Is wearing a rosary as a necklace sacriligious?

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krunchyfrogg said:
I was watching a baseball game with my Wife last night, and I realized that the pitcher was wearing a rosary as a necklace. I thought this was unusual and curious, but my Wife had a very different response.

It made her angry, and she told me it was sacreligious to wear a rosary like that. She told me it isn’t jewlery, and shouldn’t be treated as such.

I’ve only recently converted to Catholocism, and I don’t know all of the ins and outs of the religion. My Wife was raised Catholic, and went through years of Catholic school. I believe her, but I want to check with a larger community about this question.

Thanks for taking the time to read and answer my question.

God bless.
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it’s not sacrareligious to wear a rosary all the time, as one never knows the time when you need to say a quick ‘Hail Mary’ [hail means rejoice] seriously the baseball player should be commended for wearing a rosary as even small displayes of devotion as very worthy.
 
puzzleannie said:
it is a cultural custom of popular piety and not a sacrilege if a Catholic from a culture, usually Hispanic, where this is commonplace does it as an act of devotion. If it is done by a bollywood type wearing it as jewelry, it may or may not be sacrilegious depending on intent, but since we cannot know what is in the other person’s heart, we cannot make that judgement.
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Great answer. If you are sure it’s worn as jewelery, it’s a spiritual act of mercy to “[inform] the sinner.”

IMHO, a scapular is just a tad better to wear, because although it’s similar in nature to wearing a rosary devotionally outside of the clothing where it is obvious, wearing a scapular under your clothes seems to have more of a spiritual and less fashion-like aspect to it – especially now that wearing a rosary is a current fashion trend. And wearing a scapular under one’s clothes could never be confused as jewelery.

Matt 5:5-6:
5 "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
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For the first time, I wore a rosary this week. The piece itself was an overdue replacement for the one I received at my first Communion. It just felt right; I didn’t wear it outside of my clothes. Of course, I used it for prayer, too!

Couldn’t we also look at other items, such as a small crucifix or a cross and make a distinction between it being worn either devotionally or as a piece of jewelery?

I have to look twice at the singers/artists who wear crosses and crucifixes larger than a pectoral cross, and wonder that same thing. I guess the only way we can know how a sacramental is worn (but not conclusively) is how the person acts while wearing it. But even that is not a definitive way to know, because we’re all sinners. Ultimately, wearing a rosary or a crucifix doesn’t make me any more or less holy than a Catholic Christian who doesn’t display his or her faith.
 
krunchyfrogg said:
I was watching a baseball game with my Wife last night, and I realized that the pitcher was wearing a rosary as a necklace. I thought this was unusual and curious, but my Wife had a very different response.

It made her angry, and she told me it was sacreligious to wear a rosary like that. She told me it isn’t jewlery, and shouldn’t be treated as such.

I’ve only recently converted to Catholocism, and I don’t know all of the ins and outs of the religion. My Wife was raised Catholic, and went through years of Catholic school. I believe her, but I want to check with a larger community about this question.

Thanks for taking the time to read and answer my question.

God bless.
Click to expand...
That depends. If people are wearing it just to show off, then it would be problematic; but if there is a sincere devotion attached to wearing it then it is okay, I think.

It bears to mention that in the Middle Ages, the Paternoster beads (the ancestor of our rosaries) was a widespread item; men and women, rich or poor, had it tucked into their belts, wrapped around their wrist, draped like a bandolier over one shoulder, or worn around the neck. It’s more of a custom springing from popular piety than any malicious intent.

Doubtless many of those who wore them then were not even religious and may have just been showing off their luxury or their supposed devotion, but it just shows us that wearing a rosary around one’s neck is not really a new practice.

http://paternoster-row.org/images/constantina.gif



 
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