inscriptions on their shoulders, composed by Father Dr. Anselm Manser of Vorderhaslen, a scholar and librarian at the Benedictine abbey of Beuron.

1 · Trinity Bell (Great Bell)

Diameter: 2.12 m. Weight: 6,173 kg, or 123.5 historical hundredweight. Clapper: 280 kg. Tone recorded as G −035. The source praises its majestic sound. Cost: CHF 20,000. Its local nickname refers to its traditional use at men’s funerals.

A band of singing angels’ heads decorates the shoulder. Beneath it, the Latin inscription praises the Triune Lord and asks for eternal life in the heavenly homeland. The source notes that translations of inscriptions may vary. Four images show God the Father with the globe; Christ crucified with Mary and John; the Holy Spirit with four apostles; and the Appenzell bear in an ornate Baroque coat of arms, marking the bell’s role at the cantonal assembly. Rüetschi’s emblem and the date 1923 also appear.

Other inscriptions and coats of arms identify sponsors Director Mathias Broger and his daughter Maria Fanny Broger. The church council is represented by Pastor Andreas Breitenmoser, its president; chief magistrate and churchwarden Dr. Carl Rusch; chief magistrate Adolf Steuble; cantonal master builder Johann Baptist Broger; former military commander Johann Baptist Enzler; former poor-relief treasurer Johann Baptist Haas; and cantonal secretary Franz Xaver Peterer.

2 · St. Maurice Bell

Weight: 3,428 kg, or 68.6 historical hundredweight. Tone recorded as B-flat −02. The source describes a splendid tone with a particularly full lower octave.

Bears in various poses among fir branches encircle the shoulder. The inscription asks St. Maurice to protect his people and admit them to the heavenly host. Images depict the saint with his banner; the parish church viewed from the east; and soldiers departing during World War I beneath St. Maurice, shown in the clouds protecting their peaceful return.

Sponsors were the Genossenschafts-Buchdruckerei Appenzell printing cooperative; its board chairman Dr. Carl Rusch; teacher Johann Anton Mösler; Dr. Albert Rechsteiner; chaplain Johann Baptist Ebneter; Oskar Broger; and manager Jakob Geiger. The cooperative donated CHF 5,000. Its printers’ emblem also appears on the bell.

3 · Mary Bell

Weight: 2,516 kg, or 50.3 historical hundredweight. Tone recorded as C −015, described as gentle and soft.

A wreath of roses circles the shoulder. The inscription addresses Mary as Star of the Sea, Mother of the Lord, ever-virgin, and gate of heaven. Images depict the Annunciation, Mary in the Temple, the Assumption, and the Pietà.

Sponsors: cantonal secretary Franz Xaver Peterer and the widow Maria Josefa Fritsche, née Koch.

4 · St. Joseph Bell

Weight: 1,757 kg, or 35.1 historical hundredweight. Tone recorded as D −055.

A wreath of lilies ornaments the shoulder. The inscription asks St. Joseph for an innocent life under his fatherly protection. Images show his death, his marriage to Mary, and Joseph and Mary with the child Jesus in the Temple.

Sponsors: Johann Anton Brander and Marie Elisa Brander, described in the source as a young unmarried man and woman.

5 · St. Charles Bell (weather bell)

Weight: 1,059 kg, or 21.2 historical hundredweight. Tone recorded as F −08.

Alpine roses, edelweiss, and gentians form a wreath symbolizing Appenzell’s faith. The inscription honors St. Charles for nurturing a fruitful spiritual foundation here. One image shows Charles Borromeo welcoming brown-robed Capuchins in 1585, with Fähnern, Kamor, and Hoher Kasten behind them. A second depicts him as bishop and cardinal; a third shows him in heavenly glory blessing the Capuchin monastery and St. Anthony’s College.

The bell was donated by the family of chief magistrate Dr. Carl Rusch-Diethelm.

6 · St. Martin Bell

Weight: 743 kg, or 14.9 historical hundredweight. Tone recorded as G.

The source translates its inscription as an appeal to St. Maurice to preserve what God has given for comfort and livelihood.

