Rosary - with/without, blessed/not blessed

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This is a question in regards to any sacramental really, but specifically about the Rosary.

Do you HAVE to have the physical beads? Obviously you can pray the prayers without them, but what is the theological implication?

Would praying with an unblessed Rosary be taboo? What is the theological difference of praying with one that has/hasn’t been blessed.
 
  1. You can pray the Rosary prayers any way you want, including without moving a muscle.
Popular methods include:

Praying on your fingers (often by pressing one finger of your folded hands together, although you can do it without hands folded too).

Praying on your buttonholes (popular with Catholics in hiding)

Praying on Rosary rings or faceted buttons (ditto)

Shifting pebbles from one pocket to another

Knotting a string

I’ve always thought it would be cool to make a ten-sided rosary in the shape of a big ten-sided die. (Yeah, I play tabletop role-playing games.)
  1. There is absolutely no theological implication to praying the Rosary without a rosary. Rosaries and chaplets are memory aids, just meant to help you keep track of how many prayers you’ve said or what mystery you’re on. Rosaries and chaplets were invented long after the practice of praying chaplet-type prayers had begun.
  2. There is nothing taboo or untoward about praying with a rosary that hasn’t been blessed. It’s the exact equivalent of praying on your fingers, except it’s prettier.
  3. Because rosaries and chaplets are helpful for keeping track of prayers, and because having them around is a good reminder that one should pray, the Church has special blessings for rosaries and chaplets. Using a blessed rosary for praying gives you the benefit of those special blessings. Not using a blessed rosary just means you don’t get those extra blessings. It’s pretty simple.
 
Mintaka,

Thanks for the response - that’s really helpful and ascertained a lot of what I thought.

What are the blessings promised with using a blessed sacramental?
 
Is there a purpose to having the Rosary blessed if it makes “no difference?”
 
A blessed Rosary is FAR, FAR more than just a ‘memory aid’. This book will speel it out for you. I strongly recommend that you read it.

amazon.com/Secret-Rosary-St-Louis-Monfort/dp/0895550563/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427932052&sr=8-1&keywords=book+secrets+of+the+rosary+montfort

Let’s just say, I know someone who is under spiritual attack. An important part of how they survive is to wear a blessed Rosary around their neck at ALL times, and sleep with a blessed Rosary in one hand, and a blessed Crucifix in the other.

A blessed Rosary is a VERY powerful Sacramental.
 
This is a good post by a Dominican about the old and new situations, in regard to blessed rosaries.
  1. In the old days, the only specific blessings for making a rosary a sacramental were done by Dominican friars who were priests, and these were the rosaries that got special indulgences attached, etc. Regular priests did a regular blessing on rosaries that was meant for blessing any object, but they were still perfectly good sacramentals even if they didn’t get the special Rosary Confraternity indulgences, etc.
  2. Nowadays, any priest can use the rosary blessing that’s in the Book of Blessings. (Or if your priest is not Latin Rite, he does what priests in your Rite do.) You just ask. However, Dominicans still have a special rosary blessing that they can still give if they would like to, and which is associated with their Rosary Confraternity. Any kind of priest who knows about this special blessing can use it too!
  3. That post contains a link to join the Dominicans’ Rosary Confraternity. So click and check it out! (But there are other Rosary groups out there, and some of them also have nifty privileges. And you don’t have to join any group or make any commitments if you don’t feel like it. So don’t feel pressured.)
The post also notes what the current indulgences attached to saying the Rosary are, and what the special privilege plenary indulgence opportunities are for members of the Rosary Confraternity.

Basically, the Rosary is an awesome prayer, and helps Catholics to grow in Christ. So the Church gives extra opportunities to people who say it, so that they will be encouraged to say the Rosary often, and regularly. It’s not so much the carrot and the stick, as the carrot and the bigger carrot. 🙂

OTOH, you don’t have to take advantage of any of these opportunities if you don’t want to, or if you’re in a place where you can’t get stuff blessed.
 
I read somewhere when you pray with a blessed Rosary you are praying with the Church because it has become a sacramental:thumbsup:
 
ChristRocket said:
This is a question in regards to any sacramental really, but specifically about the Rosary.

