History of The Rosary

Have you ever wondered about the history of rosaries, how it all started? Fascinating article found on Wikipedia.

"There are differing views on the history of the rosary. The exact origin of the Rosary as a prayer is less than clear and subject to debate among scholars.

Prayers with beads like the rosary may have begun as a practice by the laity to imitate the monastic Liturgy of the Hours, during the course of which the monks prayed the 150 Psalms daily. As many of the laity and even lay monastics could not read, they substituted 150 repetitions of the Our Father (Pater noster in Latin) for the Psalms, sometimes using a cord with knots on it to keep an accurate count.

According to tradition, the rosary was given to Saint Dominic in an apparition by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the year 1214 in the church of Prouille. This Marian apparition received the title of Our Lady of the Rosary. In the 15th century Blessed Alanus de Rupe (aka Alain de la Roche or Saint Alan of the Rock), who was a learned Dominican priest and theologian, is said to have received a vision from Jesus about the urgency of reinstating the rosary as a form of prayer. Blessed Alanus de Rupe also received the Blessed Mother's "15 Promises". Before his death on Sept. 8, 1475, he reinstituted the rosary in many countries and established many rosary confraternities. Despite the popularity of Blessed Alanus's story about the origins of the rosary, there has never been found any historical evidence positively linking St. Dominic to the rosary. The story of St. Dominic's devotion to the rosary and supposed apparition of Our Lady of the Rosary does not appear in any documents of the Church or Dominican Order prior to the writings of Blessed Alanus. St. Dominic and Blessed Alanus are separated by 250 years."

I suspect that when Mary gave those first rosary beads to St. Dominic, they were just a simple string of wooden beads. Over the last many years, rosaries have changed into some magnificent creations. Personally, I find that a simple, if you will, traditional rosary is quite beautiful. This is a wooden rosary I created ... in a new home.

I think creating wooden rosaries, sadly, has become a lost art. I haven't seen many of them in my meanderings around the Internet.

You can find more rosaries here:https://www.facebook.com/melissarosarypage