Father Friedrich described it as the bell for the farming community. One image shows St. Martin on horseback sharing his cloak with the poor. Another depicts Pastor Andreas Breitenmoser’s birthplace, an Appenzell farmhouse on the Hirschberg. A farmer, his wife, and a boy stand among cows and goats in a meadow, intended to represent the pastor and his parents.

Sponsors: former poor-relief treasurer Johann Baptist Haas and his wife Anna Magdalena, née Fässler.

7 · St. Barbara Bell (bell for departed souls)

Weight: 437 kg, or 8.7 historical hundredweight. Tone recorded as B-flat.

The source describes the bell as without ornamental decoration. Its inscription asks Barbara, virgin and martyr, to lead the faithful into eternal light. One image shows St. Barbara with chalice and host; another shows her with a guardian angel above the souls in purgatory.

Sponsors: chief magistrate Adolf Steuble, his wife Maria Benedicta Steuble, née Fässler, and their son, cantonal judge Adolf Steuble.

8 · Guardian Angel Bell (formerly the children’s instruction bell)

Diameter: 85 cm. Weight: 330 kg, or 6.6 historical hundredweight. Tone recorded as C–D-flat.

This is not a new casting, but the surviving children’s instruction bell of 1509. The source translates its Latin inscription as “Let the children come to me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The bell has no images, founder’s name, or inscription identifying its place of origin.

The eight bells together weigh 16,443 kg, or 328.8 historical hundredweight. Writing in 2011, the source describes St. Mauritius as the heaviest peal cast by Rüetschi in Aarau since the business began in 1825.

From the fully revised second edition, May 2011. “Today” and ringing times refer to that historical account. Old units and pitch notations are retained as source information; inconsistencies are not silently corrected. Private contact information and selected more recent personal details are omitted.

After centuries of manual ringing, the parish assembly approved electrification of the bells and tower clock on April 3, 1960, with an estimated cost of CHF 25,000.

Work began on June 20. Johann Muff of Triengen, Lucerne, installed the motors, while the Appenzell electricity works fitted control wiring and switches. The old clappers were also removed because their excessively forceful strikes were considered harmful to the bells.

The first individual electrical tests took place on the morning of Tuesday, June 28, 1960, with short pauses between bells. The main test followed at 5 p.m., attended in the belfry by clergy and church council members.

The old Guardian Angel Bell sounded first, followed by St. Barbara, St. Martin, St. Charles, and St. Joseph. The three largest—Mary, St. Maurice, and Trinity—came next. The seven-bell peal was then rung in sequence.

The control equipment in the sacristy was then inspected and explained. Installers worked late into the evening, adjusting each clapper to the exact center of its bell to achieve an even strike. They alternated adjustments to bell and clapper until the action was clean and precise.

The source describes the bells as controlled from the sacristy except for New Year’s Eve ringing. Funerals initially required operation from the tower, the only place from which the procession could be seen.

A later modernization, already in place when the booklet was written in 2011, allowed remote control, including from the cemetery.

The account notes that the St. Charles weather bell could still be rung by hand during a power outage.

From the fully revised second edition, May 2011. “Today” and ringing times refer to that historical account. Old units and pitch notations are retained as source information; inconsistencies are not silently corrected. Private contact information and selected more recent personal details are omitted.

At the suggestion of Capuchin Father Dominik Lerch, Appenzell’s government ordered in 1611 that all bells ring on Saturday evenings. Those hearing them were to kneel and say at least three Lord’s Prayers and Hail Marys for deceased parents, relatives, and all departed souls.

A later order added the Great Bell on Fridays after Mass and at noon.

To spare the bells during the plague year of 1629, the council prohibited the Great Bell at funerals of males under 18 and the bell for women at funerals of females under 16. No person was to receive more than three ringing signals. The sacristan was to begin only when the funeral procession entered the village’s fire-administration district.

A 1755 schedule of duties stipulated that the sacristan or his employees must perform the ringing.

On May 18, 1691, sacristan Rudolf Hörler was killed by lightning while ringing against a storm.

Executed people received the fire bell rather than the customary Great Bell or bell for women. In 1598, the sacristan was instructed to ring at noon on the day of the cantonal assembly once the people had gathered on the square.

