Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan called on the Santa Fe faithful Sunday to heed the "clear voice" of the new bells he was blessing at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi — bells that could be calling them to prayer as early as next Sunday.

Sheehan led the hundreds who had gathered on the cathedral grounds, lined the nearby sidewalks or watched from La Fonda balconies in the celebration in which, according to Spanish tradition, four newly cast bells were blessed and baptized.

The bells, together weighing nearly 6,000 pounds, could be pealing from the cathedral's south tower in a week, the Very Rev. Msgr. Jerome Martinez y Alire, rector of the cathedral, told the crowd; many were parishioners, others were tourists who had serendipitously happened upon the celebration.

The south bell tower was left empty and silent when the cathedral was built nearly 100 years ago. Last year, the floor of the tower was reinforced with steel and at least 4 inches of concrete to accommodate the weight of the bells. A steel I-beam bolted to the tower ceiling will be used to help workers place the bells in the tower.

The monsignor said installation of the bronze bells, recently cast by the Petit and Fristen Bell Foundry in Aarie-Riztel, Holland, would likely begin at 7 this morning.

The bells, costing upward of $325,000, are being placed in the tower as part of the parish's celebration with the city of their joint 400th anniversary this year. Each bell represents 100 years of the parish's history. About $175,600 still must be raised to complete the project.

"There isn't a parish in the country that's 400 years old," said Jim Cutropia, the cathedral's finance director. "The parish was here before Jamestown or Plymouth Rock (settlers)," he said, noting the first European settlements on the East Coast.

Before Archbishop Sheehan anointed the bells with sacred chrism oil and blessed them, Bennie Quintana leaned over the 825-pound bell and pointed to the inscriptions on it. He noted the bell is named Sofia Libradita, the combined first names of his maternal grandmother and mother. The bell is dedicated to the memory of his sister, Natividad Quintana Chidester, and bears her name as well.

Cutropia explained that three bells are named by the family donors. The fourth, the largest at nearly 3,000 pounds, is sponsored by Friends of the Cathedral through parishioners' donations, and is named for St. Katharine Drexel, who established the St. Catherine Indian School in Santa Fe near Rosario Cemetery in 1887.

The saint, a nun in the order of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, was chosen by parishioners among 50 suggestions for the bell's namesake.

The donors and members of the order acted as the bells' liturgical sponsors during the baptism.

Among them was Sister Anne Doyle, 97, who knew Katharine Drexel, and recalled tending to her room when the future saint was recovering from a heart ailment at the sisters' convent in Bensalem, Pa., in the early 1940s.

"Whenever I entered her room, she asked me, 'Are you getting enough to eat?' " Sister Doyle said. "She was a marvelous person."

One of the two other bells, named Mercedes, was donated by the George T. Roybal family, and the other, named Dee Theresa, was donated by the Mike Maloof family.

Also participating in the ceremonies were Santa Fe Mayor David Coss; the Rev. Kenneth Semon, pastor of the nearby Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith; members of the cathedral's bell choir; and about 75 young people who had received the Catholic Sacrament of Confirmation from Archbishop Sheehan at the Mass preceding the bell blessings.

Dennis Carroll can be reached at 505 986-3091 or dcarroll@sfnewmexican.com.