Wearing Rosaries around your neck?

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TheRock88 said:
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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St. Louis de Montfort encouraged wearing the rosary and not to fear what others think.
 
Its always a good idea to have a rosary on you at all times because you never know when you’ll need it 😉 I wear it around my neck but never treat it as jewelry. No there isn’t an official ruling for or against it. But the way I’ve seen it is, if you’re going to carry a rosary, is it better to wear it around your neck so that Christ is close to your heart, or shove him in your pocket between your wallet, keys and cell phone? Not to mention I, personally, always genuflect and make the sign of the cross before putting on or taking off the rosary. Just as a sign of respect (not as idolatry for any protestants with itchy trigger fingers out there lol) but just saying. I show Christ as much reverence as I can when carrying the Rosary. If the Church ever rules against this and says it is improper than I will cease doing so without question, but in the mean time I like to take the rosary with me wherever I go. Plus if someone sees the beads around my neck and recognizes me as being Catholic and asks me about the Church (which has only happened once so its not often likely but always possible) than thats just one more chance to share the faith with someone. So from my experience I haven’t encountered any negativity from doing so, so long as I continue to treat my rosary as a sacred relic, and not as a piece of jewelry. God Bless.
 
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with wearing a Rosary but it does mean something else too, and I’d be careful about it. I am a cop so I am not just speaking about something I don’t know anything about. The Rosary, in gang culture, has pretty much replaced the bandana as the way to advertise that you are in a gang, and what gang you are in. If you are out wearing a Rosary because you love the Blessed Mother and some gang member sees that you have a Rosary on that is the wrong color it may not be unreasonable to think that you may get jumped, killed, raped, or robbed just because you have a Rosary around your neck. Gang members do kill, rape, rob, and jump people and they do it for reasons that seem completely stupid to us, but it is what they do. On the flip side if you have a Rosary on because you love the Blessed Mother, it is not unreasonable if you get accosted, and watched by the police. If you want to wear a Rosary, you should wear it under your clothes, or just carry it on you. If I wear one I wear it on my belt as a reminder to myself and others, but I do not in any way dress like a gang member and I always have a gun and handcuffs on me which I’m assuming that you guys do not have on you at all times like I do. I know it is hard to believe for us Catholics that the Rosary is not a way to meditate on the Mysteries of the Gospel to everyone, but it is not that to everyone. It is sad but this is the culture we live in.
 
The only ones you may not wear around you neck are those that say on them
“do not wear around the neck.”
 
Barbkw said:
Wearing a rosary is now a gang banger symbol:

abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/rosaries-becoming-known-gang-symbols

Rosary as a fashion statement:

foxnews.com/world/2010/07/10/catholics-express-outrage-rosary-beads-fashion-statement/
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How unfortunate that some people choose to abuse something that which others hold sacred.
Wearing rosaries is ok as long as you are wearing it for the right reasons and also keep it hidden under your shirt. As a child in elementary school I used to wear the rosary along with the scapular under my shirt because it made me feel safe and was of comfort. Nowadays it seems kids (not all) are wearing them as jewelry. A lot of celebrities are doing this and contributes to its use as jewelry, which is NOT ok.
 
fred_conty said:
The only ones you may not wear around you neck are those that say on them
“do not wear around the neck.”
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Are there really such?

Conversely, I wonder if the neck-rosary design is in use anywhere other than Fatima? (With the stretchy cord to go over one’s head).

ICXC NIKA
 
GEddie said:
Are there really such?

Conversely, I wonder if the neck-rosary design is in use anywhere other than Fatima? (With the stretchy cord to go over one’s head).

ICXC NIKA
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Just a kidding thought…
 
Well, I do not wear a Rosary around my neck. I wear my Rosary around my left wrist.

It is a one-decade Rosary made of wooden beads tied by elastic string. I bought it while I was in the Philippines, and the string has broken numerous times but I keep on hunting those beads and the small cross and string them with a new elastic everytime that happens because this Rosary has given me so much blessings and consolations. Many times everyday I surreptitiously get it from my wrist and pray One-Decade Rosaries anytime I feel the need for grace or when I want to be with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph during my downtimes, and of course I use it for praying the Five Decade Rosary and the Divine Chaplet.

The wrist Rosary has been with me for the past three years and it has aged beautifully. It also does look masculine enough for me on my wrist. I will definitely recommend anyone and everyone who wants a deeper relationship with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to get one of these 👍
 
In africa most catholic wear them… If u wear it as a reminder of prayer or as the same meaning as hanging it in your car I would say its fine…

But for those wear it as a fashion accessory… that’s totally wrong
 
When I’ve worn one in the past it’s always been tucked in to my shirt, usually after I’ve found it tangled in my pocket. My three year old is pretty obsessed with stealing my rosary off of our little home altar where it’s kept now and wearing it around the house. The only problem then is that our 16 month old cries if she sees that her sister is wearing it because she wants to wear it… Writing this post has made me realize… I definitely need to make some little kid safe rosaries to give them. They’re pretty desperate for their own.
 
Khalid said:
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.
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Hey Khalid, shalom 🙂
I never thought of wearing it in that way, I was always weary of it because I didn’t know if it was disrespectful or not and I didn’t want to be disrespectful, though I have seen other Catholics wear it. I think that through your reasoning, I will allow myself to carry it around my neck through the day, under my shirt though as not to show it like jewelery, because I do believe in the power and grace that the rosary has, especially because it is one of the strongest weapons a Catholic carries with himself/herself at all times! I also like to keep with me a medal of the Holy Queen beside my cross and I also keep that under my shirt because I feel that it protects me, and I sometimes wear small beaded bracelets with a cross on them which seem to carry a decade of the rosary, yet I don’t wear it much because I’m scared that it becomes jewelery.

