rosary

[roh-zuh-ree]

rosary [rose garden], prayer of Roman Catholics, in which beads are used as counters. The term, applied also to the beads, is extended to Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist prayers that use beads. The traditional Catholic rosary is a series of 15 meditations on events (mysteries) in the lives of Jesus and Mary. The joyful mysteries are (Luke 1-2) the Annunciation, the Visitation, the birth of Jesus, His presentation at the Temple, and the finding of the child Jesus among the doctors. The sorrowful mysteries are (Mat. 26-27) the agony of Jesus in the garden, His scourging, the crowning with thorns, the carrying of the Cross, and the Crucifixion. The glorious mysteries are the Resurrection (Luke 24), the Ascension (Acts 1.1—11), the descent of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2), the assumption of the Virgin, and her coronation as Queen of Heaven. In 2002, Pope John Paul II proposed the addition of five "mysteries of light" drawn from Jesus' public life: his baptism in the Jordan, his self-manifestation at the wedding at Cana, his proclamation of the kingdom of God, the Transfiguration, and his institution of the Eucharist.

As one dwells on a mystery in thought one recites prayers—the Lord's Prayer (or Our Father; Paternoster) once, Hail Mary (Ave Maria) 10 times, and Glory Be to the Father (Gloria Patri) once. Count is kept by slipping beads through the fingers; the beads have no other significance. The usual string—formerly called the chaplet—has five sets of 10 beads (decades); between the decades a single bead is set apart, for the Glory of one mystery and the Our Father of the next. There is a pendant with crucifix and beads for introductory prayers.

The rosary is often said in common, but it remains an individual prayer. Its popularity is often ascribed to the combination of simplicity of method with solidity of subject matter. In one form or another it has been in use some 600 years. There is a feast of the rosary, Oct. 7, on the anniversary of the victory of the Christians over the Turks at the battle of Lepanto. According to tradition, St. Dominic received the rosary from the Virgin Mary in a vision.

See F. B. Thornton, This Is the Rosary (1961).

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Licensed from Columbia University Press

rosary pea

or Indian licorice

Tropical plant (Abrus precatorius; family Leguminosae). Its hard, red and black seeds, though highly poisonous, are strung into necklaces and rosaries in India and other tropical areas. In India the seeds are also used as a unit of weight (ratti).

Learn more about rosary pea with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

rosary

Religious exercise in which prayers are recited and counted on a string of beads or knotted cord, which is also called a rosary. Many of these devices are highly ornamental and incorporate jewels. The practice of using a rosary or “counting beads” occurs widely in world religions, including Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. In Christianity, the most common rosary is that of the Virgin Mary. Its origin is uncertain, but it is associated with St. Dominic and reached its definitive form in the 15th century.

Learn more about rosary with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Rosary

The Rosary (from Latin rosarium, meaning "rose garden or "garland of roses) is a popular traditional Roman Catholic devotion. The term denotes both a set of prayer beads and the devotional prayer itself, which combines vocal (or silent) prayer and meditation. The prayers consist of repeated sequences of the Lord's Prayer followed by ten praying of the Hail Mary and a single praying of "Glory Be to the Father"; each of these sequences is known as a tricade . The praying of each decade is accompanied by meditation on one of the Mysteries of the Rosary, which are events in the lives of Jesus Christ and his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The German theologian Romano Guardini defined the Roman Catholic emphasis on the rosary as “participation in the life of Mary, whose focus was Christ”. His statement echoed the view that in Roman Catholic Mariology the path to Christ is through Mary, with Mariology being inherent in Christology; a sentiment also expressed by saints such as Louis de Montfort who was a strong rosary advocate. Pope Leo XIII also viewed the rosary as a vital means to participate in the life of Mary and to find the way to Christ (see the section on Rosary Pope below).

The traditional fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary were finalized by the 16th century. The mysteries are grouped into three sets: the joyful mysteries, the sorrowful mysteries, and the glorious mysteries. In 2002, Pope John Paul II announced five new optional mysteries, the luminous mysteries, bringing the total number of mysteries to twenty.

