Russian Mystery Bell of the San Fernando Mission
By Father Andrew Harrison
Source: St Luke Web Site - Date: December 9th, 2002

As you walk through the serenely beautiful gardens of the San Fernando Mission in Southern California, surrounded by blossoming flowers and trees, you will notice a medley of church bells of all sizes. When you enter the courtyard at the entrance to the restored Mission church, you will notice a statue of Father Lasuen, the founder of the Mission. Directly across the yard, as if the statue is looking at it, hangs a small bell. Monsignor Francis Weber, the archivist of the Mission, describes this bell as a "mystery bell." What makes the bell mysterious is that no one knows for sure how this bell came to be in the possession of the Mission. The small bell, weighing only about 150 pounds, is not Spanish. By its shape, design, decoration and sound, it is definitely a Russian bell. There was an inscription, which, after being affected by the wind and rain of Southern California, is totally worn away. When the bell was first discovered in an orange grove on the Camulos Rancho in 1920, the severely worn inscription could barely be deciphered. According to Mrs. Alice Harriman, the person who unearthed it, the inscription, written in Old Russian said:

In the year of 1796, in the month of January, this bell was cast on the Island of Kodiak by the blessing of Archimandrite Joaseph, during the sojourn of Alexander Baranov.

Monsignor Weber says that the highly prized bell was in the possession of the deteriorating San Fernando Mission in 1860. It was then removed and buried at the Del Velle Rancho to protect it from vandals. After its rediscovery by Mrs. Harriman, it was taken to the Los Angeles orphanage. From there it was returned to the Mission in 1948 and hung in the courtyard under the portico.

The bell has a series of bars called cannons which form what looks like a crown on the top. Around the side there are frieze bands which have the appearance of lace. These may have enclosed the worn away inscription. A crack runs its entire length from top to bottom. This crack has been repaired possibly by a Russian method of pouring molten metal into the crack after it was widened and heated almost to the melting point.

In 1849, after secularization when all the missions were taken over by the State of California, the last official Mission inventory was taken. At that time the Mission had six bells. If the Russian bell was among the six then it could have been sold to the Mission by John Sutter after he purchased Fort Ross in 1842. Fort Ross, or Rus after the ancient name of the Slavic tribes, was the Russian colony in Northern California located about 50 miles north of San Francisco.

There is a tradition that the bell has been at the San Fernando Mission since 1815. If this is true, there could be only two possible sources for the bell. On Santa Rosa Island there was a colony of Russian hunters who could have had the bell. This is unlikely because there is no record of a church on the Island. The only other possibility is related to a visit to San Francisco by Grand Chamberlain to the Czar, Nikolai Rezanov, in 1806.

In the San Fernando Mission, this bell has always had special significance. It is seen as a symbol of the connecting link between the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. It is also a reminder of their separation since the Great Schism of 1054 AD. The Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church both consider themselves to be the only true representative of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic church. Many attempts have been made to heal the division but other than informal gestures of unity by Popes and Patriarchs, the division still remains. Over this period, the relations between the two churches have gone from agreements to seek total unity to open hostility leading to tragic deaths caused by religious fanatics. The first Martyr of the American Orthodox Church was an native Alaskan named Tchounagnak (Peter) who died in a California prison. According to oral reports he was tortured in an attempt to bring about his conversion.

It was at a time when the relationship between the two churches was cordial, that the story of the bell unfolds. Spain was protecting her vast colonial empire, worried about the incursions of the Americans. California was an outpost controlled by a chain of six missions extending from San Diego in the South to San Francisco in the North. Russia was reaching the end of her expansion across Siberia and wanted a piece of the action in America. A colony had been established on Kodiak Island, Alaska in late July 1784, under the leadership of Gregory Shelikov. Upon returning to Russia, he left Evstrat Delarov, a Greek, in charge. He was replaced by the famous Alexander Baranov called the Lord of the North. Shelikov greatly exaggerated his successes in America, hoping he could win for his company a complete fur trading monopoly in Alaska from Catherine the Great. He even visited a monastery giving ten shares in the company to persuade church officials to send missionaries to the colony. He told them that there were thousands of natives waiting for conversion. He promised complete support, including food, clothing, shelter and a newly completed church building.

