John Wesley and the Rosary - primary sources

[DustinQuick]

Hi friends.

I’ve heard that John Wesley held the Rosary in high regard and prayed it. But I’m having a hard time finding primary source evidence. He objected to prayers to the saints pretty strongly - and Mary in particular - in some of his writings. So I have a hard time thinking of him praying the salve Regina as he finished the prayer! Lol. But that would be cool to see this substantiated by his own words.

Thanks for your help!

 

[DavidFilmer]

There’s a pamphlet written by a knowledgeable Weslean authority which deals specifically with Wesley’s theological approach to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The author asserts, in the final paragraph:

One of Wesley’s preachers, Charles Perronet, asserted that a man could
be a user of the rosary and still be a Methodist. Wesley’s response was
to deny that there were any such in England or Ireland.[sup]34[/sup] Be that as it
may. In 1729 the Franciscan Friary at Osmotherly, close by Mount
Grace Priory, appointed as its Superior Father Peter Adams. Though he
was expelled from his order for marrying his housekeeper he it was
impossible to remove him from the friary. Wesley preached in the
Franciscan Chapel at least once and visited Father Peter at the friary on
numerous occasions.[sup]35[/sup] One dares to speculate as to whether Father
Peter ever gave Wesley an embarrassing gift. For in the drawer of the
headmaster’s desk at the Leys School, Cambridge there is a treasured
relic which bears the tag ‘John Wesley’s Rosary’[sup]36[/sup]

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[sup]36[/sup] JWJ 3:190
[sup]36[/sup] H.M.Gillett, The Osmotherly chapel of our Lady of Mount Grace, 1665-1965, Pamphlet c. 1965 10-11
[sup]36[/sup] Note from the current headmaster, John C.Barrett, to the present writer

So it seems unlikely that Wesley would have recited the Rosary, but it’s possible that he accepted one as a gift from Fr. Adams (or somebody else).

 

[DustinQuick]

There’s a pamphlet written by a knowledgeable Weslean authority which deals specifically with Wesley’s theological approach to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The author asserts, in the final paragraph:

So it seems unlikely that Wesley would have recited the Rosary, but it’s possible that he accepted one as a gift from Fr. Adams (or somebody else).

Thanks for the info!