Bells from Jesuit church inferno may be on way back to Chile

Next Monday, 22 February, the Parish Church Council of All Saints Church, Oystermouth in Swansea, will be deciding whether to return to Chile three large bells presently displayed in their porch.  They were originally shipped to South Wales after the Jesuit Church de la Campana in Santiago was razed to the ground on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (8 December) in 1863.  The Chilean authorities are planning a memorial to mark the 150th anniversary in 2013.

The bells, believed to be of Spanish origin and dating from as early as 1753, were originally going to be broken up in Swansea which had many connections with the copper ore trade in South America.  However, they were rescued by a local businessman and presented to All Saints and were hung in the church tower until 1964, when it was feared the structure was no longer able to support them safely.

The Jesuit Church de la Campana had a strong devotion to the Virgin Mary and the Immaculate Conception which had been solemnly defined as dogma by Pope Pius IX nine years previously.  The weeks of services running up to the Feast culminated in a solemn celebration on 8 December itself.  The church was lit by hundreds of candles and paraffin lamps and decorated with tapestries and drapes.  The fire started at the High Altar and quickly spread.  The priests were reported to have escaped through a door to the vestry but the congregation, made up largely of women and numbering up to 3,000, were trapped inside the inferno.  It did not take long for the entire church to be engulfed by the flames, sending the roof, dome and bells crashing down onto the helpless congregation below.

Recently, All Saints Church in Oystermouth received a request from the Government of Chile that the bells be returned to form part of a new memorial to the 1863 disaster.  The Parish Church Council agreed that, in principle, returning the bells to Santiago was the right and Christian response to the Chilean request.  After a period of reflection and consultation to give parishioners the opportunity to make their views known, the final decision will be made on 22 February.


 All Saints: the bells of Santiago

 BBC Wales news report