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Our Lady of Lourdes - Mary appearing at Lourdes with Rosary beads.
The Rosary (from Latin rosarium, "rose garden"), is a traditional popular Roman Catholic devotion and also an Anglican devotion (see also Jesus Prayer and Prayer rope). The term denotes both a set of prayer beads used in the devotion and the devotional prayer itself, which combines vocal (or silent) prayer and meditation centered around sequences of reciting the Lord\'s Prayer followed by ten recitations of the "Hail Mary" prayer and a single recitation of "Glory Be to the Father"; each of these sequences is known as a decade.
Until the recent optional addition of five additional Mysteries by Pope John Paul II, the Rosary had been prayed in three parts of five Mysteries assigned throughout the week. Today the Rosary can be prayed in four parts, one part each day, with the "Mysteries" (which are meditated or contemplated on during the prayers) being rotated daily. The Roman Catholic emphasis on the rosary is part of the Roman Catholic focus on Mariology, as exemplified by Pope John Paul II\'s Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae[Pope John Paul II]]\'s Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20021016_rosarium-virginis-mariae_en.html which builds on the total Marian devotion pioneered by Saint Louis de Montfort.
What distinguishes the Rosary from other forms of prayer is that, along with the vocal prayers, it includes a series of meditations. Each decade of the Rosary is said while meditating on one of the "Mysteries" of redemption. These mysteries were finally standardised in the 16th century, and while there has been some disagreement on them (the final mystery is sometimes the Last Judgment) the earliest sets bear a remarkable resemblance to those still used.
Many similar prayer practices exist in popular Roman Catholicism, each with its own set of prescribed prayers and its own form of bead counters. These other devotions and their associated beads are usually referred to as "chaplets." (To see types of prayer-bead prayers used by other religions, see article on prayer beads).
The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary has the liturgical rank of universal memorial. It is associated with Our Lady of Victory and is celebrated on October 7 on the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar in commemoration of the "Victory of Our Lady" at the Battle of Lepanto.
The rosary is used sometimes by some adherents of other Christian denominations, particularly in the Anglican Communion, the Old Catholic Church, and the Lutheran Church, and occasionally by some Methodists. Evangelical Protestants, however, such as Baptists, Adventists, Assembly of God etc., do not use it and actively discourage their members from using this method of prayer.
There are differing views on the exact history of the rosary. Some histories of the rosary attribute its origin to Saint Dominic through the Blessed Virgin Mary.Catherine Beebe, St. Dominic and the Rosary ISBN 0898705185 Our Lady of the Rosary is the title received by the Marian apparition to Saint Dominic in 1208 in the church of Prouille in which the Virgin Mary gave the rosary to him. However, other sources dispute this attribution and suggest that its roots were in the preaching of Alan de Rupe between 1470-1475, and suggest that Saint Dominic had nothing to do with the rosary.Catholic Encyclopedia http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13184b.htm And there are sources which try to seek a middle ground to these two views.History of the Rosray http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/ROSARYHS.htm
Prayers with beads like the rosary may have begun as a practice by the laity to imitate the monastic Divine Office, during the course of which the monks daily prayed the 150 Psalms. The laity, many of whom could not read, substituted 50, or even 150, Ave Marias (Hail Marys) for the Psalms. This prayer, at least the first half of it so directly biblically, seems to date from as early as the 2nd century, as ancient graffiti at Christian sites has suggested. Sometimes a cord with knots on it was used to keep an accurate count of the Aves[citation needed].
The rosary came to replace the popular devotional practice that consisted of reciting the 150 Psalms of the Bible in thirds or 50 at a time. Instead of the Psalms, 150 Our Fathers were recited. Over the course of the Middle Ages, the Lord\'s Prayer was replaced with the Angelic Salutation, commonly called the Hail Mary[citation needed]. The prayers of the Rosary were set by the late 16th century. From the 16th to the early 20th century, there were no changes in the Rosary until the mid-20th century when the addition of the Fatima Prayer became popular. There were no other changes until 2002 when John Paul II instituted five optional new Luminous Mysteries, for a total of 20 decades for the complete Rosary.
The following table are key dates in the development of the rosary.
Rosary beads
A set of Rosary beads contains fifty beads in groups of ten (a decade), with an additional large bead before each decade. Some have been known to have one hundred or one hundred-fifty. These numbers match the number of psalms, or a third or two-thirds of them. Although counting the prayers on a string of beads is customary, the prayers of the Rosary do not actually require a set of beads, but can be said using any type of counting device, by counting on one\'s fingers, or by counting by oneself without any device at all.
