Wearing Rosaries?

[notsmart]

I wear my rosary around my neck and personally don’t care if other people think I am wearing it because of a fashion fad. If religious can wear their rosary around their waist as a sign of their vocation then I as a lay person can wear it around my neck as my lay vocation as well.

Honestly, I think that out of all Catholic groups…American Catholic’s (ahem, not all but many lol) way over analyze matters of the faith. Why would you even care what John or Jane Doe on the street think of your religious sacramentals? I refuse to live my life thinking “Oh my God, she will think I am trying to copy Madonna or some gang banger if I wear my rosary!”

The intention behind wearing the rosary is the most important thing. If you are devoted to the rosary as a faithful Catholic then all that other stuff becomes irrelevant.

I think ones faith should be lived out BOLDLY and without making excuses for being a faithful Catholic and displaying that faith for all to see. :knight2:

Peace.

I don’t know what your environment is like, but if you lived here in my city you would see a very very unhealthy devotion to OLG. Not to mention, the literal gang bangers with tattos of her all over their bodies. Not kidding you. And, yes people wearing their rosaries as jewelry. I think that is due to lack of cathesis.
Sorry, I am sure you all drive perfectly while in prayer but I guess I don’t pray the way you all do. I meditate on the words, and its just not possible to do that and also be a responsible and good neighbor while driving FOR ME. Cell phones, even the handsfree, are enough of a battle to deal with FOR ME in traffic. Now, we are swamped with snow and ice. Its just as bad of an idea as eating in the car. (for anyone! Its a ticketable offense here!)
I don’t get a warm fuzzy seeing a rosary in someone’s car. I have a prayer corner in my home now. Its safer. I find other ways to pray while driving, doing housework, ect. I weave my prayers into the actual thing I am doing. It does not have to be the Rosary, which I like quiet time for at home to pray, just as I do the Psalms. Trying to do the Divine Mercy at 3:00 but that one just makes me cry. Never ever, in the car. I dont want to be a distracted driver and endanger my child or anyone else. Or annoy anyone with my “witness”.
We don’t need a bulletin board to fight secularism. We need to be a good witness in our actions in all we do. I try to use my time driving while waiting for a red to consider sins. Because it just goes well with the color red for some reason.
I can pray all kinds of prayers even folding the towels! Scrubbing the tub! When in line at the post office (over a half hour ) sending out my cards I had lots of time to pray for everyone there!
Not to mention all other intentions! And, I was no danger to anyone else. My witness was crossing myself before and after my silent prayers. Someone saw me. One lady behind me smiled back with a wink and a quick nod. Praying in a restaraunt is also a witness. My daughter and I do this now. I take her to a diner on fridays after school, or thursdays depending on the week. Waitresses have joined us in prayer. I am not against someone using a Rosary in the car, just saying its a prayer that is not the most compatible for safe or even neighborly driving. There are so many prayers to pray, that one is the last one I would pick to pray in the car. I could not leave a blessed item sitting in my car like that personally. Okay, thats enough from me.
I am not against people doing it as long as they are not providing a bad witness, and hopefully somehow even getting something out of the Rosary that I find needs full attention for. If you are, great. God bless you.

 

[thomasf]

Just because the rosary is in my car doesn’t mean I’m distracted or in deep prayer while driving. I use it as a way to remind me of Jesus and to try to be a better person, especially while driving.

And are you going to let gang bangers and secularists steal everything from you? Just because they use it irreverantly, doesn’t mean you can’t witness to the power of the rosary. Wear it, use it, display it, and witness to it. Then maybe the gang bangers and secularists will be the ones scared to wear it and show it in public, and not the catholics.

 

[DebChris]

Just because the rosary is in my car doesn’t mean I’m distracted or in deep prayer while driving. I use it as a way to remind me of Jesus and to try to be a better person, especially while driving.

And are you going to let gang bangers and secularists steal everything from you? Just because they use it irreverantly, doesn’t mean you can’t witness to the power of the rosary. Wear it, use it, display it, and witness to it. Then maybe the gang bangers and secularists will be the ones scared to wear it and show it in public, and not the catholics.

Either that or they will turn to using it in prayer.
St. Louis de Montfort said that a sinner who begins to pray the rosary will give up one or the other. He will either give up his sin or the rosary.
There is a difference between “bling” and a simple rosary.
There were a couple of similar threads that began at the same time as this one. One asked the question of how to carry the rosary. I have carried mine in such a way that others are unaware that I am praying the rosary as I walk.
I do not think anybody on this thread has suggested ostentatious displays of faith.
Isn’t it better to have a simple rosary hanging from the rear view mirror than a pair of dice or a number of other items that people use to decorate their vehicles?

 

[AveSantaMaria]

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O virgin of Virgins, my mother. To thee do I come, before thee I kneel, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word incarnate, despise not my petitions but in thy mercy hear and answer them. Amen.

**Secret of the Rosary ** montfort.org.uk/Writings/Rosary.html
St. Louis Mary de Montfort wrote, The Secret of the Rosary, which explains the origin and name, prayers, mysteries, marvelous effects, proper dispositions, ways to combat distractions and pray the Rosary effectively, and Confraternities (so you can have the benefit of other people’s Rosaries as well) of the Most Holy Rosary. Someone once wrote of this book, *"Possibly the finest book ever written about the Rosary; appeals to all ages.

Shows the great spiritual power of the Rosary, which is appreciated by few." *Pope John Paul II was also consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the method of St. Louis Mary de Montfort. St. Padre Pio, who said, “The Rosary is The WEAPON”, said as many as 90 rosaries a day in a special form for which he received ecclesiastical permission. Father Thomas Euteneur, President of Human Life International, cites this in The Rosary Batters the Gates of Hell hli.org/sl_2008-10-03.html

Excerpts from this noble book related to the question:
From Twenty-Seventh Rose
**86. ** Blessed Alan relates that a man he knew had tried desperately all kinds of devotions to rid himself of th 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.

**87. ** Father Jean Amat, of the Order of St. Dominic, was given a series of Lenten sermons in the Kingdom of Aragon one year, when a young girl was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. After he had exorcised her several times without success, he put his rosary round her neck. Hardly had he done so when the girl began to scream and cry out in a fearful way, shrieking, “Take it off, take it off, these beads are tormenting me.” At last, the priest, filled with pity for the girl, took his rosary off her.

The very next night, when Fr. Amat was in bed, the same devils who had possession of the girl came to him, foaming with rage and tried to seize him. But he had his rosary clasped in his hand and no efforts of theirs could wrench it from him.

He beat them with it very well indeed and put them to flight, crying out, “Holy Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, come to my help.”

The next day on his way to church, he met the poor girl, still possessed; one of the devils within her started to jeear at him, saying, “Well, brother, if you had been without your rosary, we should have made short shrift of you.” Then the good Father threw his rosary round the girl’s neck without more ado, saying, “By the sacred names of Jesus and Mary his holy Mother, and by the power of the holy Rosary, I command you, evil spirits, to leave the body of this girl at once.” They were immediately forced to obey him, and she was delivered from them.

These stories show the power of the holy Rosary in overcoming all sorts of temptations from the evil spirits and all sorts of sins, because these blessed beads of the Rosary put devils to rout.

Thirty-third Rose

**101. ** When St. Dominic was preaching the Rosary near Carcassone, an Albigensian was brought to him who was possessed by the devil. The Saint exorcised him in the presence of a great crowd of people; it appears that over twelve thousand had come to hear him speak. The devils who were in possession of this wretched man were forced to answer St. Dominic’s questions in spite of themselves. They said:

1. that there were fifteen thousand of them in the body of that poor man, because he had attacked the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen *

 

[AveSantaMaria]

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

1. that by the Rosary which he preached, he put fear and horror into the depths of hell, and that he was the man they hated most throughout the world because of the souls he snatched from them by the devotion of the Rosary

1. They revealed several other things.

St. Dominic put his rosary round the neck of the possessed man and asked them who, of all the saints in heaven, was the one they feared most, who should therefore be the most loved and revered by men.

At this they let out such unearthly screams that most of the people fell to the ground, seized with fear. Then, using all their cunning so as not to answer, the devils wept and wailed in such a pitiful way that many of the people wept also, out of pure natural pity. The devils, speaking through the mouth of the Albigensian, pleaded in a heart-rending voice, "Dominic, Dominic, have pity on us, we promise we will never harm you.

“You have always had compassion for sinners and those in distress; have pity on us, for we are in grievous straits. We are suffering so much already, why do you delight in increasing our pains? Can’t you be satisfied with the pains we now endure? Have mercy on us, have mercy on us!”

**102. ** St. Dominic was not in the least moved by the pathetic words of those wretched spirits, and told them he would not let them alone until they had answered his question. Then they said they would whisper the answer in such a way that only St. Dominic would be able to hear. The latter firmly insisted upon their answering clearly and audibly. Then the devils kept quiet and would not say another word, completely disregarding St. Dominic’s orders.

So he knelt down and said this prayer to our Lady: “Oh, most glorious Virgin Mary, I implore you by the power of the holy Rosary command these enemies of the human race to answer my question”

No sooner had he said this prayer than a glowing flame leaped out of the ears, nostrils and mouth of the possessed man. Everyone shook with fear, but the fire did not hurt anyone. Then the devils cried, “Dominic, we beseech you, by the passion of Jesus Christ and the merits of his holy Mother and of all the saints, let us leave the body of this man without speaking futher; for the angels will answer your question whenever you wish. After all, are we not liars - so why should you want to believe us? Do not torment us any more, have pity on us.”