The rosary is part of the Catholic veneration of Mary, which has been promoted by numerous popes, especially Leo XIII, known as "The Rosary Pope", who issued eleven encyclicals on the rosary and created the feast, Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary. Pope Pius V, introduced the rosary into the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar as the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, celebrated on October 7. Most recently, on May 3, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI stated, that the Rosary is experiencing a new Springtime. It is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation nourish for Jesus and his Mother. To Benedict XVI, the rosary is a meditation on all important moments of salvation history. Before him, Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae built on the "total Marian devotion" pioneered by Saint Louis de Montfort. Pope Pius XII and his successors actively promoted the veneration of the Virgin in Lourdes and Fatima, which is credited with a new resurgence of the rosary within the Catholic Church.

The rosary is sometimes used by other Christians, especially in the Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Church, and also by some Lutherans. Evangelical Protestants, however, such as Baptists and Presbyterians do not use it and actively discourage their members from using this method of prayer.

Many similar prayer practices exist in popular Roman Catholicism, each with its own set of prescribed prayers and its own form of prayer beads, such as the prayer rope in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. These other devotions and their associated beads are usually referred to as "chaplets."

The term is also used to refer to similar beads in other religions.

History

There are differing views on the history of the rosary. According to tradition, the rosary was given to Saint Dominic in an apparition by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the year 1214 in the church of Prouille. This Marian apparition received the title of Our Lady of the Rosary. However, most scholarly research suggests a more gradual and organic development of the rosary.

Prayers with beads like the rosary may have begun as a practice by the laity to imitate the monastic Liturgy of the Hours, during the course of which the monks prayed the 150 Psalms daily. As many of the laity and even lay monastics could not read, they substituted 150 repetitions of the Our Father (Pater noster in Latin) for the Psalms, sometimes using a cord with knots on it to keep an accurate count. During the middle ages, evidence suggests that both the Our Father and the Hail Mary were recited with prayer beads. In the 7th century, Saint Eligius wrote of using a counting device to keep track of the 150 Hail Marys of the Psalter of Mary. In 13th century Paris, four trade guilds existed of prayer bead makers, who were referred to as paternosterers, and the beads were referred to as paternosters, suggesting a continued link between the Our Father (Pater noster in Latin) and the prayer beads. In the 12th century, the rule of the English anchorites, the Ancrene Wisse, specified how groups of fifty Hail Marys were to be broken into five decades of ten Hail Marys each. Gradually, the Hail Mary came to replace the Our Father as the prayer most associated with beads. Eventually, each decade came to be preceded by an Our Father, which further mirrored the structure of the monastic Liturgy of the Hours.

The practice of meditation during the praying of the Hail Marys is attributed to Dominic of Prussia (1382-1460), a Carthusian monk, who called it "Life of Jesus Rosary" The German monk from Trier added a sentence to each of the fifty Hail Mary's already popular at his time, using quotes from scriptures. Promoted by his superior Adolf von Essen and others, his practice became popular among Benedictines and Carthusians from Trier to adjoining Belgium and France, where it was greatly promoted by the preaching of the Dominican priest Alan de Rupe, who helped to spread the devotion in France, Flanders, and the Netherlands between 1460 and his death in 1475. From the 16th to the early 20th century, the structure of the rosary remained essentially unchanged. There were fifteen mysteries, one for each of the fifteen decades. In the 20th century the addition of the Fatima Prayer to the end of each decade became popular. There were no other changes until 2002 when John Paul II instituted five optional new Luminous Mysteries.

Since the 17th century, the Rosary began to appear as an element in key pieces of Roman Catholic Marian art, often in art that depicts the Virgin Mary. Key examples include Murrillo's Madonna with the Roary at the Museo del Prado in Spain, and the statute of Madonna with Rosary at the church of San Nazaro Maggiore in Milan. Several Roman Catholic Marian churches around the world have also been named after the rosary, e.g. Our Lady of the Rosary Basilica, in Rosario Argentina, the Rosary Basilica in Lourdes and Nossa Senhora do Rosário in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Key dates

The following table are key dates in the development of the rosary.

