More on the Rosary...

My last post prompted a few comments and questions. Since my posting has been thin on the ground lately, I just wanted to publish an email I took some time over:

You're absolutely right [that it's odd to have a 15 decade rosary]! I usually make normal rosarys with 5 decades. These are the ones everyone has, and the ones you can buy.

However, there are traditionally 3 sets of mysteries (Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious, not counting JPII's new 'luminous' mysteries). Each time you say a rosary (5 decades) you meditate on one set of mysteries. Traditionally this has been dependent on the day of the week:

Monday: Joyful Mysteries

Tuesday: Sorrowful

Wednesday: Glorious

Thursday: Joyful

Friday: Sorrowful

Saturday: Glorious

Sunday: depends on season (Joyful in Advent and Christmastide; Sorrowful in Lent; Glorious for the rest of the time.

So basically, if you said ALL the mysteries together, all at once (as is sometimes done on rosary processions, eg the Oratory's May procession) then you would be saying the Rosary 3 times over. The Rosary I constructed reflects this: it is simply 3 rosaries stuck together! It would be unlikely anyone would use it, but it is popular to hang these huge '150 Hail Mary' rosaries on statues of Our Lady in churches. Our Lady gave this devotion to St. Dominic, in its entirety. So for me it symbolises the complete Rosary.

The extra beads hanging down to the crucifix are for opening the devotion. They are for the intention of the Pope and help fulfil the conditions of an "indulgence" (which requires confession and holy communion on the same day") to open up for you the maximum Grace from the treasury of the Church.

I also produce little hand rosarys, with one decade. It matters relatively little what you use: you could even use the 10 fingers on your hand! But a blessed set of Rosary beads is very special; a sacred weapon against Satan.

Another back story: The practice of praying 150 Prayers dates back to ancient monasteries, where less learned monks were unable to pray the Latin Psalms (the "psalter of David" in the bible). Instead, with the community, they would pray an 'Our Father' or perhaps 'Hail Mary' for each psalm recited, using 150 knots on their waist rope, and thus keep track of where the community was in their prayer.

hope that helps you. The simple message is pray the rosary every day if you can: it is a fantastic prayer with divine precedence: It was given to us by Our Lady and she has repeatedly told us to pray it. It works miracles!

For more on the Rosary see the excellent resource at Fish Eaters.