The beads can be made from a wide variety of materials including wood, bone, glass, crushed flowers, semi-precious stones such as agate, jet, amber, or jasper, or precious materials including coral, rock crystal, gilded silver and gold. In the 19th and early 20th century they are sometimes made from the seeds of the "rosary pea" or "bead tree". Modern beads are most often glass, resin (plastic) or wood. Early rosaries were strung on strong thread, often silk, but modern ones are more often made as a series of chain-linked beads.
It is especially common for beads to be made of material with some special significance, such as jet from the shrine of St. James at Santiago de Compostela, or olive seeds from the Garden of Gethsemane. Beads are sometimes made to enclose sacred relics, or drops of holy water. A set of blessed Rosary Beads is a sacramental.
In addition to a string of beads the rosary comes in other forms for ease of use. A ring rosary is a finger ring with eleven knobs on it, ten round ones and one crucifix. A rosary bracelet is one with ten beads and often a cross or medal as well. The most modern form are rosary cards. A rosary card is either one with "handle" that moves like a slide rule to count the decade, or it has a whole rosary with bumps similar to Braille.
The Crucifixion of Jesus - the fifth of the Sorrowful Mysteries
The recitation of the Rosary is traditionally dedicated to one of three sets of "Mysteries" to be said in sequence, one per night: the Joyful (sometimes Joyous) Mysteries; the Sorrowful Mysteries; and the Glorious Mysteries. Each of these three sets of Mysteries has within it five different themes to be meditated on, one for each decade of ten Hail Marys. Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (October 2002), recommended an additional set called the Luminous Mysteries (or the "Mysteries of Light"). Catholic faithful who prefer the original fifteen mysteries point to the belief that the Rosary is Mary\'s Psalter, containing 150 Hail Marys in its body for the 150 Psalms. The Luminous Mysteries make the total 200, but incorporate Christ\'s ministry.
In addition to meditating upon the events of the mysteries, many people associate certain virtues, or fruits, with each mystery. (The following list of mysteries and the fruits associated with them corresponds to moments in the life, passion, and death of Jesus and Mary\'s participation in them chronologically.)
| Day of recitation | With the Luminous Mysteries | Without the Luminous Mysteries |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | The Glorious Mysteries |
Advent to Sunday before Septuagesima: The Joyful Mysteries |
| Monday | The Joyful Mysteries | The Joyful Mysteries |
| Tuesday | The Sorrowful Mysteries | The Sorrowful Mysteries |
| Wednesday | The Glorious Mysteries | The Glorious Mysteries |
| Thursday | The Luminous Mysteries | The Joyful Mysteries |
| Friday | The Sorrowful Mysteries | The Sorrowful Mysteries |
| Saturday | The Joyful Mysteries | The Glorious Mysteries |
Many people add a recitation of the Fatima Decade Prayer at the end of each Decade.
In the practice of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, they have an additional decade for the intentions of the students or the Blessed Virgin Mary.
A pious German custom is to insert a phrase in the middle of each Hail Mary (after "... blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus ... "), which refers to the specific mystery being meditated upon.http://rosarycreations.com/rosaryprayersgerman.htmhttp://www.pacifier.com/~rosarweb/rosaryprayers.htm
In the practice of the Dominican Order, the opening prayers are as follows mirroring the opening of the Divine Office:
Then one proceeds to the decades.
The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Litany of Loreto is an example of a concluding litany following the "Hail Holy Queen."
In Monastic Houses, monks were expected to pray the Divine Office daily in Latin, the liturgical language of the Roman Catholic Church. In some Houses, lay brothers who did not understand Latin or who were illiterate were required to say the Lord\'s Prayer a certain number of times per day while meditating on the Mysteries of the Incarnation of Christ. Since there were 150 Psalms, this could number up to 150 times per day. To count these repetitions, they used beads strung upon a cord and this set of prayer beads became commonly known as a Paternoster, which is the Latin for "Our Father". Lay people adopted this practice as a form of popular worship. The Paternoster could be of various lengths, but was often made up of 5 “decades” of 10 beads, which when performed three times made up 150 prayers. Other Paternosters, most notably those used by lay persons, may have had only had 10 beads, and may have also been highly ornamented. As the Rosary (ring of flowers) incorporating the Hail Mary prayer became more common, it was often still referred to as a Paternoster.
The Irish (specifically the Gaelic-speaking) and their descendants have a tradition of saying thirteen Aves rather than ten, in honour of St. Anthony of Padua, whose feast day is 13 June, and in Ireland is commemorated on Friday the 13th in non-English speaking communities. These are rare today, and almost impossible to purchase.