After traveling over 9 months and 7,327 miles, 10 missionaries arrived in Kodiak on September 24, 1794. The new mission under the leadership of Archmandrite Joaseph (an Archimandrite is a title of authority given to a monastic priest), included four priests, one deacon, two monks and two readers. Almost immediately, there was a conflict between Archimandrite Joaseph and Alexander Baranov, the manager. Father Joaseph blamed Baranov for the lack of a church, which Shelikov had promised. The meager rations and poor living conditions added to the tension. The missionaries had to bunk with the frontiersmen and search for clams on the beach. The new influx of settlers put great strains on the already limited provisions. Baranov was trying to hold the colony together while trying to pacify Father Joaseph. He immediately began the construction of the promised church. Within two years it was complete and ready for the dedication. He even had the colonial blacksmith Vasil Shaposhnikoff cast a bell.

The casting of a bell must have been quite a project. A bell requires a critical composition of copper and tin. The smaller the bell, the greater the amount of tin. If there is too much tin, the bell becomes very brittle and can easily crack. Before Baranov became manager in Alaska, he owned a glass manufacturing company in Irkutsk, Siberia. It is also possible that Nikifor Baranov, who operated a bell foundry in Moscow in the 17th Century, was one of his distant relatives. Baranov must have supervised the casting of the bell. He stated in a report that he had copper shipped from Russia and tin was donated by the explorer George Vancouver.

Russian bells are made by the lost wax method. First a hollow mold is constructed from brick and clay for the inside shape of the bell. The form is made by using a strickle board which is attached to a spindle. The strickle board or template is the only part of the molding process which is re-usable. After the inner shape is finished, it is covered with a thick layer of wax or tallow and a second strickle form shapes the wax forming a false bell. Into this false wax bell are carved the decorations and inscriptions. Then the false bell is covered with the cope. This part of the mold requires the founder's greatest skill. A protective cover of clay is built up on top of the false wax bell being careful not to disturb the delicately carved inscriptions. Each layer takes 12 hours to dry. As the layers build up, flax, hair, wire and iron ribs are embedded into the clay to prevent cracking. When the cope is finished and dry, the wax is melted out and replaced with the molten alloy of copper and tin at a temperature of 2,150 F. The casting process is always risky. If the metal is not hot enough and solidifies too rapidly, or if the gases cannot escape, or if the cope is not properly dry, the bell will be useless. The master founder will always light candles in front of icons and say prayers at the moment the metal begins to flow.

When you consider the precarious conditions of the colony, it is a wonder that Baranov would have attempted casting a bell. There easily could have been a flaw in the casting process which, eventually, would have caused the bell to crack.

In January 1796, the Church of Resurrection was ready for the dedication. The ringing of the first bell cast in Alaska opened the solemn occasion. Gathered together on that day were Alexander Baranov, Archimandrite Joaseph and the nine missionaries along with the other members of the colony. They had little knowledge of the turn of events which would follow in their lives. Alexander Baranov would eventually be appointed by the Czar as Collegiate Councilor of the colony, found the city of Sitka and extend Russian sovereignty to California. During this time, he continued to petition for retirement only to die at sea shortly after it was granted. Archimandrite Joasoph was consecrated as the first bishop in Alaska but was lost in the shipwreck of the Phoenix along with two of the missionaries. Two of the other missionaries who attended the ceremonies on that cold day in January were destined to be canonized as saints of the Orthodox Church in America. They were the Monk Herman who was known for his miraculous power and zeal for protecting the human rights of the native peoples and Father Juvenaly who, within a few months after the dedication, was to give his life while preaching the Gospel to the hostile northern tribes of Alaska.

When Grand Chamberlain Nicholas Rezanov arrived in Alaska several years later under order of the Czar to inspect the colony, he discovered that it was not as Shilikov described. Baranov was dealing with insurrection, mutiny, massacres by the natives all the while trying to establish the settlement at Sitka. The supply of fresh food had fallen so low that the settlers were dying of scurvy. Rezanov suggested to Saranov that in order to relieve the suffering, he would attempt to establish trade with the Spanish in California. He set sail from the newly established port at Sitka on the Juno, a former American ship which he purchased from Captain John DeWolf. The Juno was loaded with trade goods. It is possible that the bell was among these items of trade, which included vestment material and other church furnishings. Baranov knew that he would be dealing with the Friars of the California missions, because they had the necessary supply of grain. The gift of a bell with such a sweet tone might be the spark necessary to cement a trade agreement. Rezanov also planned to establish outposts of the colony on the Columbia River and another just north of San Francisco. Both Rezanov and Baranov agreed that the colony must begin to move south for agricultural reasons.

