rosary question

[safire]

hello i am new and i hope i posted this in the right place. my grandmother was a devout catholic. me not so much i have kept the faith but lost the religion many years ago. she passed away 10 years ago. i inherited her religious items. i recently was reboxing them and found a rosary that sparked some interest. i found some similiar to it on ebay (of all places) but they were not as detailed or beautiful like this one. i am NOT looking for a monetary value it means to much to me and will be passed on to my children. it reads " ROMA TERRA CATACUMBARUM" on the back. i have been able to translate it but it’s the symbols i would like to understand. at the top there is a P with an x through the stem of the letter. on the left there is a dove with a palm in it’s beak. on the right is a whale with people in a barrel (i’m guessing). at the bottom is a hollow piece that contains dirt behind glass. behind jesus is a pearl inlay. the hands and feet of jesus have actual tiny nails that go through to the back. ITALY is stamped at the loop where it connects to the rest of the rosary. i was also wondering if this could have been purchased, many of her items were given to her by the priests and nuns from her catholic high school. i am sorry if this post is long. i do not want to annoy or offend anyone. i would just like to know more about the religion she tried to instill upon me.

 

[malphono]

at the top there is a P with an x through the stem of the letter.

This is the Chi-Rho from the first two Greek letters for Christ.

on the left there is a dove with a palm in it’s beak.

This sounds like a representation of Papal Arms of Pius XII.

on the right is a whale with people in a barrel (i’m guessing).

It’s possible that this is the ichthys which again comes from Greek. The word itself means “fish” but when when read as an acrostic in Greek it means “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”

If it’s not that, I have no idea.

at the bottom is a hollow piece that contains dirt behind glass.

This is likely a bit of soil from the catacombs.

i was also wondering if this could have been purchased, many of her items were given to her by the priests and nuns from her catholic high school.

It could have been either. If your grandmother traveled to Rome herself, she may have bought it and then had it blessed. Otherwise, it was most likely a gift.

i am sorry if this post is long. i do not want to annoy or offend anyone. i would just like to know more about the religion she tried to instill upon me.

Nothing at all offensive in your post.

 

[safire]

thank you so much. i really appreciate it. i looked up Papal Arms of Pius XII and he would have been pope when she was in school. you really helped me alot and even got me reading more about the symbols now that i know what they are. though i do have another question, i read about the ichthys and i have seen this before and it is not the same. the one on the cross looks like an actual whale. it’s nicely detailed. the only thing on it i can’t make out is what the people are in it’s not really a boat it looks like a large round barrel. it reminds me of the story of jonah my grandma would tell me. could it be jonah and the whale? if so what would it mean?

 

[Moscati]

It could certainly be Jonah (though I’m not sure why there would be a barrel ). Perhaps that part is supposed to be Noah’s Ark?

The story of Jonah is a “type” (a foreshadowing, something that points to) of Christ. He identified himself with Jonah in the Gospel of Matthew.

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.