Rosary for Non-Catholic, and wearing one.

Non-Catholic Religions
#1

Hi there.
I’m Christian, but not Catholic.
I’ve seen some rosaries and think they are absolutely beautiful.
I also am a jewelry crafter.

:confused: My questions are:

  1. Is it wrong for Non-Catholic Christians to have/use rosaries?
  2. I’ve read that it is inappropriate to wear a rosary as a necklace; why is that? If it’s something beautiful and is used for it’s intended purpose, why not display it openly? I’ve read that it’s more effective and easier to remember to use it if it’s kept in a pocket, but personally I’d find it easier to remember to use if I had it on my neck and in my constant view. Is it inappropriate to wear it on one’s neck, even if it is still used for prayers in that manner?
  3. Is it inappropriate for me, as a Non-Catholic Christian, to make rosaries as gifts for friends who are Catholic or to sell to customers who have requested one to be made by me?
  4. If it is acceptable for me to make a rosary, does it have to be blessed by a priest before it’s gifted/sold? Would it be inappropriate for me to ask such a thing of a clergy member at a Catholic church that I do not attend?

Thanks for any answers. :):shrug: :tiphat:

#2

Hi, there is nothing wrong with making a rosary and selling them. You should not sell a rosary that has been blessed. It is ok to give away a rosary that has been blessed.

As for wearing a rosary, I think it depends on the intent on the person wearing the rosary. Since that is impossible to know, people will take the cautious route and not wear them at all.

I make rosaries, and gave one to my daughter who is not Catholic. I didn’t have it blessed first. She wears it now and then, because she likes it, and because I made it and gave it to her. She doesn’t wear it out of disrespect. She is the only non-Catholic I’ve given a rosary to (not counting catechumens), and it isn’t something I would give to a non-Catholic without first discovering/understanding their intentions for wanting one.

I have never sold any of the rosaries I made, I give them all away. I rarely have a rosary blessed first before giving it away. I let the person(s) I give them to know they are not blessed. They can then have it blessed themselves, by whoever they want.

#3

The rosary is not a “Catholic” thing it is a Mary thing. If you believe in the power of Mary’s intercession through the Rosary by all means use them, make them, sell them. She is the Mother of all christians. Not just Catholic ones.

Do not sell them blessed.

As for wearing them. I personaly am opposed to it. But it is a matter of opinion. Nothing has ever been decreed about it to my knowledge.

#4

Anyone can wear a Rosary. It is a wonderful aid for prayer that Christians have employed for over 800 years. In it is a summary of the Gospel in 3 groups of 15 “mysteries” regarding the life of our Lord, each of which bears a certain fruit:

The Annunciation: Humility
The Visitation: Charity
The Birth of Our Lord: Poverty, or detachment from the world
The Presentation of Our Lord: Purity of heart, obedience
The Finding of Our Lord in the Temple: Piety
The Agony in the Garden: Contrition for our sins
The Scourging at the Pillar: Mortification of our senses
The Crowning with Thorns: Interior mortification
The Carrying of the Cross: Patience under crosses
The Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord: That we may die to ourselves
The Resurrection: Conversion of heart
The Ascension: A desire for heaven
The Coming of the Holy Ghost: The Gifts of the Holy Ghost
The Assumption of our Blessed Mother into Heaven: Devotion to Our Lady
The Coronation of our Blessed Mother: Eternal happiness

On the Crucifix we pray the most ancient Profession of Faith of Christianity, the Creed of the Apostles. Other prayers include the Pater Noster (the prayer that the Lord taught us), the Gloria (Minor Doxology which in the current form exists since the fourth century), and the Angelic Salutation or Ave Maria (which is taken from the Scriptures but became known in its current form as an accepted universal prayer around the year 1050). The Salve Regina is also prayed at the very end (a beautiful hymn composed around 1080).

The Rosary (from Latin, “crown of roses”) was given to Saint Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers, in an apparition by the Virgin Mary in the year 1214. Probably one of the best books ever written on it is “The Secret of the Rosary” by Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort (also author of the notorious “Treatise on the True Devotion”, which covers the 3 legitimate Christian devotions to Mary and the 7 erroneous devotions).