In 1884, the church council referred New Year’s Eve ringing to the parish assembly. It decided that all bells should sound for a quarter hour before midnight and a quarter hour afterward.

In 1891, the Swiss Federal Council ordered all church bells throughout the cantons to ring on the evening of August 1.

On the Finding of the Holy Cross, May 3, and Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14, Appenzell rang the Great Bell. On other days, the St. Charles Bell accompanied the morning blessing for protection from storms and rang again at 2 p.m.

On St. Boniface’s Day, an old custom called for the Trinity Bell at 3:30 a.m. for fifteen minutes of supplicatory ringing, followed by the Angelus on the same bell. It rang again as the procession left the parish church at 5 a.m.; all bells sounded when the procession returned from Stoss at noon.

At cemetery visits on All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days, all bells were to ring for at least ten minutes. A bell also announced school and parish assemblies.

On March 18, all bells were to ring from 1 to 1:30 p.m. in remembrance of the village fire of 1560.

Tower keeper Jakob Dörig-Koller was skilled at catching and restraining the moving clapper. Before electrification, five men were needed to ring the Trinity Bell. He helped remove the old peal and install its replacement.

From the fully revised second edition, May 2011. “Today” and ringing times refer to that historical account. Old units and pitch notations are retained as source information; inconsistencies are not silently corrected. Private contact information and selected more recent personal details are omitted.

Ringing rules change over time. The booklet summarizes the 2011 arrangements for Sundays, feast days, and weekdays at St. Mauritius. It does not reproduce the separate rules for confirmations, baptisms, first Masses, penitential services, weddings, or 24 special feast days. Advent and Lent also followed different patterns. These are historical arrangements, not a current service schedule.

The Trinity Bell, the Great Bell traditionally associated with men’s funerals, rang for three minutes a quarter hour before a man’s funeral, as the priest left the parish church, and after the coffin was blessed outside the cemetery chapel.

It also rang at the consecration and close of Sunday Mass, at 7 p.m. on the eve of feast days, and at 6:45 a.m. on feast days.

On the day of the Stoss pilgrimage, the Trinity Bell sounded for fifteen minutes of supplicatory ringing at 5 a.m. and again as the procession began.

The St. Maurice Bell, the second largest, served women’s funerals according to the same sequence as the Trinity Bell.

It also rang at 6:45 a.m. on Sundays.

The Mary Bell, third largest, accompanied funerals of young people aged 14–18.

The St. Joseph Bell, fourth largest, rang at funerals of schoolchildren.

The St. Charles Bell, fifth largest, accompanied the blessing for protection from storms at the end of morning worship from April 25 to September 14.

The St. Martin Bell, sixth largest, was struck on one side at 9:15 a.m. and 7:15 p.m. on Sundays and feast days. On weekdays it announced services and sounded at the consecration during the 7:30 a.m. parish Mass.

The St. Barbara Bell, seventh largest, was heard when ordinary weekday services were announced.

The Guardian Angel Bell, the smallest, rang at the burial of a young child.

It also sounded for three minutes at the end of parish Mass, or after the main Sunday service, to announce a death.

The seven bells, excluding the Guardian Angel Bell, formed the harmonious peal. All seven rang most festively on Saturday evenings, before the main Sunday service, on major feast days, and before the cantonal assembly.

All seven also rang on March 18 from 1 to 1:30 p.m., recalling the fire of 1560 and calling people to pray the rosary.

The full peal also marked a pope’s election or death and major events of global significance. The source gives September 11, 2001, the Zug attack, and a tsunami as examples.

Advent and Lent had a different order. On the preceding evening and before the main service, only St. Maurice, St. Joseph, St. Charles, and St. Barbara rang, forming their own four-bell harmony.

All Souls’ Day used a fuller four-bell funeral peal: Trinity, St. Maurice, St. Joseph, and St. Martin.

Everyday ringing, including the 11 a.m. peal and the announcement of penitential services or Advent dawn Masses, used the four smaller bells: St. Joseph, St. Charles, St. Martin, and St. Barbara. The same group rang during funerals between departure from the grave and arrival at the church.

The bells fell silent after the Gloria on Holy Thursday until the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday.