Wearing the rosary as a piece of jewelry

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IHeartAquinas

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Recently I have noticed a fashion trend towards wearing rosaries around one’s neck. At first I shrugged it off as a cultural thing (they were mostly Hispanic at first…I feel bigoted that that was my first thought) but then I started noticing quite a lot of teenage boys and girls wearing them. And these were not straight-laced, destined-for-monastic-life teenagers (if such a thing exists). Mostly goth, emo, scene, etc. Now, I’m a rather alternative individual myself, wearing my hair in a mohawk, piercings, tattoos, etc. but I was always raised to respect and revere all articles of faith, even if such an article were tangible in form. While I know that when I pray the rosary I am not praying to or through the rosary, it just seems incredibly wrong and offensive that people would wear them in such a manner. I have even seen them for sale in stores such as Hot Topic. I know vampires are in right now (thank you you horrible excuse for a writer Stephanie Meyer) and that probably has something to do with it, but as one of my favorite Russian authors, Sergei Lukyanenko, says in his own vampiric novels, “If anyone truly knew what a vampire was or looked like, no one would want to be one”(sic).

So, my question is this: is it inappropriate behavior to don the rosary as a piece of jewelry? And if so, is it also sinful? I am not about to run out and start ripping them off of everyone I see wearing one, but I want to know weather I am being unreasonable when I become inwardly upset by such a spectacle.
 
IHeartAquinas said:
Recently I have noticed a fashion trend towards wearing rosaries around one’s neck. At first I shrugged it off as a cultural thing (they were mostly Hispanic at first…I feel bigoted that that was my first thought) but then I started noticing quite a lot of teenage boys and girls wearing them. And these were not straight-laced, destined-for-monastic-life teenagers (if such a thing exists). Mostly goth, emo, scene, etc. Now, I’m a rather alternative individual myself, wearing my hair in a mohawk, piercings, tattoos, etc. but I was always raised to respect and revere all articles of faith, even if such an article were tangible in form. While I know that when I pray the rosary I am not praying to or through the rosary, it just seems incredibly wrong and offensive that people would wear them in such a manner. I have even seen them for sale in stores such as Hot Topic. I know vampires are in right now (thank you you horrible excuse for a writer Stephanie Meyer) and that probably has something to do with it, but as one of my favorite Russian authors, Sergei Lukyanenko, says in his own vampiric novels, “If anyone truly knew what a vampire was or looked like, no one would want to be one”(sic).

So, my question is this: is it inappropriate behavior to don the rosary as a piece of jewelry? And if so, is it also sinful? I am not about to run out and start ripping them off of everyone I see wearing one, but I want to know weather I am being unreasonable when I become inwardly upset by such a spectacle.
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No, the Rosary should not be worn as jewlery. However people are free to do as they wish. The best way to defend against this is to stop them and engage them in a Q and A. Ask about their Rosary, if it’s blessed? How often do they pray it? That you often wondered about it and could they explain the idea behind the Rosary as a devotion?
 
First of all – it is indeed a custom of long standing, in some parts of the Hispanic world, to keep one’s rosary with one all day around one’s neck. It’s not any weirder or more disrespectful than stuffing your rosary in your pocket or your purse. I think the custom of wearing Miraculous Medals, scapulars, and other sacramentals probably contributed to this – if you don’t have one of those, and your rosary has been blessed, there’s your neck sacramental.

In general, European people in the Middle Ages and Renaissance used to wear their rosaries in plain view: either for utility and ease of finding it at a moment’s notice (as many religious orders still do), or in order to remind themselves of God during the day. Of course, if you had a very beautiful rosary, chaplet, tenner, etc., it also served as adornment – or evangelization, depending on the person. A good few paintings portray Mary using rosaries and tenners as emergency baby toys for the Baby Jesus, so I suspect this was another alternate use! 🙂

Obviously, it’s weird to see non-Catholics or even non-believers blindly copying the rosary customs of faithful Hispanic Catholics. (Or even of bad Hispanic Catholics who, for all their lack of piety, still hope for Mary’s intercession and Jesus’ salvation on some level.) It was weird to see a Hindu actor from Bollywood wearing a T-shirt with a Marian icon on it. Weird stuff happens in this world. It seems rash to assume that every empty-headed fashionista is out there trying to be blasphemous. Rather, it would seem that they envy the Catholic look, and hence the Catholic identity. On some level, they want Jesus and the Church.

So I don’t think the focus should be so much on shaming people into taking off the rosary, as in using the rosary around their necks as an opportunity to educate and evangelize them. Whatever people’s original intent, they have let Mary and Jesus into their lives a little by putting on a set of rosary beads. (If this were the Middle Ages, we’d probably see a painting of Mary lassoing them with the beads…) So it would be a pity not to let them know a bit more about the Rosary as a prayer, and about the Church, and about how they can get to know Jesus’ love.
 
Mintaka said:
So I don’t think the focus should be so much on shaming people into taking off the rosary, as in using the rosary around their necks as an opportunity to educate and evangelize them. Whatever people’s original intent, they have let Mary and Jesus into their lives a little by putting on a set of rosary beads. (If this were the Middle Ages, we’d probably see a painting of Mary lassoing them with the beads…) So it would be a pity not to let them know a bit more about the Rosary as a prayer, and about the Church, and about how they can get to know Jesus’ love.
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My very sentiments!! When we see non believers wearing our rosaries, and other religious items we should not discourage them. God moves in a mysterious ways his wonders to perform! one fine day, the rosary will work in their lives.

I wear a tau cross all the time and it constantly reminds me to lead my life on daily basis in a manner befitting my patron saint St. Francis of Assisi. Then I chanced upon a thread on CAF where some SFO members were against the idea of anyone who is not SFO member wearing a tau cross as that is their symbol of identification and i remember being a bit upset. Reason being if St Francis were to be alive now I do not think he would have stopped anyone from wearing the tau cross so who are these people to place a restriction on who can or cannot wear a tau cross?

So you see, where religious items are concerned, we should not try to stop people from wearing them because wherever they are found these items will evangelise and will touch people in the most unexpected way.

Peace and Love
Odopa
 
I agree with Br. Rich…If you see this approach them and use it as an opportunity to educate, evangelize but most importantly to let them know how beautiful the Rosary truly is. Turn what you deem to be a negative to a positive.
 
I would simply commend them on wearing the rosary and ask if they were Catholic?

Then leave them to figure the rest out!

Stop only if they query what does it mean?

:cool:
 
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