I too am in need of a 20 decade Rosary…something special and I will share the details.
I am disabled (Guillain-Barre Syndrome caused paraplegia, and I have developed arthritis in my hands among other places).
So I need a “habit sized” Rosary (big beads and chain, the heavier the better actually…since with my arthritis they are easier for me to hold). Since I pray from my wheelchair or in bed, “tangled” and “weight” are not my issues…it is being unable to pick up “regular size” beads if I drop them on the floor, and with arthritis it is hard to manipulated “regular size” beads.
When I pray the Rosary, I pray all 20 decades of the Mysteries…once I get going it keeps me in a prayerful and contemplative mood. Especially when I am laying in bed and in severe pain, it actually gets my mind off of the pain.
Dark beads, such as a Black or Dark Brown would show dirt from skin oils much less (we are talking about something for daily praying)…plus I think the beads are easier to obtain in “habit size” than my favorite colors of Burgundy and Dark Charcoal Grey.
As for a Crucifix, a St. Benedict Exorcism Medal Crucufix of a “Habit Size” would help with the “spiritual warfare” aspect of daily Rosary prayer. Plus as a “Rosary Medal”, on every a Rosary I have ever had in my life, I have attached an appropriate sized Miraculous Medal.
Every Rosary I have ever had, from a small tiny rose pink colored bead Rosary with a miraculous medal that I picked up at the Knock Shrine in Ireland (it was the one that always went in my dress shirt pocket when I wore a suit to work…and always had at hand to pray a “quick 5 decades” in a taxi or on a bus)…to bigger and more substantial ones…I always would tend to see someone who needed it more than I did…and I would give it to them under one provisio, to pray an Ave Maria for me each day when they take it out and before they start praying the Rosary.
I have wanted to get a “20 decade habit sized Rosary, with a St Benidict Medal Crucifix, and a Miraculous Medak…in a chain Rosary”…perhaps in a Burgundy or Marian Blue “bankers deposit bag” (perfect size “rosary case” for such a Rosary of that size…and the cases are very available on eBay or at office supply stores in their “money handling” departments).
But being disabled, retired due to disability, and only getting $789.90 a month in Social Security Disability…within 30 minutes of my Direct Deposit hitting the bank on the third of each month…and I pay my rent, utilities, and Medicare Part D Drug Plan Co-Payments on my 18 medications I have ZERO in the bank until the third of the next month. I do not even have anything for food until the 7th of each month when $75 in “food stamps” hit my SNAP EBT Card, and I share it with my roommate since he only gets $25 in “food stamps” on his card each month…so we combine the funds for $100 to feed the two of us for the entire month (I was his RCIA Sponsor and he entered the Church on the Easter Vigil of 1998, he has Spastic Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy and he will be 59 on 12-February-2016, but he is still ambulatory and able to walk with little assistance but he too has poor manual dexterity in both of his hands). So I could never afford the “Rosary of my Dreams” for myself…or to even make him a simple one of similar size even in only 5 decades…my hands can no longer make a Rosary from the pain of using a pair of pliers…presuming I could even afford the findings to make them.
Today, I just “googled” a “20 Decade Habit Sized Rosary” and this post came up…I guess pining for the Rosary I could never afford if I could find someone willing to make it.
These days, with my ultra-liberal parish where it is hard to get a ride to Mass, where they can not be bothered to bring us the Blessed Sacrament even ONCE A YEAR…I only have EWTN and my personal prayer time as my “spiritual nourishment”. But I survive and I persevere.
God Bless,
John
