Wearing Rosaries around your neck?

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I’m confident there’s no official rule against it, but it offends many good Catholics’ sensibilities so I wouldn’t do it.
 
My grandmother used to wear a rosary around her neck. I think it’s allowed as long as it’s not worn as jewelry…it’s not a piece of jewelry.
 
White_Peony said:
Is that permitted?
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Not sure, but I think it seems improper. However, my mother gave me a rosary while I was staying with her and when I left I put it around my neck so as not to forget or misplace it. I felt it was not right, but I think I had a good reason to wear it until I got back home – a matter of a few hours.
 
St. Martin De Porres:

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And St. Alphonsous de Ligouri also wore one around the neck.

And I know of all whole bunch of Catholics who also do. And personally I don’t think anyone would burn in Hell for wearing one.

God bless :signofcross:

David
 
Oh! I know this one! I used to work at Kauffmans Bookstore in Seattle, which is a Catholic giftshop. I used to refuse to sell rosaries to teens who would come in a buy them to wear saying it was a desecration to Our Lady. You may ask how I knew they were going to wear them, I knew because they came into the shop already wearing religious stuff inapprpropriately.
My boss researched it and said there was no church law against people wearing them so go ahead and sell them. Urgh, I didn’t enjoy it but I figured Mary would overcome any fashion trend and would probably end up blessing those kids in some way.
Probably someone else here will give specifics. Excellent question. I wore my rosary around my neck (under my shirt) when my grandma was dying and I was by her bedside. I couldn’t hold onto it because I busy holding her hand but atleast I knew it was there. Long answer to a short question. Sorry,
jen
 
Shalom

Wearing the rosary is no wrong. Some devoted Catholics would love to wear it for different reasons. Some they just wear it for no reasons. I have met many people and that is what they said when I asked them. Personally I love to wear it around my neck when I am working with my ‘patients’. And the reason is for protection. Sometimes I wear brown scapular and my rosary in my pocket. I always have them with me everyday for they are very powerful in my work with my ‘patients’ - to be precise; those who have affected by the ‘power’ of evil and those who are actually practicing magic. My work is to get them out of this stupid thing to save their soul.

God bless.
 
I often wear a rosary around my neck, for the protection of our Lady, the devotion and potency against sin of having the Crucifix of Christ and our Lady on the heart, and the ability to pray a decade or five at any time. I never knew or thought there to be anything even questionable, let alone offensive, about it. I would have thought of it in the same vein as a scapular. I often don’t or forget to remove it and put it in “praying position” around the hand if I’m not praying rosaries before I sleep, and never gave a second thought about it being sacrilegious, if anything, proximity to the profundity of the Holy Virgin Mother of God’s grace at all hours of the day (and, if I put it down, it would likely as not be lost by awakening). I need my hands free when awake (constant reading and writing) so I can’t wrap it around my hand, and it seems wrong to lay it around where it will inevitably get lost (like my six inch by six inch two pound key fob) every other day.

I would put it in a pocket, but the few pockets that haven’t broken open at the bottom irreparably (or re-made in duct tape) seem like they would either be filled, or even if not, the (very delicate) rosary would be damaged. Letting it pile up in the hand is enough to get the links of chain fouled up with each other, and needs to be opened and re-linked (which has probably been done so often that I can be considered the maker of the rosary by now). The rosary is exceedingly inexpensive, but, if I could afford a wire-wrapped rosary, the pockets on my slacks would be in better condition.
 
To elaborate on my previous post, whether wearing a rosary around one’s neck is seen as appropriate has varied between different times and places. Italians and Hispanics seem to trend towards it more than Irish and English Catholics, for example. I don’t think it’s inherently disrespectful, but the custom is currently controversial at least here in the United States and so I would just stay clear of it and avoid giving offence to fellow Catholics without sufficient reason.

Also remember that wearing the rosary around one’s neck can also have a gang-related connotation in some subcultures. Or, less seriously but still unappealingly, it can remind people of the heroes of the Boondock Saints movies.

I say just steer clear of the practice. Keep a rosary in your pocket and a medal or crucifix around your neck.
 
It all depends on your purpose and how you wear the rosary. The rosary is a sacramental, not some good luck charm. Under NO circumstances is the rosary to be worn or treated like a piece of jewlery. Making it into some sort of fashion statement is sinful, and offensive to Catholics.