Do you HAVE to have the physical beads? Obviously you can pray the prayers without them, but what is the theological implication?

Would praying with an unblessed Rosary be taboo? What is the theological difference of praying with one that has/hasn’t been blessed.
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If he signed the cross over all the objects, then all the objects are blessed because that was his intention to bless everything, even tho he may have accidentally said “rosaries”.
By his priesthood he has the power to put the blessing of the Church on those items.
 
I appreciate everyone’s feedback.
Everyone keeps asserting that when the Priest blesses an item it puts the blessing of the Church on the item. I understand this part, but what does that mean?

A couple of comments ago, someone stated that when you pray with a blessed item (a sacramental) it’s praying “with the Church.” This is what I’ve been seeing throughout the material I’ve been reading.

So, does an item being blessed effectively make it “part of the Church”?
 
ChristRocket said:
I appreciate everyone’s feedback.
Everyone keeps asserting that when the Priest blesses an item it puts the blessing of the Church on the item. I understand this part, but what does that mean?

A couple of comments ago, someone stated that when you pray with a blessed item (a sacramental) it’s praying “with the Church.” This is what I’ve been seeing throughout the material I’ve been reading.

So, does an item being blessed effectively make it “part of the Church”?
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Here is an explanation of sacramentals and their effect, Interview With An Exorcist, by Fr. Fortea.
How can something material have an influence on something spiritual? It would seem that these two realms are so distinct, so independent, that something material should not have any effect on a demon, much less expel him. Actually, though, a material object - holy water, holy chrism, etc. - can torment or expel demons because the Church has given a spiritual power to this object by blessing it. In other words, the Church, with the power she has received from Christ, can join a spiritual effect to an object. Of course, the object itself has no power; rather, the power lies in that of Christ Himself which has been placed upon the particular object.
Click to expand...
 
ChristRocket said:
Everyone keeps asserting that when the Priest blesses an item it puts the blessing of the Church on the item. I understand this part, but what does that mean?
Click to expand...
One massive reason to have a Rosary blessed is that doing so will result in your being able to acquire a partial indulgence when using it. Now, while there are already indulgences associated with the Rosary itself, chaplets such as the Divine Mercy Chaplet have no such indulgences.

However, using a blessed Rosary to pray the DM Chaplet*, having sorrow for your sin, and intending it, will make a Catholic in a state of grace eligible for a partial indulgence.

You could even pray a chaplet for the Holy Souls on such a Rosary, and have the indulgence applied to their benefit.

This is one very obvious and very clear result from having the “blessing of the Church” on a Rosary.

*This is based on a norm of the current Manual of Indulgences, I believe it is Norm 15. I will check on this, and post again the pertinent information.
 
InNomineDomini said:
*This is based on a norm of the current Manual of Indulgences, I believe it is Norm 15. I will check on this, and post again the pertinent information.
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Norm 15 reads:
The faithful can acquire an indulgence if they use devoutly one of the following properly blessed pious objects, namely: a crucifix or cross, rosary, scapular, or medal.
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United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) (2012-04-11). Manual of Indulgences (Kindle Locations 471-473). United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Kindle Edition.
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Also, aside from partial indulgences, the major purpose of having a Rosary blessed can be described like this:

Imagine having a priest living next door. Every time you want to pray the Rosary, you go over to him, and ask him to pray over you. He prays something like Almighty Father, grant so-and-so special graces as they reflect on the mysteries of the Rosary, and open their heart to be able to be influenced by your Holy Spirit as they do so. Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

Such a situation is precisely what exists when we ask a priest to bless our Rosary, and the prayer he uses to bless it, applies to us every time we use it. We therefore, through the intercession of the Church, have prayers applied to us as we ourselves pray.
 
Plus, when praying with a Rosary blessed by a Bishop, Archbishop (etc?) can also earn the indulgence of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The indulgence is plenary on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, if the blessing was performed by the pope or a bishop. (following EI 35)
 
ccmcmg said:
Plus, when praying with a Rosary blessed by a Bishop, Archbishop (etc?) can also earn the indulgence of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The indulgence is plenary on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, if the blessing was performed by the pope or a bishop. (following EI 35)
Click to expand...
I never knew that, time to lurk outside the Bishop’s home. 🙂
 
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