We begin with a vision

“I was asleep, but not asleep, and thinking of a rosary for those who are without homes at the moment. As soon as I thought on this, a face came to mind. I think it was a man, but no sooner had he appeared than he bowed his head to pray. But in doing so his hands flew to his face to cover it. There was something tender in the way he tucked his chin into his neck and concealed his face with his hands. I saw a child do this recently at Sunday service when she was drawn to the front but could not bear all the people looking at her beautiful face. The man remained in that odd posture,
deeply penitent, deeply connected, and yet, I suspected, deeply delighted too.

I wondered if he knew something of the passing hem of the royal robe, for his hidden face was covered not in shame, or fear, but, somehow, in secret wonder.

I think this is how The Rosary is to be prayed –
in secret wonder and astonishment at all that is invisible to the eyes, but well known by the heart.”

— A vision in the night, Candice Bist

Dictionary Definition

rosary |ˈrōzərē|

noun ( pl. rosaries )

(in the Roman Catholic Church) a form of devotion in which five (or ten, fifteen or twenty) decades of Hail Marys are repeated, each decade preceded by an Our Father and followed by a Glory Be while meditating on various gospel stories: the congregation said The Rosary.

The Rosary Latin (rosaium) in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), usually in the form of the Dominican rosary, is a form of prayer used especially in the Catholic Church named for the string of prayer beads used to count the component prayers. When used of the form of prayer, the word is usually capitalized ("the Rosary"), as is customary for other names of prayers, such as "the Lord's Prayer", "the Hail Mary", "the Magnificat". When referring to the beads, it is normally written with a lower-case initial ("a rosary").

Introduction

If you have not grown up praying The Rosary, it may seem both daunting and mysterious. But it is, in fact, not only straight forward to follow but when approached as a contemplative practice, a beautiful meditation on the gospel texts. In its standard form, The Rosary consists of a set order of vocal prayers and thoughtful consideration on twenty mystic tableaux, or mysteries as they are known, in the life of Jesus and his mother Mary. The prayers are laid out in a repetitive form and follow a pattern of beads that are counted as one prays. The meditations on the mysteries also follow a set pattern consisting of four sets of five mysteries.

You could call The Rosary, The Gospels on a Sting.

It is a perfectly lovely form of attentive prayer and worship.

Combining prayer, meditation, and scriptural understanding with the tactile pleasure of handling beads, the Rosary offers a focus to prayer. Rosary beads are easily carried in one's pocket, an ever present reminder to draw our attention away from this world, and contemplate matters divine. Below you will find an explanation of the elements of the Rosary as it currently exists within the Catholic tradition. There is also an audio track of the full Rosary experience.

It should be noted, however, that though the Rosary is understood to be solely part of the Catholic tradition, it originated before the time of The Reformation, and therefore, the praying of the Rosary rightly has a place with Protestants.

With this in mind, I also offer several original versions of the Anglican Rosary, whose usage developed in the late 20th century. There are also rosaries that reflect aspects of my personal spirituality, though some are out and out failures as such. Though the original Anglican Rosary has a particular lay out, it does not offer set prayers, encouraging the user to choose their own. In fact, it is possible to design a set of prayers with accompanying patterns of beads, for any sacred usage. The sole point of this way of prayer is to draw closer to God, to come to understand more fully our place in the divine ordering of the universe and how best to serve those with whom we share this world. In designing your own rosaries, you are limited only by your imagination and the time you wish to devote to this beautiful art form.

May grace attend you as you peruse this collection of rosaries.