If a person wears the rosary prayerfully, respectfully, as a statement of faith, for protection against the enemy, to keep it handy for praying throughout the day, and as a constant reminder for us of our faith, then YES you may wear the rosary around your neck. 👍
 
There is nothing wrong with it. Religious Brothers, for example, often drape a larger rosary around their body; they would not do this if wearing the beads on one’s body were somehow improper.

Also, at religious shops in Fatima, rosaries are sold that are designed for the neck (the cord stretches to go over your head). There is no way that religious impropriety would be countenanced in a pilgrimage point like Fatima.

God Bless and ICXC NIKA
 
I wore one around my neck in the military to keep it close to my heart and readily available. Don’t care what people thought about it, because I also wore my brown scapular then as well as today. It’s a sacramental. Don’t let the gang members or idots prevent you from keeping a rosary close to you. Just never wear it or promote it like jewelry. That irritates me to the bones…
 
Of course Catholics can wear our rosaries around our necks (under our shirts etc) as a means of keeping a rosary on one’s person if your pockets are unsuitable or not carrying a bag. As for those teenagers who wear them as jewellery - I don’t personally have any serious issue with this practice because whatever their intention may be they are in fact displaying to the world a beautiful thing which gets some non-catholics thinking and may be even better some catholics may be reminded to say their rosary.
 
Wearing the rosary around the neck can sometimes keep it from getting damaged, but tucked under the outer shirt. It also keeps it “at the ready” to be used and not forgotten somewhere.
 
It depends on why you are wearing it. If you are wearing it because you want to remember Our Lady, and you want to spread the devotion of the Rosary to others then it is OK. Instead of wearing it on my neck I sometimes wear it on my belt like many monks do. If you are wearing it because it’s cool and you want to look like a gang banger or Lil’ Wayne, then that is not OK. It is very unfortunate that the most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary has become a gang symbol. I am a cop and I get SO MAD when I see that! Wearing a Rosary around you neck means something different now days then it used to.
 
Wearing a rosary is now a gang banger symbol:

abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/rosaries-becoming-known-gang-symbols
PHOENIX - A religious symbol is being used to identify gangs in the Valley and causing schools to issue specific policies.
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Department of Public Safety spokesperson, Carrick Cook, said detectives have found gang members are wearing certain colored rosaries which identify their gang, similar to bandanas.
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According to a brochure from the Arizona State Gang Task Force, it’s popular among gang members.
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Rosary as a fashion statement:

foxnews.com/world/2010/07/10/catholics-express-outrage-rosary-beads-fashion-statement/
Australian Catholics are outraged after discovering rosary beads, symbols of devotion used in prayer, are being flaunted as a fashion statement, The (Sydney) Sunday Telegraph reported.
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The strings of beads with a cross – worn by celebrities Madonna, David Beckham and Britney Spears – are now as likely to be found in cheap jewelry stores as they are in a church.
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I think its appropriate to wear if you want under your clothes.

But, just in my opinion, wearing rosaries and/or crucifixes where people can see is inappropriate unless someone is a nun or a priest.

Its seems to me that some folks would see it as the wearer “bragging” about their spirituality, even if that is not the case.
 
Kielbasi said:
Its seems to me that some folks would see it as the wearer “bragging” about their spirituality, even if that is not the case.
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It really isn’t, if someone wears a cross, crucifix, or rosary would be because they’re proud of their faith. An Irish/Puerto Rican/Italian/Jamaican man isn’t “bragging” about his race, if he as an Irish/Puerto Rican/Italian/Jamaican man bumper sticker.
 
There were saints that used to cast out demons simply by placing the rosary beads around the possessed persons neck. (“the secret of the rosary” ST Louis Demontford).

85 So arm yourself with the arms of God, with the holy Rosary, and you will crush the devil’s head and stand firm in the face of all his temptations. That is why even a pair of rosary beads is so terrible to the devil, and why the saints have used them to fetter him and drive him from the bodies of those who were possessed. Such happenings have been recorded more than once.

86 Blessed Alan relates that a man he knew had tried desperately all kinds of devotions to rid himself of the evil spirit which possessed him, but without success. Finally, he thought of wearing his rosary round 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 testifies that he delivered a great number of those who were possessed by
putting a rosary round their necks.
 
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