“Woe to you, wretched spirits, who do not deserve to be heard,” St. Dominic said, and kneeling down he prayed to the Blessed Virgin: “O most worthy Mother of Wisdom, I am praying for the people assembled here, who have already learned how to say the Angelic Salutation properly. I beg you for the salvation of those here present, compel these adversaries of yours to proclaim the whole truth here and now before the people.”

St. Dominic had scarcely finished this prayer when he saw the Blessed Virgin near at hand surrounded by a multitude of angels. She struck the possessed man with a golden rod that she held and said, “Answer my servant Dominic at once.” (It must be noted that the people neither saw nor heard our Lady, only St. Dominic)

**103. ** Then the devils started screaming:

**104. ** "Oh, you who are enemy, our downfall and our destruction, why have you come from heaven to torture us so grievously? O advocate of sinners, you who snatch them from the very jaws of hell, you who are a most sure path to heaven, must we, in spite of ourselves, tell the whole truth and confess before everyone who it is who is the cause of our shame and our ruin? Oh, woe to us, princes of darkness.

"Then listen, you Christians. This Mother of Jesus is most powerful in saving her servants from falling into hell. She is like the sun which destroys the darkness of our wiles and subtlety. It is she who uncovers our hidden plots, breaks our snares, and makes our temptations useless and ineffective.

We have to say, however, reluctantly, that no soul who has really persevered in her service has ever been damned with us; one single sigh that she offers to the Blessed Trinity is worth far more than all the prayers, desires, and aspirations of all the saints. We fear her more than all the other saints in heaven together, and we have no success with her faithful servants.

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *

 

[AveSantaMaria]

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

O Mary, concieved without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Many Christians who call on her at the hour of death and who really ought to be damned according to our ordinary standards are saved by her intercession. And if that Marietta (it is thus in their fury they called her) did not counter our plans and our efforts, we should have overcome the Church and destroyed it long before this, and caused all the Orders in the Church to fall into error and infidelity.

"Now that we are forced to speak, we must also tell you that nobody who perseveres in saying the Rosary will be damned, because she obtains for her servants the grace of true contrition for their sins by which they obtain pardon and mercy.

Then St. Dominic had all the people say the Rosary very slowly and with great devotion, and a wonderful thing happened: at each Hail Mary which he and the people said, a large number of devils issued forth from the wretched man’s body under the guise of red-hot coals. When the devils had all been expelled and the heretic completely delivered from them, our Lady, although invisible, gave her blessing to the assembled company, and they were filled with joy.

A large number of heretics were converted because of this miracle and joined the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary.

Here is information on: Rosary Confraternity Enrollment rosary-center.org/nconform.htm (As Pope Leo XIII said in his encyclical on the Confraternity, *“Whenever a person fulfills his obligation of reciting the Rosary according to the rule of the Confraternity, he includes in his intentions all its members and they render him the same service many times over.” * Each member includes deceased fellow members as well; and thus he knows that in turn he will be included in the prayers of hundreds of thousands both now and hereafter.

Other wonderful links helpful for devoting oneself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
Online Adoration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
louisville-catholic.net/WebCameras/AdorationChapel/tabid/825/Default.aspx
True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin
montfort.org.uk/Writings/TrueDev.html
Preparation for 33 day consecration to the Blessed Virgin
saintlouisdemontfort.com/consecration.cfm
Reflections on True Devotion to Mary by His Holiness Pope John Paul II http://www.michaeljournal.org/montfort.htm
**The Glories of Mary, ** by St. Alphonsus de Liguori, one of the 33 Doctors of the Catholic Church, explains Hail Holy Queen http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/glories.htm
On the Dolors of Mary by St. Alphonsus de Liguori, one of the 33 Doctors of the Catholic Church, explains the sufferings of Our Lady http://writer.zoho.com/public/immaculate/Seven-dolors
Marialis Cultus (Apostolic Exhortation for the Right Ordering and Development of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary of His Holiness, February 2, 1974 by His Holiness Pope Paul VI
ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P6MARIAL.HTM
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
en.wikisource.org/wiki/Devotion_to_the_Sacred_Heart_of_Jesus#FIRST_POINT._.E2.80.94_The_ardent_desire_Jesus_Christ_feels_to_be_with_us.
Divine Mercy Chaplet ewtn.com/Devotionals/mercy/dmmap.htm
Cathechism of the Catholic Church vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm
Litany of Humility ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/humility.htm

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *