{"id":3502,"date":"2009-10-13T21:52:51","date_gmt":"2009-10-13T21:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/10\/faith-in-your-fingertips-the-rosary.html"},"modified":"2009-10-13T21:52:51","modified_gmt":"2009-10-13T21:52:51","slug":"faith-in-your-fingertips-the-rosary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/10\/faith-in-your-fingertips-the-rosary.html","title":{"rendered":"Faith at your fingertips: praying the rosary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thumbnail<\/a><\/span>I still have my first set.  <\/span>Do you? <\/p>\n

It
\nwas given to me as a first communion gift: simple black beads with a plain
\nplastic cross.  <\/span>They’re small,
\nchild-sized, but I carried them in May processions when I was in grade school.  <\/span>They served to teach me the rudiments
\nof one of our faith’s most popular – but often misunderstood – forms of prayer.\n<\/p>\n

The
\nrosary. <\/p>\n

Since
\nOctober is dedicated to this devotion, I thought it would be a good time to
\nremind ourselves how meaningful it is, and to appreciate even more the part it
\nplays in our Catholic culture. <\/p>\n

Many
\nreligions use beads to guide them in prayer, but the origins of the rosary are
\nstill somewhat hazy.  <\/span><\/p>\n

I did a
\nlittle “Googling,” and found the following, from Fr. William Saunders at the
\nEWTN website<\/a>:<\/p>\n

 The
\nuse of “prayer beads” and the repeated recitation of prayers to aid
\nin meditation stem from the earliest days of the Church and has roots in
\npre-Christian times. Evidence exists from the Middle Ages that strings of beads
\nwere used to count Our Fathers and Hail Marys. Actually, these strings of beads
\nbecame known as “Paternosters,” the Latin for “Our Father.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

The structure of the rosary
\ngradually evolved between the 12th and 15th centuries. Eventually 50 Hail Marys
\nwere recited and linked with verses of psalms or other phrases evoking the
\nlives of Jesus and Mary. During this time, this prayer form became known as the
\nrosarium (“rose garden”), actually a common term to designate a
\ncollection of similar material, such as an anthology of stories on the same
\nsubject or theme. During the 16th century, the structure of the five-decade
\nrosary based on the three sets of mysteries (Glorious, Sorrowful, Joyful)
\nprevailed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Tradition does hold that St.
\nDominic (d. 1221) devised the rosary as we know it. Moved by a vision of our
\nBlessed Mother, he preached the use of the rosary in his missionary work among
\nthe Albigensians, who had denied the mystery of Christ. Some scholars take
\nexception to St. Dominic’s role in forming the rosary. The earliest accounts of
\nhis life do not mention it, the Dominican constitutions do not link him with it
\nand contemporaneous portraits do not include it as a symbol to identify the
\nsaint.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Elsewhere<\/a>, I’ve read that the
\nrosary began as a practice by the laity to imitate the monastic Office (Liturgy
\nof the Hours), by which monks prayed the 150 Psalms. The laity, many of whom
\ncould not read, substituted 50 or 150 Ave Marias for the Psalms. Sometimes a
\ncord with counters on it was used.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
The rest is history.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The rosary underwent a significant
\nchange several years ago, when Pope John Paul II elected to add a fourth set of
\nmysteries: <\/span>the Luminous Mysteries<\/a>, or Mysteries of Light.  <\/span>(Not everyone was thrilled, since this
\ndisrupted the parallel of the beads with the psalms, but the faithful seem to
\nhave accepted the change nonetheless.)    <\/span>You find rosaries today made of all kinds of
\nmaterial, from cheap plastic to expensive gems.  <\/span>I remember vividly the rosaries worn by nuns: massive black
\nlinks that announced their approach with clack-clack-clack against black
\ncloth.  <\/span>Occasionally, a search on
\nEbay will turn up unusual monastic rosaries that have three mysteries and 150
\nbeads.  <\/span>They must weigh a ton.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wherever it began, or however it started, the rosary remains
\na powerful source of inspiration and hope.   <\/span>I know in my own life it has brought calm in the midst
\nof many storms.  <\/span>This meditative
\nform of prayer just works. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
These days, I pray a set of square,
\nwooden beads that I bought a few years ago at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky.  <\/span>But my fingers still remember the first
\nset I used – with deep affection and boundless gratitude.  <\/span>Who knows how many prayers were
\nanswered or graces received from using those simple black beads? <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But I know this much: they helped
\nground me in the faith – faith, I’m reminded, that can be as close as my fingertips.  <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
For more on how to pray the rosary, check out this clear and concise online guide<\/a>.   <\/div>\n

<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I still have my first set.  Do you? 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