Nachricht van den Glocken (Chenmitz, 1726), p.

121; and Meyer, Der Aberglaube des Mittelalters, p.

186.
(236) For statements regarding Pope John and bell superstitions, see Higgins's Anacalypsis, vol.ii, p.70.See also Platina, Vitae Pontif., s.v.John XIII, and Baronius, Annales Ecclesiastici, sub anno 968.
The conjecture of Baronius that the bell was named after St.John the Baptist, is even more startling than the accepted tradition of the Pope's sponsorship.
This idea was rapidly developed, and we soon find it supported in ponderous treatises, spread widely in sermons, and popularized in multitudes of inscriptions cast upon the bells themselves.

This branch of theological literature may still be studied in multitudes of church towers throughout Europe.

A bell at Basel bears the inscription, "Ad fugandos demones." Another, in Lugano, declares "The sound of this bell vanquishes tempests, repels demons, and summons men." Another, at the Cathedral of Erfurt, declares that it can "ward off lightning and malignant demons." A peal in the Jesuit church at the university town of Pont-a-Mousson bore the words, "They praise God, put to flight the clouds, affright the demons, and call the people." This is dated 1634.
Another bell in that part of France declares, "It is I who dissipate the thunders"(Ego sum qui dissipo tonitrua).( 237) (237) For these illustrations, with others equally striking, see Meyer, Der Aberglaube des Mittelalters, pp.