One of the first things I noticed when I was living in Budapest in 1991 were the church bells that rang throughout the city every day. The Pope had just visited–the first papal visit after the walls barring entry to countries behind the ‘Iron Curtain’ fell in 1989. I saw the Pope in his Pope-mobile ride along Andrassy ut., followed by a school bus filled with red-garbed Cardinals waving to the crowds that lined the street. They had just finished Mass in Hero’s Square and were on their way back to Rome.
I don’t know whether the bells ever rang prior to that under the communist government–which actually was still in power in 1991. A little-known fact: priests from the Roman Catholic church held services in private homes under the communist regime. I stumbled into one service by accident.
Anyway, fast forward many years to when I moved to Pasadena. I was delighted to hear bells chiming the hours in downtown Pasadena. The source: St. Andrew’s Catholic church on Raymond Ave. just north of downtown. It has an imposing campanile–bell tower–to go with the Romanesque style church. Some people, no doubt, think of it as a clock tower.
As with most Romanesque style churches, it was quite dark inside so it was difficult to photograph the chapels and paintings on the walls–unlike the San Gabriel Mission Church and the San Fernando Mission Church, both of which I have photographed for my Hot Gardens website.
