THE DOMINICAN ROSARY

The Dominican Rosary was named after St. Dominic who was the founder of the Order of Preachers, which became known as the Dominican Order. He was born in Calaroga, in Old Castile, around 1170, and died 6th August 1221. It is his name which has been given to the Catholic Rosary, The Dominican Rosary.

Beads have been used as an aid to prayer for hundreds of years. In fact the word “bead” means prayer and comes from the Old English word “bed” meaning prayer. The word prayer comes from the Greek euchesthai, Latin precari, French prier, to plead, to beg, to ask earnestly.

To visit this link just copy it and paste it into the address bar at the top of the page

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05106a.htm to read more about St. Dominic.

There are many different types of rosary, some dedicated to particular Saints, for example, St. Joseph, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anne, St. Padre Pio, and St. Anthony, whilst others have been made small for convenience of use, for example, the 1-decade rosary, sometimes called the pocket rosary.

The most commonly used Rosary has 5-Decades, some special Rosaries have 7-Decades. Before 2002, the full Rosary had 15 decades, making it possible to pray the whole Rosary in one round. Pope John Paul II, however, in his apostolic letter in October 2002, entitled "The Rosary of the Virgin Mary", introduced five new mysteries which he called "The Mysteries of Light", so now it is possible to have a 20-Decade Rosary with which to pray the whole Rosary in one round.

During the reign of Henry VIII religious persecution of Catholics began both in England and Ireland. It started in 1540, and it continued until about 1731. Death became the common penalty, in what has been referred to as the Penal Times, for attending a Catholic Mass, or, indeed, harbouring any priests. This is when the small, easily hidden Rosary Ring came into being. It was used to avoid detection, and sometimes, specific meanings were attributed to every-day items as symbols of the cross. For example:

• Hammer: nails of the cross
• Nails: Crucifixion
• Spear: wound
• Halo: crown of thorns
• Cords: scourging
• Chalice: Last Supper
• Cockerel/Rooster: crowing/resurrection

During World War I, the smaller ring-type rosaries were taken into battle by the soldiers, and gained the name of “Soldiers’ Rosaries”, which could either be worn, or easily carried, and are still popular today.

A Rosary Ring has 10 indentations or bumps and a cross on the surface, representing one decade of the rosary. This is then used throughout the day. Some ring rosaries use a small bearing on the inside of the ring to aid in easy turning.

There are now credit-card-sized Rosaries which are especially being used among members of the armed forces. These have holes or bumps which represent the prayers, and the person praying them moves their fingers along the bumps to count prayers in the same way that a blind person would read Braille.

To visit this link to find out more about the English Reformation of Henry VIII, just copy it and paste it into the address bar at the top of the page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII#Religious_upheaval

Today Rosaries come in many different types of beads. There are the plain wooden ones, some are made from grass seeds called Job’s Tears, and many more are made from glass beads. Handmade Indian glass beads have a beauty all of their own because of their irregularity, but their colours are really vibrant. Czech crystals come into their own when used to make a Rosary, as do the world renowned Swarovski ® Crystal beads. Many Rosaries are made from semi-precious gemstones such as Lapis Lazuli, Green Aventurine, Rose Quartz, Botswana Agate, Chinese Amazonite, Sodalite, and many more. Some Rosaries are have beads made from mashed rose petals, which have been mixed with rose water and rose oil, and shaped into beads. These beads are time consuming and labour intensive to make, but when the Rosary is prayed, the warmth of the hands gently releases the scent of the roses.