BARTOW | Every day at 3:15 p.m., right after the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the parish bells ring at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Bartow, a call to prayer for the unborn. It’s part of a commitment made two years ago by Salvatorian Father Eugeniusz Grytner, pastor.

In 2021, after seeing Pope Francis bless a beautiful bell referred to as “The Voice of the Unborn Bell” at the Vatican, to be sent to Poland, Father Grytner designed a remembrance monument “to those who died before birth.” Father Grytner wanted to memorialize the unborn, encouraging his parish to include them in their prayers.

After Pope Francis blessed additional  “Voice of the Unborn” bells for Ukraine, Ecuador, and most recently Africa, the pastor was again inspired. In his general audience the day the bell for Africa was blessed, March 22, 2023, the pope said, “May its sound carry the message that every life is sacred.”

Father Grytner added the tolling of bells as a further remembrance to the faithful of all babies who never drew their first breath. “The message to protect life must be heard loud and clear to the ends of the world,” he said.

Click here to pray the Saint Gianna Novena for mothers.

Staff Report, April 21, 2023