If you are a Christian, you already are in partial communion with the Church, which is known since apostolic times to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, and which subsists in the Catholic Church governed by Peter’s successor and the bishops in communion with him - meaning that ultimately there are no “non-catholic Christians”: all the baptized are members of the mystical body of Christ, which is the Church ;).

Regardless, anyone can approach a priest or a deacon and ask him to bless a Rosary - which, in this way, becomes a sacramental dedicated solely to the praise of God and must be treated with somewhat greater care than other otherwise wordly objects (which is why Catholics sometimes don’t like the idea of wearing them). But anyone can wear it, either blessed or not blessed, anyone can make one (which is a beautiful thought on your side), and anyone can use it.

If I may, I’d like to end with a quote from the Book of Revelation, 12, which, of the many parts of the Old and New Testament that speak of Mary, is perhaps the one that most beautifully shows the relationship of all Christians with her.

A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.

The dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring–those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

#5

I make rosaries, but I’ve never sold one. I’ve donated many to silent auctions at our church for fundraisers though. I don’t ever have them blessed before giving them away because I figured the recipient would prefer to have it blessed by their own priest. Or if it’s for a special occasion (baptism, confirmation, etc) they might want to have it blessed at that time. I made a birthstone rosary for my youngest son and had it blessed at his baptism. He’s much too young for it now, but it will be nice for him to have when he’s older.

I’ve never worn a rosary, and I’d probably feel strange about wearing one. I like to make my rosaries look beautiful, but I would be afraid other people would interpret it as a fashion statement if I were to wear it. Instead of wearing a full 5-decade rosary I’ll often wear a single decade rosary bracelet.

#6

Can a non Catholic wear a scapular!

#7

Absolutely yes.

However, he cannot be invested in the Scapular by a priest.

#8

It’s my understanding that the taboo against wearing a Rosary is more of an English-Speaking Catholic thing, perhaps due to the persecutions of Catholics?

Among Spanish-speakers, it tends to be a mark of piety to wear them.

Traditionally, Anglicans and Lutherans sometimes prayed the Rosary. Again, this is much less common in America. But if you do a web search for “Protestant Rosary”, you will find both websites and booklets/books designed for Protestants who wish to pray the Rosary.

Some of these commend the use of the Jesus Prayer in place of the Hail Mary. For about a year, during my Year of Discernment as to whether I wished to return to the RCC, I prayed substituting the following for the Hail Mary:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Holy God, Holy Almighty One, Holy Eternal One, have mercy on me and on the whole world”.

I also meditated upon the Resurrection of Christians, and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in place of the Assumption of Mary and the Coronation of Mary during the Glorious Mysteries. And I substituted the Prayer of St. Francis for the Hail Holy Queen.

These substitutions meant that my Rosary was approximately as long as a Catholic Rosary, which allowed me to pray along with pre-recorded Catholic Rosaries and meditations aired on EWTN.

I was especially fond of the Rosary done with musical accompaniment done by an Irish woman and what I assume was an Irish priest. I eventually bought that version and still play it periodically, though of course I now pray along using the traditional Catholic prayers.

#9

What does this mean?

#10

This refers to a formal blessing performed by a priest, in which the recipient makes a holy promise or covenanr to live a chaste life in keeping with their station in life (married, single, or celibate), and to pray the Liturgy of the Blessed Virgin Mary: or some suitable alternative (nearly always, five decades of the Rosary); daily.

Part of this rite enrolls the recipient in a sort of confraternity, sodality, or Third Order devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. (I’m groping for the proper terminology here–it’s some sort of organisation or association of people with a special devotion to Mary). I believe that a non-Catholic cannot be formally invested because formal membership to such an organisation is open only to baptised Roman Catholics.

There’s nothing ‘secretive’ or cliquish about this–in fact, whatever this association of Catholic scapular-wearers is called, it’s members never have meetings nor are on any sort of membership roll. But, the Church has given recognition and approbation to the organization presumably on condition that it set certain standards. And one of those standards happens to be that one can only be formally invested if one is Roman Catholic.

A priest could still bless the scapular itself for a person, even if the person is non-Catholic.

Hope this helps.

#11

I would be uncomfortable doing the rosary. I don’t see a theological problem for the most part, but apart from anything else it strikes me as a little effeminate. I would generally be more comfortable reciting the Daily Offices I already have.

