Rosary beads are still much in demand

Press, 4 November 1986, Page 16

Rosary beads are still much in demand

Collecting

with

Myrtle Duff

Repetitive prayer and formal incantations of all kinds have been aided by the use of knotted cords and regularly spaced strings of beads in various religions through many centuries, but undoubtedly the best known in Western civilisations are the rosaries used by Catholics. The less formal prayers and more personal meditation favoured by today’s younger generations have made the rosary more or less redundant . for its original purpose but the beads are still a great comfort to many and are eagerly sought by collectors.

They have been made in every conceivable material, but good examples are rare in Christchurch antique shops and by the time His Holiness Pope Paul 11, boards his plane at Christchurch International Airport on Monday, November 24, I think the wave of enthusiasm engendered by his visit will have made them even harder to find.

Prayer beads, already widely used by the followers of other deities, were immediately adapted to their own use by the earliest Christians but it is generally conceded that their formal use as an aid to Christian prayer was instituted by Saint Dominic at the beginning of the thirteenth

century, following his experience of a vision in which their use had been revealed to him by Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Originally the beads were arranged in sets of 150, divided into 15 groups of “decades” of ten beads, usually separated by one larger bead. Five other beads, usually two large and three small, formed the complete rosary. Today there are usually only five decades.

Among those illustrated you will find another variation, this time with seven sets of seven beads. These are known as the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin. Each set represents one of her most sorrowful experiences — the prophecy of Simeon; the flight into Egypt; the loss of her son in the Temple at Jerusalem for three days; her meeting with him on the way to Calvary; her vigil at the foot

of the cross; the taking down of the body and the burial.

This particular set appears to be made either of hard, polished wood or ceramic. Each set of seven beads is divided from the next by a flat, oval-shaped, brass bead on one side of which is depicted the virgin, her heart pierced by the seven swords of sorrow and on the reverse, one of her sorrows.

The name “rosary” is puzzling to many people as it has also been commonly used to describe a rose garden. It seems to have evolved because of the frequent use of this much-loved flower, already an ancient symbol of beauty, love and mystery, to describe the Madonna.

Although the lily is the symbol of her immaculate purity, she is often pictured with a vase of roses at her feet and is frequently described as “Mystic Rose,” “Rose of Sharon” or “The Rose without a Thorn.”

Since the chief prayer, originally repeated one hundred and fifty times, was the Ave or “Hail Mary” the term was soon applied to the beads themselves. The beads have served many purposes. Although usually treasured as religious symbols, a source of joy and comfort to the pious, they have also been made extravagantly jewelled and worn as necklaces and bracelets by ladies not particularly interested in purity or piety.

Even within the Church itself there were those

who used them for a variety of purposes. Chaucer, in his “Canterbury Tales’’ describes a fashion-conscious prioress who wore her coral rosary hanging from a “crowned A” and such a brooch is preserved today in a museum in London. At Arundel Castle in Scotland visitors ' may view a rosary of gold beads with filigree clasps and. a gold cross ornamented with baroque pearls, once the property of the ill-fated Mary, Queen of Scots. It is a touching moment to view this relic and realise that she carried it to her execution.

Some rosaries have an additional large bead

which seems a particularly delightful accessory, but I have not been able to find an example in Christchurch. The large bead is in reality a miniature pomander containing attar of roses, pot-pourri or another perfumed substance.

If at first you think this rather a frivolous addition, remember that the Virgin is believed to have brought the first rosary directly from heaven where its beads had absorbed the fragrance of the garden which is paradise. The examples illustrated are all privately owned. They include a pearl rosary, which has been blessed by a previous Pope, and its appropriately golden container; another example, the property of a mother and grandmother, its wrinkled leather container bearing witness to frequent use; and the third an example of the seven-beaded type rem-

inding us of the “Seven Sorrows of the Virgin.” Rosaries are not plentiful in Christchurch antique shops but I did discover two at a fairly recently established shop in Linwood Avenue. It is called “Forget-me-Not” and has for sale a rather

beautiful peari-like example and another in pink glass. Modem ones are available at the Catholic Shop in Chancery Lane where the manageress told me' that, in spite of reforms and changes in the church, her sales of rosary beads have never diminished. She has a wide range to suit all tastes and purses. There are plastic. beads at 99 cents; magnificent examples in Irish horn at fifty dollars and almost anything you can think of in between. At this shop too a very pleasant and dignified memento of the visit of Pope Paul II may be ordered. It is a small portrait tastefully mounted and should prove popular with people wishing to keep a memento of the event or to send one to others unable to be present.

Rosaries are not plentiful in Christchurch