If you are not a Catholic, you might not understand the importance of a string of Catholic rosary beads. This is because a Catholic’s rosary beads are an aid to prayer and penance. It is because of this that Catholic rosary beads have the same number of beads all around the world. The beads are ticked off as the prayers are said.
Rosary beads are gifted to young Catholics and often a set of beads will be handed down through generations as heirlooms. It is considered an honour to get given a set of rosary beads that are decades or more old, just as it would be if a relative left you anything else old and valuable. Old rosary beads can become very valuable, depending on what the beads are made of, their age and the sort of metal used to string them together.
The Catholic Rosary is used to matter off the number of prayers said in repetitions in the same way that an abacus is used for counting money. Rosaries have ten small beads followed by a substantial one to indicate that the repetition ought to be begun again.
It is an old style of prayer harking back to when people were less schooled. However, beads help the person praying concentrate on the prayer and not on the counting as well.
Most Catholic rosary bead chains have enough beads for five cycles of prayers. This makes it easier for followers of the Catholic Church to say their prayers and do the penances metred out to them by their priest for ‘committing sins’.
In fact, the Catholic Church is losing ground very rapidly in Europe particularly in such traditional strongholds as Eire (Southern Ireland) and the southern provinces of the Netherlands. They are also losing ground in Spain, Portugal and America, usually due to the sex scandals involving priests.
Whatever one thinks of the Catholic Church, the pope and the Catholic clergy, rosary beads are a feature of the history of mankind’s advancement in the Developed world during the last 2,000 years. Whether you see Catholic rosary beads as a symbol of devotion to God or as a symbol of the Catholic Church’s tyranny over frightened people, the rosary in itself is an interesting phenomenon.
Some individuals create a hobby out of collecting rosaries because they are widely traded and can be very valuable. It is not unusual for a set of Victorian rosary beads made of a semi-precious stone on a gold chain to go for thousands of dollars at auction.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is currently concerned with religious beliefs in China. If you would like to kcurrently more go to What is Religious Belief?