The Franciscan rosary, or as it is properly called, The Franciscan Crown, developed in early part of the 15th century, and was officially established in 1422. The Franciscan Crown consists of seven decades of Hail Marys, each preceded by an Our Father and followed by a Glory Be. The Crown recalls the seven joys of Mary and how she responded to the grace of God in her life. In addition to developing this Marian devotion, the Franciscans are credited with adding the final words to the Hail Mary, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. In 1263, Saint Bonaventure, Minister General of the Order, encouraged liturgical devotion honoring the mystery of the Visitation.
An alternative design.
The rosary as prayed by the Birgittine order comprises 7 Our Fathers (to honour the joys and sorrows of the Blessed Virgin), and 63 Hail Marys, one for each (presumed) year of her life before the Assumption. The layout of the beads is a loop containing six decades, together with a short string of beads leading to the crucifix.New Advent CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Use of Beads at Prayers.
An example of the Birgittine rosary may be seen depicted on the Statue of the Crowned Virgin in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Religious persecution of Catholics began in England and Ireland under Henry VIII in 1540 and continued until about 1731. During what has been called the Penal Times, death became the common penalty for attending a Roman Catholic Mass or harboring a priest. Small, easily hidden Rosaries were used to avoid detection. Sometimes rather than a cross, other symbols of specific meanings were used:
These rosaries, especially the smaller ring-type, have since become known as soldiers\' rosaries, because they were often taken into battle by soldiers, most notably during WWI. These single-decade Rosary variations can be worn as a ring or carried easily and are still popular. A rosary ring is a ring worn around the finger with 10 indentations and a cross on the surface, representing one decade of a rosary. This is often worn as jewelry, and used through the day. Some ring Rosaries use a small bearing on the inside of the ring to permit easy turning. A finger Rosary is similar to a ring, but is a bit larger. Rosaries like these are used by either rotating or just holding them between a finger and thumb while praying. A hand Rosary is a decade in a complete loop, with one bead separated from ten other beads, this is meant to be carried while walking or running, so as not to entangle the larger type. Credit card-sized Rosaries have also appeared, especially among members of militaries, where holes or bumps represent the prayers and the persons praying move their fingers along the bumps to count prayers.
The most common prayer used in the Eastern Christian Churches (Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic) is the Jesus Prayer, which makes use of the more ancient prayer rope (chotki), a knotted rope (rather than beads) joined together with a knotted cross. The prayer rope is not as fixed in form as the Western rosary (it may have 10, 33, 50, 100, or 500 knots on it), and it normally makes use of beads only as dividers between sections. The Eastern prayer rope is often divided into decades, but it may also be divided into sections of 25 or some other number, or not divided at all. Among Old Believers, the lestovka continues to be used. It is made of leather rather than rope and the "beads" are made up of folded strips of leather.
Among members of the Anglican churches, the use of a particular set of prayer beads called Anglican prayer beads is fairly popular. This set is also known as the "Anglican Rosary"http://www.episcopalian.org/grace/anglican_rosary.htm or as "Christian prayer beads," the latter term arising from the popularity this set has gained among Christians of various other traditions (see Scriptural Rosary). Anglican bead sets contain 28 beads in groups of seven called "weeks," with an additional large bead before each. In total, there are 33 beads representing the years of Jesus\' life on Earth. A number of Anglicans use the Jesus Prayer, just like the Eastern Christians, but there are no Church-appointed prayers or meditations in the Anglican practice. Some Anglo-Catholics use the traditional Roman Catholic rosary complete with prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
A recent creation known as the Ecumenical Miracle Rosary uses the same beads as the Catholic rosary but with different prayers and with mysteries which focus on Christ\'s miracles.
Rosaries or rosary-like necklaces are often worn for non-religious purposes as a fashion or jewelry item, and are sold in different variations in popular jewelry and clothing stores. Such ornamental use, especially the wearing of a rosary around the neck, was heavily popularized by singer Madonna in the early 1980s and has experienced a come-back in recent years. Wearing a rosary around the neck can be considered disrespectful if the person wearing it doesn\'t affiliate with the Christian religion. Ornate or medieval-style rosary sets are occasionally featured in goth fashion, particularly among romantic Goths or for ironic contrast to an otherwise dark outfit.
