Hi all, I’m new to the church and relatively new to the faith, but I am excited about my new Catholic faith and would like to pray the rosary daily. I don’t have a purse, or a fanny pack, so carrying my new rosary is a challenge. But I do want to always take it with me when I leave the house so I can pray it when I have free time.
The rosary fits in pant pockets, but it’s tight. I read that some people wear it around their neck, others don’t. Some feel it’s not respectful, others feel it is just fine. Is there a general consensus on this? I don’t want to be disrespectful with a sacramental. I could see how wearing it this way, under a shirt, taking it off to pray with it, and putting it back, would be very convenient as a man. What is the general thought on this from men?
Remember that the rosary beads are not the prayer. The Rosary is the prayer. I have several rosary beads. One or two are beautiful and treasured but for driving I carry around a small auto rosary that has a crucifix and ten beads. You can also find small medal rings that would fit in your wallet.
So do men not travel with their rosary, rather leave one at home/work/car,etc, and pocket a smaller rosary/coin/ring while traveling to help guide them while praying? Sorry for the silly questions
Before the development of the rosary as worn on the habits of the Dominican Order—to which we owe the propagation of the Most Holy Rosary—on their belts at the side, many provinces of the Dominicans adopted wearing the rosary around their necks. See this article here for a fuller discussion on wearing the rosary as part of a habit. There is even a picture of Saint Rose of Lima—pray for us!—wearing the rosary around her neck.
The point is you don’t have to be scrupulous about this. Take it in your pocket, in your coat pocket, carry it around in your hand, wear it on your belt, wear it around your neck. The important thing is to keep praying the rosary. It’s definitely a very salutary thing to always keep a rosary on your person. So throw it around your neck, hide it underneath your shirt, and refrain from any provocative gang signs that may lead to your detainment.
I carry my Rosary in my coat pocket or in my Rosary case in my pants pocket,I suggested you wear pant,s so you have so you have room to put Item,s in your pockets,but still look OK wearing them.
There’s actually nothing wrong with wearing your rosary around your neck. In fact, during the reformation, that was a way to identify yourself as loyal to the Pope (especially in Switzerland). Here in the US, unfortunately, many started to associate it with gangs. What some folks do is wear it around their wrists. Kind of like a bracelet, but it can break easily that way. I have one that I keep in a box. It has Pope Francis’s “five finger prayer” in Portuguese in the box. I know no one that speaks Portuguese other than me, so I’ll know if it gets stolen, someone will be confused. You could get a Basque Ring Rosary if you’d like. Most of them only have one decade on them, but it’s useful. I used to have a few really nice ones. Gave one to my Anglican friend. Hopefully this helps! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_ring_rosary
I carry one in a backpack that goes everywhere with me, but a couple months ago I got a rosary bracelet and it has been amazing. I find h I got it on my wrist calls me to prayer more often than ever before.
In September, my wife and I had a premie in the NICU for a month. The hospital was Catholic and had a Chapel on the same floor as the NICU, so it was nice to have the rosary bracelet on hand so I could pop over to the chapel and pray, or I could pray while holding our little one.
I also love having it at mass, as I can discretely slip it off and pray a divine mercy chapter after receiving communion.
If there is a Catholic bookstore or religious supplies store near you, you can buy a little pouch in which to keep the rosary. Then put the pouch into a shirt or jacket pocket.
I like the idea of a rosary bracelet. I’m going to check my local Catholic bookstore for such a thing.
One decades are the best,easy to ‘walk the beads’. I added enough links to mine so it can slide over my hand annd onto my wrist, slides up under my jacker sleeve when I need it to as well. Itcan still tangle, but its easy to untangle as well. Try fighting with a tangled full rosary sometime for a realexercise in patience!
The more I think about this, I think I’m going to return this new rosary I just got and get a much smaller one I can keep on me at all times. I really have no use for multiple rosaries, and this is simply too bulky to keep in a pocket or even around the neck. The crucifix is just too big to wear (pokes out really weird under a shirt), and the thing is just too bulky for pants. This appealed to me being a St. Benedict rosary, but the size is impractical I think.
I don’t think that wearing the rosary around one’s neck is bad if it’s not meant to be jewelry or a gang symbol.
But I think wearing the rosary around one’s wrist is even better, which I recently started to do, as it reminds you of God, it reminds others of God, and you can just take it off to pray. youtube.com/watch?v=fdBSYJJpWEY
I wear a St. Benedict crucifix on a cord that someone made a cord rosary for me. Many times when praying the rosary I just use the ten fingers that God gave me to keep track of the prayers… remember this , …:)whatever works for you.
DISCLAIMER: Catholic Answers has turned over the archive to Catholic-Questions.org and no longer owns, manages, or moderates the forums. For additional apologetics resources please visit www.catholic.com.