4th century prayer rope used by the Desert Fathers to count repetitions of the Jesus Prayer
In the 7th century, St. Eligius (c.588-660) wrote of making a chair adorned with 150 gold and silver nails to aid in the praying of the Psalter of Blessed Mary, which substituted one Hail Mary for each of the Psalms.
In the early 8th century, Venerable Bede (d. 733) attests that churches and public places in France and England had prayer beads available for the faithful to use.
c. 1075 Lady Godiva refers in her will to "the circlet of precious stones which she had threaded on a cord in order that by fingering them one after another she might count her prayers exactly" (Malmesbury, "Gesta Pont.", Rolls Series 311)
A rule for anchorites in mid-12th century England gives directions on how fifty Hail Marys are to be said divided into sets of ten, with prostrations and other marks of reverence.
It is recorded in 12th century Mary-legends (Marien-legenden) that a certain Eulalia was told to pray five decades slowly and devoutly instead of fifteen decades in a hurry.
It is recorded by a contemporary biographer that St. Aibert, who died in 1140, recited 150 Hail Marys daily, 100 with genuflexions and 50 with prostrations.
1160 Saint Rosalia is buried with a string of prayer beads
1214 traditional date of the legend of Saint Dominic's reception of the rosary from the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of the Rosary
It is recorded of St. Louis of France (1214-70) that "without counting his other prayers the holy King knelt down every evening fifty times and each time he stood upright then knelt again and repeated slowly an Ave Maria."
Mid-13th century word "Rosary" first used (by Thomas of Champitre, in De apibus, ii. 13), not referring to prayer beads but in a Marian context.
1268 A reference to guild of "paternosterers" in Paris in "Livre des métiers" of Stephen Boyleau.
Early 15th century, Dominic of Prussia, a Carthusian, introduces 50 mysteries, one for each Ave Maria
c. 1514 Hail Mary prayer attains its current form.
1569 Pope Pius V established the current form of the original 15 mysteries
1587 A Book on the Rosary entitled Rosario della Sacratissima Vergine Maria by Ven. Luis de Granada is published in Italian, which uses a similar method to the fourth method of the five methods of praying the rosary by St. Louis-Marie de Montfort.
1597 first recorded use of the term "rosary" to refer to prayer beads.
1917 Our Lady of Fatima is said to ask that the Fatima Prayer be added to the Rosary. Her visionaries state that she also asks for the Rosary to be said to stop the war, and as part of the Immaculate Heart's reparation.
1974 Pope Paul VI issues the Apostolic Letter Marialis Cultus which devotes 14 sections to the use of the rosary within the Roman Catholic Church.
2002 Pope John Paul II introduces the Luminous Mysteries as an option for Roman Catholics in an Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae.

Rosary beads

A rosary provides a physical method of keeping track of the number of Hail Marys said. The fingers are moved along the beads as the prayers are recited. By not having to keep track of the count mentally, the mind is more able to meditate on the mysteries. A five decade rosary contains five groups of ten beads (a decade), with additional large beads before each decade. The Hail Mary is said on the ten beads within a decade, while the Our Father is said on the large bead before each decade. A new mystery is meditated upon at each of the large beads. Some rosaries, particularly those used by religious orders, contain fifteen decades, corresponding to the traditional fifteen mysteries of the rosary. Both five and fifteen decade rosaries are attached to a shorter strand, which starts with a crucifix followed by one large, three small, and one large beads before connecting to the rest of the rosary. The praying of the rosary is started on the short strand, reciting the Apostle's Creed at the crucifix, an Our Father at the first large bead, three Hail Mary's on the next three beads, then a Glory be to the Father on the next large bead. The praying of the decades then follows. 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, crystal, silver, and gold. Rosaries are sometimes made from the seeds of the "rosary pea" or "bead tree". Today, the vast majority of rosary beads are made of glass, 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. Our Lady's Rosary Makers produce some 7 million rosaries annually that are distributed to those in economic and spiritual need.

