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President Glynis A. Fitzgerald, Ph.D., Sister John Ann Proach, and Bishop Alfred Schlert celebrate new chimes

President Fitzgerald brings blessed bell back to campus

Before ringing in the new, Fitzgerald helped to ring in the old, bringing the sounds of bells back to �山ǿ�� for the first time in decades. On April 6, 2024, marking a private Mass and dinner where the Sisters commissioned Fitzgerald as president of the university they founded, new chimes rang out from the Motherhouse bell tower thanks to a generous donation from the new President.

“It’s a gift for the Sisters to bring back something that meant so much to them,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m also keen on beginning a couple of meaningful touchpoints, traditions that will engage students while they are here and give them something to return to.”

Bishop Alfred Schlert blessing the bell.

The history of chimes on campus reaches back to the end of the 19th century, when the Sisters purchased a bell engraved with the name Sancta Marie. Installed in the bell tower of the newly completed Motherhouse in 1905, it called Sisters to prayer for six decades. In the late 1960s, it was replaced by a carillon – an instrument featuring rows of bells played with a keyboard. Silent for many years as the number of organists who could play its keyboard diminished, the carillon was removed in 2003 when the Motherhouse was renovated.

The sounds of bells aren’t the only things coming back this year; the Sancta Marie will also return to prominence.

Removed from the Motherhouse’s cupola in March to be refurbished, the long-retired bell was placed on permanent display in the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters Heritage Center in October to honor the congregation’s 130th anniversary.

“Thank you, Dr. Glynis Fitzgerald, for the gift of the sonorous bell chimes that daily make our hearts sing!” said Sister John Ann Proach, Congregational Minister.