#12

Praying the Rosary is effeminate? :eek: What’s effeminate about it? The prayers, the beads, or something else?

realmenpraytherosary.org/

#13

Clutching beads and chanting ‘Hail Mary’ while meditating on Jesus’s pain. If some friends walked in a room whilst I was doing that, I would die.

#14

They do make masculine looking rosaries… If you were praying on beads with little pink hearts, that might look a little effeminate. :wink:

#15

Absolutely not. Nothing wrong with it at all. Praying is always good, for everyone. :smiley:

  1. I’ve read that it is inappropriate to wear a rosary as a necklace; why is that?

It isn’t really, though it might seem odd to some people. While such beads exist to be used as counters for prayers, they can still serve a good in being worn just as a crucifix can. I think using them for praying is a higher good, but that still doesn’t make wearing them any kind of evil, if you see what I mean.

I’ve read that it’s more effective and easier to remember to use it if it’s kept in a pocket, but personally I’d find it easier to remember to use if I had it on my neck and in my constant view.

I don’t wear mine, though I use a tenner and so that would be impossible anyway, but your logic makes perfect sense to me. I can’t imagine why keeping them in your pocket would make them easier to remember. They tend to tangle more there though . . .

  1. Is it inappropriate for me, as a Non-Catholic Christian, to make rosaries as gifts for friends who are Catholic or to sell to customers who have requested one to be made by me?

Can’t see why it would be. Rosary beads are, before being blessed, nothing but a string of beads, sometimes with a crucifix and/or medal. Nothing sacred about that really, and anyone who wants to could make them and sell them. And even if you had them blessed by a priest there is nothing wrong with a non-catholic making them or giving them away. As a matter of fact, sounds like a wonderful thing for anyone to do, and our Lady would surely love you to do so.

  1. If it is acceptable for me to make a rosary, does it have to be blessed by a priest before it’s gifted/sold? Would it be inappropriate for me to ask such a thing of a clergy member at a Catholic church that I do not attend?

Rosaries which have been blessed can be sold, but the blessing is lost when that occurs and so what is bought is not a blessed rosary anymore, and there is therefore no point in having them blessed first if you intend to sell them. If you have rosaries blessed and then advertise them for sale as such as that would be quite wrong, for several reasons, not least being that it would simply be untrue. However, if you were to have some blessed for gift purposes (which leaves the blessing intact), but decided you needed to sell them instead later, as long as you don’t advertise them as a blessed rosary I don’t think you would be doing anything wrong per se.

BTW, I have heard many people say it is a sin to sell blessed items, but I think there is conflation going on there between items which are intrinsically holy, i.e. relics or the Eucharist, and therefore cannot be sold at any time, as well as the practice of selling particular sacramentals with blessings by prominent people. Sometimes people try to sell rosaries blessed by popes or such and obviously people are willing to pay big money for that kind of thing, and this amounts to simony as the payment is specifically going to get the blessing. That would be evil by all measures. However, selling an item that happens to have been blessed, but without any intent of selling that blessing or getting paid for it, would not be in the same category. I hope that makes sense.

#16

I think people have covered that it’s technically okay to wear a rosary, it’s just unusual in some parts of the world – so I won’t comment on that. I personally like to wear a 1-decade rosary bracelet because it helps me remember to pray, and even when I’m not praying the rosary, just seeing it around my wrist is a good reminder to pray without ceasing. I don’t have a problem with people who wear them around their necks, but for me it’s not as noticeable that way, so it’s not as much of a memory trigger as the wrist rosary.

#17

Received my first brown scapular. It kinda itches.

#18

:rotfl:

On a more serious note, maybe its made that way to help you ignore the itch and develop a stronger concentration on what is important.

Please don’t ask how I know this :o

#19

Fair enough. :smiley:

#20

There are 4 groups of 20 mysteries. The group left out was the Luminous Mysteries:
The Baptism in the Jordan
The Wedding at Cana
The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God
The Transfiguration
The Institution of the Eucharist

As has been touched on, wearing a Rosary is about the intention. It is a sacramental, a prayer tool. It is those things first. Generally frowned on wearing a Rosary for the reason of “when in doubt, don’t”.