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 is the rosary card. A rosary card is either one with a "handle" that moves like a slide rule to count the decade, or it has a whole rosary with bumps similar to Braille.

Rosary beads for other prayers

Rosary beads are at times used to say Roman Catholic rosary based prayers which do not involve the Hail Mary and the mysteries of the rosary. Examples include the Chaplet of Divine Mercy introduced by Saint Faustina Kowalska and the Rosary of the Holy Wounds introduced by the Venerable Sister Mary Martha Chambon. These prayers often use rosary beads, but their words and format do not correspond to the usual mysteries. Both Saint Faustina Kowalska and the Venerable Sister Mary Martha Chambon attributed these prayers to Jesus as part of their visions of Jesus Christ.

The Mysteries

The praying of the Rosary is traditionally dedicated to one of three sets of "Mysteries" to be said in sequence, one per day: 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 Mary's. 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.)

Joyful Mysteries

The Annunciation. Fruit of the Mystery: Humility
The Visitation. Fruit of the Mystery: Love of Neighbor
The Nativity. Fruit of the Mystery: Poverty (poor in spirit), Detachment from the things of the world, Contempt of Riches, Love of the Poor
The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Fruit of the Mystery: Purity
The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple. Fruit of the Mystery: True Wisdom and True Conversion.

Sorrowful Mysteries

The Agony in the Garden. Fruit of the Mystery: Sorrow for Sin, Uniformity with the will of God
The Scourging at the Pillar. Fruit of the Mystery: Mortification
The Crowning with Thorns. Fruit of the Mystery: Contempt of the world
The Carrying of the Cross. Fruit of the Mystery: Patience
The Crucifixion. Fruit of the Mystery: Salvation

Glorious Mysteries

The Resurrection. Fruit of the Mystery: Faith
The Ascension. Fruit of the Mystery: Hope and desire for Heaven
The Descent of the Holy Spirit. Fruit of the Mystery: Holy Wisdom to know the truth and share with everyone
The Assumption of Mary. Fruit of the Mystery: Grace of a Happy Death and True Devotion towards Mary
The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Fruit of the Mystery: Perseverance and Crown of Glory

Luminous Mysteries

The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. Fruit of the Mystery: Openness to the Holy Spirit
The Wedding at Cana. Fruit of the Mystery: To Jesus through Mary
Jesus' Proclamation of the Kingdom of God. Fruit of the Mystery: Repentance and Trust in God
The Transfiguration. Fruit of the Mystery: Desire for Holiness
The Institution of the Eucharist. Fruit of the Mystery: Adoration

Days of praying

! Day of praying

With the Luminous Mysteries	Without the Luminous Mysteries
Sunday	The Glorious Mysteries	Advent: The Joyful Mysteries Lent to Palm Sunday: The Sorrowful Mysteries Ordinary Time, Easter to Sunday before Advent: The Glorious 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

Approved form

A sign of the cross on the Crucifix and then the "Apostles' Creed";
An "Our Father" on the first large bead;
A "Hail Mary" on each of the three small beads with the following intentions (the theological virtues):

For the increase of faith
For the increase of hope
For the increase of charity

A "Glory Be to the Father" on the next large bead;
Announce the mystery
An "Our Father" on the large bead
A "Hail Mary" on each of the adjacent ten small beads;
A "Glory Be to the Father" on the next large bead;
Again an Our Father, ten Hail Marys, the Glory Be to the Father, and Fatima Prayer for each of the following decades;
A "Hail Holy Queen" and a sign of the cross.

Common pious additions

Many people add a praying of the Fatima Decade Prayer at the end of each Decade. Others add a praying of a pious Eucharistic prayer "O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine" at the end of each decade in honor of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. 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. This custom was incorporated into St. Louis de Montfort's second method out of his five Methods of Praying the Rosary.

