Norway Massacre: Historic Church Holds Ceremony to Mourn Victims

The bell that tolls once a year on 9/11 sounded Wednesday for the victims of the terrorist attacks in Oslo and Utoya Island.

Down the street from the World Trade Center site at St. Paul's Chapel, the Norwegian consul spoke of the victims before ringing the "Bell of Hope," given to the chapel by the mayor of London a year after the 9/11 attacks.

"I think this bell carries a message of rememberance," said Norwegian consul Aslaug Nygård. "I hope this bell carries further than New York and Norway."

After a moment of silence, Nygård rung the bell four times, in the same pattern firemen use to honor their fallen brothers.

"On a personal level, New York can identify with how people in Norway feel right now," said Nygård. "Norway is a small country, I have friends who knew people in the attack."

Later, St. Paul's Vicar, the Rev. Canon Anne Mallonee, invited onlookers inside to pray for victims of terrorist attacks around the globe.

Nygard rang the bell five times to honor those who died during Friday’s attacks in Norway.

"The popular reaction to these tragic, horrific actions has been the reaction of love and compassion and peace and flowers and candles and remembrance," Norway Consul Nygard said before striking the bell. "I think there is a strong connection between what this bell symbolizes and also how people in Norway feel right now.”

"We stand together shoulder by shoulder in the darkest of times we as a nation show our neighborly love and show our compassion for the victims their families their friends and the survivors."

The "Bell of Hope" was a gift to New York from the city of London a year after 9/11. The bell has been rung previously for the bombings in London, Madrid, Mumbai, and Moscow; for the Virginia Tech shooting; and on the 9/11 anniversaries.

Norway attacker Anders Behring Breivik killed 76 and injured dozens more on Friday, July 22. The attack started with a bomb blast in the capital Oslo and continued with an hour-long shooting rampage at a camp for Labour Party teens on nearby Utoya Island.

Breivik is currently in custody in Norway and has admitted to the attacks, and claims to have been in contact with other terror cells abroad. Police in Norway are currently investigating footage of the attack, and combing Utoya Island for clues.