Father Jose Uria of the Franciscan order and Lieutenant Louis Arguello, son of the commandant of the Precidio, welcomed Rezanov when he arrived in San Francisco. The Commandant was away on business in Monterey. Rezanov presented himself with credentials signed by the Czar and the King of Spain. When Don Jose Arguello returned, a formal welcoming ball was planned with visitors from all of the missions in California. It was at this ball that Nicholai Rezanov met Maria de la Concepcion Arguello, the daughter of the Commandant. Concha (her nickname) was extremely beautiful with her dark hair and fair skin. She was described as a rare Spanish beauty. Rezanov, with his blond hair and dressed in his Imperial uniform, was dazzled by her poise and she with his strength and dignity. They danced all evening and were the talk of California. With this meeting began a love affair which could have changed the course of history. Instead of Spanish California, it could have been Russian California. Rezanov courted and eventually proposed to her and she accepted. They planned to be married at the San Francisco Mission and sail to Russia where she was to be introduced to the Russian Court. There was one serious problem. Father Uria reminded Rezanov that he was Eastern Orthodox and Concha was Roman Catholic. They could not marry without ecclesiastical permission. An agreement was reached with the family and Father Uria that a betrothal ceremony could take place but for a marriage Rezanov had to return to Russia for permission. He would also need permission from the Pope in Rome before returning to California for the wedding. The trip would take two years. If he did not return, Concha would be free to marry another. Rezanov established a trade agreement and traded the supplies for the needed grain and fresh food for Alaska. It could have been that during these negotiations that the bell was presented. One tradition has the bell being given to Concha's father, the Commandant. It is said that he took the bell with him to Santa Barbara when he was transferred and eventually gave the bell to the San Fernando Mission. There is also a possibility that the bell was given to Father Jose Uria and then taken with him when he was transferred to the San Fernando Mission in 1807.

The tragedy of this great love affair is that Rezanov never returned. He, while trying to complete his journey in the allotted two years, came down with pneumonia. He would not listen to this doctor but pressed on across the tundra during the cold Siberian winter. His failing health caused the fatal fall from his horse. Rezanov was buried in the church cemetery in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Concha learned about his death six years later but never married, even though she had many suitors. Concha lived a saintly life devoted to helping the poor and the orphaned. She eventually joined the Dominican order at age sixty. She is buried in Benecia with the nuns of her order. Several miracles have been attributed to her.

The mystery bell has hung under the portico at the San Fernando Mission for 40 years. The bell, which has been a mystery bell to the Mission may be the lost bell of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Alaska, To the Orthodox Church in America and the Diocese Alaska the existence of this bell and its significance is largely unknown. It could very well be the first bell cast in Alaska for the first Orthodox Church in North America. The two recently canonized saints of the Orthodox Church, St. Herman and St. Juvenaly could have heard the sound of this bell when it was rung on that cold day in January 1796. That would make it an important relic.

The bell still remains a mystery. The only way to prove that this is the first bell cast in Alaska for the first Orthodox Church would be to locate and decipher the inscription on the bell. Since it is totally worn away the only way would be to have it x-rayed. Since the bell is not in the possession of the Orthodox Church it is unlikely that this expensive process will ever be done. So chances are that it will remain the Russian mystery bell of the San Fernando Mission.

Bibliography

Afonsky Bishop Gregory, The History of the Orthodox Church in Alaska, St. Herman's Theological Seminary Press, Kodiak, Alaska, 1977

Atherton, Gertrude Rezanov and Dona Concha, Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1937

Bancroft, Hubert Howe, The History of California, The History Company, San Francisco, California, 1886

Bancroft, Hubert Howe, The History of Alaska, The History Company, San Francisco, California, 1886

Burr, Agnes Rush, Alaska Our Beautiful Northland of Opportunity, The Page Company, Boston, 1919

Chevigny, Hector, Lost Empire, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1944

Dhevigny, Hector, Russian America, The Viking Press, New York, 1965

Dobie, Charles Caldwell, San Francisco, a Pageant, D. Appleton-Century Company, New York, 1939

Weber, Msgr., Francis J., The Mission in the Valley, Libra Press, Hong Kong, 1975

Welch, Marie, The Mission Bells of California, 1938

William, Edward V., The Bells of Russia, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1985

Readers who wish more information about the history, ringing and purchase of bells can reach the Blagovest Russian Bell Site thru this link.