In the practice of the Dominican Order, the opening prayers of the rosary mirror the opening of the Divine Office:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Incline your aid to me, O God.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Rosary as a family prayer

Rosary is usually prayed in Church during afternoon or evening hours. Many Catholics pray the rosary on their own, when alone. But the rosary is also an old family prayer. This specific family devotion has been supported be several popes including Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Ingruentium Malorum:

The custom of the family praying of the Holy Rosary is a most efficacious means. What a sweet sight - most pleasing to God - when, at eventide, the Christian home resounds with the frequent repetition of praises in honor of the High Queen of Heaven! Then the Rosary, recited in the family, assembled before the image of the Virgin, in an admirable union of hearts, the parents and their children, who come back from their daily work. It unites them piously with those absent and those dead. It links all more tightly in a sweet bond of love, with the most Holy Virgin, who, like a loving mother, in the circle of her children, will be there bestowing upon them an abundance of the gifts of concord and family peace.

Rosary in Marian apparitions

The need to pray the rosary and its power has been reported in Marian apparitions for centuries. As a recent example, in the reported messages of Our Lady of Akita, Sister Agnes Sasagawa stated that in 1973 she was told by the Virgin Mary: "Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach." In 1988 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) gave definitive judgement on Our Lady of Akita messages as reliable and worthy of belief.

The rosary was also prominently featured in the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1858, where Saint Bernadette Soubirous stated that in the initial meeting: "The Lady took the rosary that she held in her hands and she made the sign of the cross".

The apparitions of Our Lady of Fátima are sometimes also called Our Lady of the Rosary because the children related that the Lady in the apparition specifically identified Herself as "the Lady of the Rosary." The three children at Our Lady of Fátima stated that the Lady asked them to say the Rosary every day, reiterating many times that the Rosary was the key to personal and world peace.

The Rosary Pope

One of the forces that drove the spread of the rosary during the 19th century among Roman Catholics was the influence of the Rosary Pope, a title given to Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) because he issued a record eleven encyclicals on the rosary, instituted the Catholic custom of daily rosary prayer during the month of October, and in 1883 created the Feast of Queen of the Holy Rosary.

Leo XIII, the Rosary Pope, explained the importance of the rosary as the one road to God, from the father to the Son, to his Mother, and from her to the human race. He emphasized that no human creature can change this and therefore there exists only one road for the faithful, to the mother and from her to Christ and through Christ to the father. The rosary is a vital means to participate in the life of Mary and to find the way to Christ. This emphasis on the path through Mary to Christ (which was also a basis for some of Louis de Montfort's writings) has since been a key direction in Roman Catholic Mariology, with Mariology being viewed as inherent in Christology, and the rosary paving that path.

Other forms of the Roman Catholic Rosary

Paternosters

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 Pater noster, 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 Servite Rosary

In 1233, seven of the members of a Florentine Confraternity devoted to the Holy Mother of God were gathered in prayer under the presidency of Alessio Falconieri. According to tradition, Mary appeared to the young men and exhorted them to devote themselves to her service, in retirement from the world. They retired to the deserted slopes of Monte Senario near Florence, where they experienced another vision of Mary. There they formed a new Order called the Servants of Mary, or Servites, in recognition of their special manner of venerating Our Lady of Sorrows. The seven-"week" Servite Rosary is variously called the Servite Chaplet; Rosary of the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and the Seven Swords Rosary. A set of introductory prayers for the Servite Rosary was written by St. Alphonsus Liguori in his book The Glories of Mary.

"St. Anthony's Rosary"

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. Also called the St. Anthony Chaplet, its prayers are accompanied by a poem called the Miraculous Responsory or si quideris, written by Saint Bonaventure. Like most chaplets, it is available at Catholic book shops.

The Franciscan Crown

In 1263, Saint Bonaventure, Minister General of the Order, encouraged liturgical devotion honoring the mystery of the Visitation. 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, and completed by two more Hail Marys after the 7th decade to complete the number 72 which is thought to be the age of Mary at the time of her Assumption. 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: Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners (from the writings of St. Bernardino of Siena) now and at the hour of our death (from the writings of the Servite Fathers and the Roman Breviary).

