MISSION HILLS : Pilfered Bell Is Restored to Its Historic Place

It’s a bell that doesn’t ring, is made of plain cast iron and commemorates a 700-mile trail built hundreds of years ago.

Msgr. Francis Weber was baffled as to why someone would want to steal the El Camino Real bell--and the 12-foot-high staff it is perched on--from the street in front of the San Fernando Mission. But when he got a call offering its return, he asked no questions.

The bell was back outside the mission on Tuesday, where it has sat for 86 years. On the night of Jan. 4, someone had cut the staff supporting the bell and made off with the dark green bell and most of its shepherd’s crook-shaped stand.

“There are certain things you just wonder why people would do,” Weber said. He didn’t believe a custodian who came to him the next morning to report that the bell was stolen.

“The bell weighs over 100 pounds,” Weber said, marveling at what the thieves must have gone through to cart off their loot. As for its supporting staff, “I can’t lift it, and I’m hardly a 97-pound weakling.”

A police report was filed, but there was little the authorities could do, said Lt. Joe Garcia. For 37 days, the bell was gone, the mission’s members forlorn. “It’s such a landmark in itself,” Weber said, “being deprived of it isn’t a pleasant thought.”

Then Weber got a call this month from someone claiming to be able to return the bell. He declined to be more specific about how the bell was recovered, saying protecting the caller’s identity was one of the terms of the return.

On Feb. 10, the bell was back at the mission, “disassembled and a bit banged up,” but nothing that couldn’t be fixed, Weber said. The repaired bell was returned to its accustomed place on San Fernando Mission Road on Friday.

The bell, erected in 1909, is one of several replicas of mission bells marking the route of El Camino Real, “The Royal Road” connecting California’s missions. The bells were bankrolled by turn-of-the-century Californians eager to preserve the state’s historical heritage.

Weber said he believes the thieves felt remorse for their deed. “I can’t read anything into their motivations, but I imagine they’re sorry it happened,” he said. “Most of us, when we do bad things, we’re sorry it happened.”