Note (return) — Replies.
Reading edition
Durand, in his Rituals of the Roman Church, says: "For expiring persons bells must be tolled, that people may put up their prayers: this must be done twice for a woman, and thrice for a man." And such is still the general custom: either before or after the knell is rung, to toll three times three, or three times two, at intervals, to mark the sex.[6]