God bless!
 
If you don’t have a pocket to carry in, and you need to carry something else in your hands that might cause you to drop the rosary, I could see carrying the rosary about your neck that way. Other than that, it’s kind of neither here nor there. The only time it could be offensive is if the person is wearing it clearly as a piece of jewelry, and even then, I’d chalk it up to ignorance.
 
BigFellaMick said:
Its always a good idea to have a rosary on you at all times because you never know when you’ll need it 😉 I wear it around my neck but never treat it as jewelry. No there isn’t an official ruling for or against it. But the way I’ve seen it is, if you’re going to carry a rosary, is it better to wear it around your neck so that Christ is close to your heart, or shove him in your pocket between your wallet, keys and cell phone? Not to mention I, personally, always genuflect and make the sign of the cross before putting on or taking off the rosary. Just as a sign of respect (not as idolatry for any protestants with itchy trigger fingers out there lol) but just saying. I show Christ as much reverence as I can when carrying the Rosary. If the Church ever rules against this and says it is improper than I will cease doing so without question, but in the mean time I like to take the rosary with me wherever I go. Plus if someone sees the beads around my neck and recognizes me as being Catholic and asks me about the Church (which has only happened once so its not often likely but always possible) than thats just one more chance to share the faith with someone. So from my experience I haven’t encountered any negativity from doing so, so long as I continue to treat my rosary as a sacred relic, and not as a piece of jewelry. God Bless.
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I believe this is the right approach to take, and since it’s not like we’re advertising our religion in a superficial way, but just keeping it to ourselves and maybe someone might notice and ask, then yes, it is okay to wear it. In that case it’s not like we were saying ‘hey look at me, I’m wearing a rosary, I’m a catholic, look look look at me!!’. That would be wrong. But to keep it in a sacred way close to our hearts by placing it around our necks and under our clothes, I don’t believe there is anything wrong with that.
 
Someone said that it’s a popular practice among Hispanics and Italians. My late father’s side of the family is Italian, and I’ve never seen anyone on his side of the family, or in his old neighborhood, wearing a rosary around their neck.

The gang association and the “bling” factor are the issue which make wearing a rosary around one’s neck a little questionable. Before these fads started, it just looked tacky to most of my generation (I’m fifty-something.)

It used to be that many Catholics wore crucifixes, and that is how you could frequently (but not always) identify them as Catholics. Protestants tended to wear plain crosses, and Catholics tended to wear crucifixes, but there was no hard and fast rule. Protestants used to be more inclined towards a plain cross, symbolizing the risen Christ, and Catholics used to be more inclined towards the crucifix, with the suffering Christ. My Lutheran husband initially was a little freaked out when I hung a crucifix on the wall in our bedroom, and if anyone has ever endured a marital theological debate, we both got a little cranky about it, and I’m sure any apologist would have shot holes in the arguments on both sides!

Nowadays, I work in a hospital, and most of the people I see wearing rosaries around their necks are psychiatric (name removed by moderator)atients who look obviously disturbed. I hope that wearing the rosary in this way is giving these poor souls some measure of peace, God knows they need it.

If you’re having problems with your rosary getting entangled, carry it in a small pouch that snaps, zips, or has a drawstring. Then put it in your pocket or purse. If the rosary in question is sterling silver, that will also help slow down tarnishing.
 
An option is to have the rosary in a zipper plastic bag and a pouch. I do that with the rosaries to keep them static and free from air-pollution and such when not using them.

The rosary is a powerful prayertool and not an ornament. Im for wearing it to protect the soul and nearby to reach, for prayers. But not for other reasons.

Bling bling, fashion and other reasons (wearing it as a jewelry makes me just sad).
But that is of course one little man`s opinion.
 
At work, I saw this younger girl, meaning early 20’s, wearing a Rosary. So I said to her, I didn’t know you were Catholic. She said she wasn’t. I said are you wanting to know more and that is why you are wearing them? She said no, I just like them. I suggested to her that if she was going to wear them, she should at least look into and read about the Rosary. Odd, never seen her wear them again after that. Perhaps she thought that since she really did not know much about it and reading about the Rosary, she should learn more before just wearing the Rosary like jewelry. I did give her a brief meaning into the Rosary. She said, wow I did not know.
 
fjonc said:
At work, I saw this younger girl, meaning early 20’s, wearing a Rosary. So I said to her, I didn’t know you were Catholic. She said she wasn’t. I said are you wanting to know more and that is why you are wearing them? She said no, I just like them
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I had pretty much the same discussion with a young co-worker of mine as well. I haven’t seen him wear it again but I think that may have more to do with him not wanting to wear it around me. In any case he has learned what a sacred object it is.
 
There is nothing that anyone can do about someone, Catholic or not, wearing a Rosary around their neck or any other place. So perhaps we can look at it as an opportunity to get involved in conversation with someone about our faith and how it has touched our lives. And maybe…just maybe… someone who is wearing the Rosary will feel the Holy Spirit moving in them without even their knowledge or willing acceptance. God can work in these ways…I am convinced. It’s a thought.🙂
 
I wear a rosary around my neck for protection and for the crucifix because Jesus says take up your cross and follow me:)
 
OurLadyOfLove1 said:
I wear a rosary around my neck for protection and for the crucifix because Jesus says take up your cross and follow me:)
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I do it for the same reason. I know many people in the forum would say: you act like a gangster or you do bling bling. No, not when the intention is faithbased and for protecting your soul, carry the cross and keeping it close also for praying the rosary.
 
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