In Easter Sunday, the bells will ring to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. What will happen to that of Gasville-Oisème, a small town in Eure-et-Loir? William Belhomme, mayor (various right) from 2008 to 2020, hopes that“it will not pay for the legal vacuum” in which its regulations currently find themselves. This retired farmer says that, for years, it was he who “in charge of pulling the rope”, for the bell to ring, “while the priest was saying mass”.
In 2019, “the city council has decided to electrify the mechanism, for a sum of around 8,000 euros”continues the former aedile. “We then thought that it would be good to take advantage of it more often”.
“With the agreement of the majority”, he therefore decides that the bell will mark the hours, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., but also that it will ring the Angelus (“three times three knocks followed by a volley”), three times a day, because, explains the Beauceron“it’s a tradition in our countryside, as evidenced by the millet table “.
The town hall changes the rules
Alas, the day after the municipal election of March 2020, two residents of the church, Mme X and Mr. Y, ask the new mayor, Romain Rouault, ecologist, to silence the bell, and its decibels. In the absence of a response, they seized the administrative court of Orleans and asked it to annul the disputed decision.
They explain that the mayor cannot order “religious ringtones”. And that the “civil bells” can only be authorized if they come under a ” local use »that is, according to the jurisprudence of the Council of State, if they find their origin in a practice prior to the law of December 9, 1905 on the separation of Church and State. Now, the chiming of the hours no longer existed here, “for at least twenty-seven years”they argue.
In July 2020, the town hall informs the court that it is changing the rules: a stop says that the bells will ring only from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and, possibly, on the occasion of religious celebrations. The XYs demand that it also be cancelled, this concession not being enough for them.
On the day of the hearing, they were surprised to be joined, on the court benches, by… Mr. Belhomme, who, for his part, contested the end of the Angelus. The municipality then informs that“In agreement with the worship leader, she plans to ring the Angelus twice a day.”
The judgment rendered by the court, January 6, 2023is a compromise model: it prohibits civil bells, thus giving reason to the XYs, but authorizes the Angelus, which does not seem “likely to disturb public order”. He cancels Mr. Rouault’s decree, but he suggests that he take a new one.u “taking into account” of his explanations. Will this be done before Easter?