Grandmother's Rosary

[Writer]

I’m working on a fiction project that has a young girl who’s very attached to her grandmother’s rosary. It occurred to me that this might promote some interesting discussion for forum users. If you have a rosary that used to belong to your grandmther, would anyone like to say what makes it so important to you–and perhaps even post a photo? As far as my particular project is concerned, I’m particularly interested in family stories that tell a tale of self sacrifice for the sake of the family–but any insights into your rosary would be helpful for this relatively new Catholic. Thank you.

 

[SpaceNeedle]

Grandfather’s.

My family left the Church before I was born. I was not baptised, nor were my siblings. I attended mass with grandmother and grandfather on occasion, before my grandmother passed away (I was 8).

I found the rosary, along with a missal with all sorts of prayer cards tucked inside. This was really the extent of my “religious upbringing”, all on my own. Someone may want to correct me, but I presume the rosary was grandfather’s, as it was onyx (thus not very effeminate).

It took many years but I finally “came home”, starting RCIA when I was 23, and not coming into full communion with the church until several years later.

Would I have done it without those little relics, the prayer cards, the rosary, the missal?



I don’t know.

But I definitely believe in the communion of saints, and I believe I have made some of them pretty happy

 

[Maria_Raphael]

My grandmother on my father’s side was Catholic and she often had arguments with my Southern Baptist mother about my brother and I not being baptized as children, etc. My mother, though, came from a very religious Southern Baptist family and so my brother and I were raised in that church. (Dad stayed out of the arguments. He stopped going to church when he was a teenager.)

Gram gave me several rosaries as I was growing up, including one that had belonged to her mother. I had no idea what they were or how they were supposed to be used. Mom just told me that they were gifts, so just put them in my jewelry box.

I left the Baptist church, and Christianity altogether, when I was in my 20’s. No one in my family was happy about that, but I didn’t care. Which was pretty selfish of me, come to think of it.

Gram died in 1999, at the age of 94.

In the years since her death, I became more interested in Catholicism. I was raised in the Bible Belt, but where I live now (NE Iowa), there are a LOT of Catholics and it is a big part of the culture around here. Last June, I took my husband (who grew up non-religious) up to the local Cathedral and talked to the priest about how to join the church. (He was shocked–around here, most converts are people marrying Catholics.) We officially joined the Church this Easter. My husband got baptized and during the confirmation ceremony, I carried in my hands my grandmother’s rosary and a bible that my other grandmother (who passed away 3 years ago on Easter) had brought back from Jerusalem.

My mom was a bit shocked (“I’m glad you’ve decided to go back to church, but why couldn’t it have been Baptist?”) but has made her peace with my decision because she thinks it has done me a lot of good. I think somewhere up in Heaven, Gram is very happy.

Here’s a pic of my grandmother’s Rosary. I pray with it sometimes, but it’s kind of delicate, so I have other rosaries I use for daily prayer.

http://pics.livejournal.com/reynardine/pic/00037pd9

 

[Writer]

Wow… Those are profound and moving family stories. Thank you for sharing them with us. And, welcome home to the Catholic Church!

 

[gardenswithkids]

As soon as I saw the title of this thread I thought about a rosary a friend once showed me that belonged to her grandmother. Her grandmother had prayed with that rosary so often that some of its beads were worn down from use.

 

[Arlene]

Wow, I actually wrote an essay once entitled, My Grandmother’s Rosary. But I deleted it.

My grandmother died when I was 12. At the wake, she was there for viewing with a rosary draped over her hands. I don’t know if it was supplied by the funeral home, or if it had been hers. I suspect it was supplied by the funeral home. I asked my mom if I could have it, but she told me it wasn’t up to her. (It was my dad’s mom)

After the funeral, my mom slipped it into my hands. I never knew how she came to have it. My dad was the eldest child, maybe it was given to him. Maybe there was some discussion over who wanted it and my mom spoke up for me. Maybe she just took it and no one noticed. But it was mine.

It’s been mine longer than it was hers. I’ve had it for 37 years. She had it for a few hours. But I still think of it as my grandmother’s rosary.