M
Mintaka
Guest
Today’s Ask an Apologist question assumes that wearing a rosary “as a necklace” is always a matter of fashion, not devotion. But there are good Catholic reasons for wearing a rosary.
In fact, they go back to that great Dominican popularizer of the Rosary, Blessed Alan de la Roche. Not only did he have a vision of Mary giving the Rosary to St. Dominic (a story that everybody knows), he also popularized the use of a rosary necklace as a protection from spiritual oppression. As St. Louis de Montfort tells the story in his famous book, The Secret of the Rosary, Blessed Alan knew a man who wished to rid himself of evil spirits and had tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to rid himself of them through other devotions. The man finally…
“…thought of wearing his rosary around his neck, which eased him considerably. He discovered that whenever he took it off the devil tormented him cruelly, so he resolved to wear it night and day. This drove the evil spirit away forever, because he could not bear such a terrible chain. Blessed Alan also testified that he had delivered a large number of people who were possessed by putting the rosary around their necks.” [iv]
St. Louis de Montfort tells two other stories about the power of wearing the Rosary as a necklace. In one, Mary appeared to King Alfonso VIII of Aragon, telling him to wear the rosary around his neck to make his enemies unable to harm him. (And that’s why Hispanic gangsters wear rosaries, sad to say.) Another King Alfonso always wore a rosary on his belt, although he seldom prayed it. When he fell ill, however, he received a vision that said that even though he was lax in the actual prayers, the sight of his rosary had convinced many at court to start wearing and praying the Rosary, and thus God credited Him with the saving of many souls. (Although he also got told he should get on the stick with praying.) So setting a good example was important to medieval Rosary spirituality.
In another, a friar used a rosary as a sort of “lasso of truth,” making the demons in a possessed person say which saint in Heaven they feared the most, and receiving the answer that it was the Virgin Mary.
All these stories, and many more, circulated more in southern Europe than in northern Europe. (I think there was also a Spanish proverb about how wearing the rosary didn’t count, unless you also prayed it, contrary to the lax King Alfonso.) But even in northern Europe, it used to be more common for the devout to wear chaplets and rosaries around their necks than anywhere else on their persons.
Moreover, the wearing of the rosary among the devout was part of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, and was promoted by the Church hierarchy: "Those who openly wear the Holy Rosary out of devotion and to set a good example may gain one hundred days’ indulgence.” This wasn’t the only indulgence available for wearing the rosary, either. This is why we often see people from certain eras having their portraits taken wearing rosaries as necklaces, like Ven. Maria de Agreda.
Also for this reason, Franciscans and Jesuits in the Spanish colonies often provided new converts in the missions with blessed rosaries to wear around their necks (as a spiritual aid and protection from being possessed, or losing one’s new faith) even if the converts were still just learning the prayers of the Rosary. Today it is more common in most of the Catholic world to wear blessed medals or scapulars for this purpose, but in the Hispanic world it still is rosaries. It is particularly common for people’s grandmothers or godparents to put rosaries around a kid’s neck, and to tell them never to take the rosary off (except to pray it). In Manhattan, Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity also give rosary necklaces to their patients who want them, and they have found that many who received them would convert or return to the faith.
So although it is not good for people to wear rosaries as necklaces for fashion reasons, it is also not good to assume that people only wear rosary necklaces for fashion reasons. In fact, it is more the opposite - fashion is copying the pious practice, and a lot of good Catholics from non-Hispanic backgrounds don’t recognize the pious when they see them.
We can disagree very strongly about approaches to prayer and sacramentals without misunderstanding what other people have been taught.
In fact, they go back to that great Dominican popularizer of the Rosary, Blessed Alan de la Roche. Not only did he have a vision of Mary giving the Rosary to St. Dominic (a story that everybody knows), he also popularized the use of a rosary necklace as a protection from spiritual oppression. As St. Louis de Montfort tells the story in his famous book, The Secret of the Rosary, Blessed Alan knew a man who wished to rid himself of evil spirits and had tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to rid himself of them through other devotions. The man finally…
“…thought of wearing his rosary around his neck, which eased him considerably. He discovered that whenever he took it off the devil tormented him cruelly, so he resolved to wear it night and day. This drove the evil spirit away forever, because he could not bear such a terrible chain. Blessed Alan also testified that he had delivered a large number of people who were possessed by putting the rosary around their necks.” [iv]
St. Louis de Montfort tells two other stories about the power of wearing the Rosary as a necklace. In one, Mary appeared to King Alfonso VIII of Aragon, telling him to wear the rosary around his neck to make his enemies unable to harm him. (And that’s why Hispanic gangsters wear rosaries, sad to say.) Another King Alfonso always wore a rosary on his belt, although he seldom prayed it. When he fell ill, however, he received a vision that said that even though he was lax in the actual prayers, the sight of his rosary had convinced many at court to start wearing and praying the Rosary, and thus God credited Him with the saving of many souls. (Although he also got told he should get on the stick with praying.) So setting a good example was important to medieval Rosary spirituality.
In another, a friar used a rosary as a sort of “lasso of truth,” making the demons in a possessed person say which saint in Heaven they feared the most, and receiving the answer that it was the Virgin Mary.
All these stories, and many more, circulated more in southern Europe than in northern Europe. (I think there was also a Spanish proverb about how wearing the rosary didn’t count, unless you also prayed it, contrary to the lax King Alfonso.) But even in northern Europe, it used to be more common for the devout to wear chaplets and rosaries around their necks than anywhere else on their persons.
Moreover, the wearing of the rosary among the devout was part of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, and was promoted by the Church hierarchy: "Those who openly wear the Holy Rosary out of devotion and to set a good example may gain one hundred days’ indulgence.” This wasn’t the only indulgence available for wearing the rosary, either. This is why we often see people from certain eras having their portraits taken wearing rosaries as necklaces, like Ven. Maria de Agreda.
Also for this reason, Franciscans and Jesuits in the Spanish colonies often provided new converts in the missions with blessed rosaries to wear around their necks (as a spiritual aid and protection from being possessed, or losing one’s new faith) even if the converts were still just learning the prayers of the Rosary. Today it is more common in most of the Catholic world to wear blessed medals or scapulars for this purpose, but in the Hispanic world it still is rosaries. It is particularly common for people’s grandmothers or godparents to put rosaries around a kid’s neck, and to tell them never to take the rosary off (except to pray it). In Manhattan, Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity also give rosary necklaces to their patients who want them, and they have found that many who received them would convert or return to the faith.
So although it is not good for people to wear rosaries as necklaces for fashion reasons, it is also not good to assume that people only wear rosary necklaces for fashion reasons. In fact, it is more the opposite - fashion is copying the pious practice, and a lot of good Catholics from non-Hispanic backgrounds don’t recognize the pious when they see them.
We can disagree very strongly about approaches to prayer and sacramentals without misunderstanding what other people have been taught.