The Bridgettine Rosary

The rosary as prayed by the Bridgettine 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. An example of the Bridgettine rosary may be seen depicted on the statue of the Crowned Virgin in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The Trinitarian Rosary

A trinitarian rosary can comprise the same basic form as the traditional Marian rosary with 5 decades of 10 beads and introductory prayers, et cetera. Or it may be used with the Anglican or other variants of the rosary. The primary prayer of a trinitarian rosary is non-marian and comprises a prayer to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, e.g., "Almighty God, Almighty God, Heavenly King, You are the Lord! Blessed art thou in heaven, and blessed is thy sacred word! Holy Jesus, eternally begotten son of God, send your Holy Spirit upon us and kindle in our hearts the fire of your divine love!".

Single-decade rosaries

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 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:

Hammer: nails of the cross;
Nails: crucifixion;
Spear: wound;
Halo: crown of thorns;
Cords: scourging;
Chalice: Last Supper;
Rooster: crowing/resurrection.

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.

Single-decade rosaries are also called chaplets.

Rosaries in other Christian traditions

While use of the Roman Catholic rosary has gradually been adopted by many Eastern Catholics, many Eastern Catholic churches have undertaken a campaign of liturgical de-Latinization, removing imported devotions and practices (such as the rosary) that have obscured and replaced traditional and authentic devotions and practices of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Subsequently, 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 High Church Anglicans, Anglican prayer beads are sometimes used. This set is also known as the "Anglican Rosary or as "Christian prayer beads," the latter term arising from the popularity this set has gained among Christians of various other traditions. 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.

A recent creation known as the Ecumenical Miracle Rosary uses the same beads as the Roman Catholic rosary but with different prayers and with mysteries which focus on Christ's miracles.

Wearing of the Rosary

Wearing of a Rosary that one actually uses to pray is neither uncommon nor sacrilegious in various Roman Catholic-adherent cultures and was a common practice in the Medieval and Renaissance periods, particularly among religious (monks, nuns, and friars). 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. This is particularly true in Roman Catholic cultures that have histories of persecution, particularly among the Irish and English Catholics. Because Irish Catholic tradition is often seen as normative in the United States and Canada, this has been the source of some conflict in the past. The Roman Catholic Church states: "Sacred objects, set aside for divine worship by dedication or blessing, are to be treated with reverence. They are not to be made over to secular or inappropriate use, even though they may belong to private persons. Thus it is acceptable to wear a rosary if one is doing so to show veneration, however it is not acceptable if one is wearing the rosary irreverently, such as wearing it as a piece of jewelry. 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 around his neck to keep devils away from him.

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 does not affiliate with the Christian religion. Ornate or medieval-style rosary sets are occasionally featured in goth fashion.

As penance or reparation

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.

Some forms of the Roman Catholic rosary are aimed at reparation for the sins of others. An example is the Rosary of the Holy Wounds first introduced at the beginning of the 20th century by the Venerable Sister Mary Martha Chambon, a Roman Catholic nun of the Monastery of the Visitation Order in Chambery, France. This rosary is somewhat similar in structure to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, is said on the usual rosary beads and is intended as an Act of Reparation to Jesus Christ for the sins of the world.

Power of the Rosary

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, legend alleged that through Saint Dominic and Blessed Alan de Rupe the Blessed Virgin Mary made fifteen specific promises to Christians who pray the rosary. The fifteen rosary promises range from protection from misfortune to meriting a high degree of glory in heaven. In support of this statement Patrick Cardinal Hayes of New York provided his imprimatur to this effect.

In the 18th century, the French priest Louis de Montfort elaborated on the importance of the rosary and its power in his widely read book the Secret of the Rosary. 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), with reflective pauses between the beads and smaller pauses between phrases of the prayers.

Rosary manufacturing and distribution

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. Roman 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.