Wearing of a Rosary that one actually uses to pray is neither uncommon nor sacrilegious in various Catholic-adherent cultures, and was a common practice in the Medieval and Renaissance periods, particularly among monastics (monks and nuns). Rosaries are also worn hanging from or looped over a belt, particularly with some religious habits, pinned to and hanging from a shoulder or neckline, or wrapped around a wrist or arm as a bracelet. Some Christians feel that it is sacrilegious for a non-believer to wear a rosary around the neck. Previously the Roman Catholic Church after Vatican II Council has stated that wearing of the rosary around the neck by both Christian believers and non-believers is very disrespectful,[citation needed] although many saints have worn their Rosary around the neck, and in the Secret of the Rosary, it is mentioned that a person put his rosary round his neck to keep devils away from him.
Praying the rosary may be prescribed by priests as a form of penance after confession. Penance in this form is not generally intended as a "punishment"; rather, it is meant to encourage reflection upon and spiritual growth from past sins.[citation needed]
The rosary has been featured in the writings of Roman Catholic figures from saints to popes and continues to be mentioned in reported Marian apparitions, with a number of promises attributed to the power of the rosary.
As early as the fifteenth century, Catholic beliefs on the power of prayer alleged that through Saint Dominic and Blessed Alan de Rupe the Blessed Virgin Mary made fifteen specific promises to Christians who pray the rosary.Dominican Fathers on the Rosary http://www.rosary-center.org/nconobl.htm The fifteen rosary promises range from protection from misfortune to meriting a high degree of glory in heaven.Holyrosary.org http://www.theholyrosary.org/power.html In support of this statement Patrick Cardinal Hayes of New York provided his imprimatur to this effect.Rosary promises http://www.catholic.org/clife/mary/promises.php
In the 18th century, Saint Louis de Montfort elaborated on the importance of the rosary and its power in his widely read book the Secret of the Rosary.Saint Louis de Montfort http://www.themontfortacademy.org/Pages/BioStLouisdeMontfort1.html He emphasized the power of the rosary and provided specific instructions on how it should be prayed, e.g. with attention, devotion and modesty (reverence).Writings of Saint Luois de Montford http://www.montfort.org/English/Download.htm
In the 20th century, the Carmelite nun, sister Lucia dos Santos stated that she was told in the Our Lady of Fatima messages:
Sister Lucia\'s visions at Fatima were declared "worthy of belief" by the Holy See.Obituary of Sister Lucia dos Santos http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/16/obituaries/16lucia.html Also in the 20th century, Pope Pius XI stated that:
In his 1981 apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio Pope John Paul II said:
More recently, in his book The Power of the Rosary Rev. Albert Shamon discusses the promises attributed to the rosary in reported visions such as Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima and Međugorje and recounts anecdotal incidents regarding the rosary, ranging from religious and political prisoners in China to every day Roman Catholics.Rev. Albert J. M. Shamon, The Power of the Rosary, CMJ Publishers, 2003. ISBN 1891280104
The rosary as a devotional path to the Virgin Mary has been a source of inspiration for a number Roman Catholic figures. For instance, in his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae Pope John Paul II discusses the inspiration of the rosary and how his motto "Totus Tuus" was inspired by the writings of Saint Louis de Montfort. In this Apostolic Letter, the Marian Pope explained the importance of the Rosary:
.
Rosaries are in rare cases made of expensive materials from gold and silver to mother of pearl and Swarovski black diamond designs. Yet most rosaries used in the world today for praying are made of simple plastic or wooden beads connected by cords or strings. Catholic missionaries in Africa have reported that rosaries made of tree bark have been used there for praying for the lack of conventional rosaries. It is widely reported that the demand for rosaries in third world countries far outweighs the supply.
Plastic beads are inexpensive to make, but not easy to assemble. Hence the major cost component for making simple rosaries is the assembly effort. A large number of inexpensive rosary beads are manufactured in the orient, specially in China and Taiwan, although Italy has a strong manufacturing presence in moderate cost and high end rosaries.
Assembled rosaries are often purchased as retail religious items. Yet literally hundreds of millions of rosaries have been made and distributed free of charge by Roman Catholic volunteers worldwide. A number of rosary making clubs exist around the world for the purpose of making and distributing rosaries to missions, hospitals, prisons, etc. free of charge. The largest such non-profit organization in the United States is Our Lady\'s Rosary Makers whose 17,000 members annually distribute roughly 7 million free rosaries. A good number of other volunteer-based clubs and groups exist worldwide and distribute tens of millions of free rosaries every year.
In recent years, the Eastern Catholic Churches have embarked on a campaign of de-Latinization reforms, removing imported devotions and practices that have obscured and replaced traditional and authentic devotions and practices of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Some Eastern Catholics share a devotion to the Rosary with their Western brethren, but also practice Eastern Christian forms of devotion such as the practice of the Jesus Prayer.
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