rosary

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rosary

1. RC Church

a. a series of prayers counted on a string of beads, usually consisting of five or 15 decades of Aves, each decade beginning with a Paternoster and ending with a Gloria

b. a string of 55 or 165 beads used to count these prayers as they are recited

2. (in other religions) a similar string of beads used in praying

3. a bed or garden of roses

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

A rosary that belonged to an American soldier who was held captive during the Vietnam war. The Art Archive/US Naval Museum Washington/The Art Archive.

Rosary

(religion, spiritualism, and occult)

Roman Catholic tradition has developed prayers and meditations designed to immerse the believer in the mysteries of the faith. Sometimes various devices are used to aid in memorization. Perhaps the best-known prayer and memory device is the rosary and rosary beads.

John Renard, author of The Handy Religion Answer Book, summarizes the rosary meditation with these words:

A "decade" of the rosary corresponds to each of the fifteen mysteries commemorated in the rosary. Ten Hail Marys are said for each decade; they are preceded by an Our Father and followed by a Glory Be to the Father. While reciting a decade of the rosary, one is to meditate on the particular mystery for that decade and on its meaning for life. The entire rosary is divided into three chaplets: the joyful, the sorrowful, and the glorious mysteries. To "say a rosary" commonly means to pray one such chaplet of five mysteries. Commonly a chaplet is preceded by the recitation of the Apostles' Creed and of an Our Father and three Hail Marys. The Roman Catholic Church has long recommended this form of prayer as a convenient and effective way of meditating on the Christian mysteries of salvation.

The mysteries to be reflected on are the following.

The Joyful Mysteries The Annunciation The Visitation of Mary to her Cousin Elizabeth The Birth of Jesus Christ The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem

The Sorrowful Mysteries The Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane The Scourging of Jesus at the Pillar The Crowning with Thorns The Carrying of the Cross The Crucifixion

The Glorious Mysteries The Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles The Assumption of Mary into Heaven The Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven

Rosary

(religion, spiritualism, and occult)

The Rosary is both a form of repeated prayer very popular in the Roman Catholic Church and a designation of the string of prayer beads used to assist the counting of the prayers. The use of such prayer beads is by no means confined to Catholicism or Christianity. Their origin predates Christianity in the Middle East, and Muslims, Buddhists, and various Esoteric groups also use them. The Catholic Rosary generally consists of 50 beads, with a marker bead dividing them into groups of ten.

In Catholicism, the Rosary derived from devotional practices relative to the reciting of the biblical Psalms, of which there are 150. The saying of a brief prayer thrice around the Rosary models the repeating of the Psalms. In actual practice, the Rosary is generally said using the prayer known as the Hail Mary. After saying it ten times, the Lord’s Prayer (the “Our Father”) is repeated. In the modern world, a large number of variations on the Rosary have appeared.

The present practice of saying the Rosary derives from events attributed to Saint Dominic (c. 1170–1221). At that time, the Dominican Order had been placed in charge of the Inquisition, whose first task was the suppression of the Albigensians, a Christian Esoteric group that had grown in strength to challenge the Catholic hegemony in southeastern France. In the initial stages of the reconversion campaign, Dominic is said (there being no contemporary accounts) to have entered into a period of intense prayer and penance. At one point he became unconscious and was visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary, who told him to preach the Psalter (i.e., the Rosary). His subsequent opening sermon in the Cathedral at Toulouse was marked by a variety of “supernatural” signs, including the movement of the arms of the Virgin on a painting that hung in a prominent place in the church.

The Rosary was popularized on a wider scale by Alain de la Roche (1428–1475), who in 1470 founded the Rosary Confraternity. Pope Leo X gave his official commendation to the Rosary in 1520, and its spread over the next centuries followed the establishment of the Dominicans around the world. It subsequently became the most popular form of expression of Catholic piety—apart from attendance at mass—and is widely used in connection with other forms, such as the wearing of SCAPULARS.

Sources:

Beebe, Catherine. Saint Dominic and the Rosary. NewYork: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1956.

Gaffney, J. Patrick. The Rosary: A Gospel Prayer. Bay Shore, NY: Montfort Publications, 1990.

Gribble, Richard. The History and Devotion of the Rosary. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 1992.

Winston-Allen, Anne. Stories of the Rose: The Making of the Rosary in the Middle Ages. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University, 1997.

Rosary

(dreams)

In the Western world, the rosary is generally though of as a Catholic prayer item. Catholics say the rosary by repetitive prayer and meditation, with the focus on the Blessed Mother or the Virgin Mary. However, most religions have their own prayer beads or rosary. A rosary consists of pearls or beads linked together by a thread. The Hindu rosary has 50 beads, the Buddhist rosary 108 beads, and the Muslim rosary 99 beads. In Africa, some groups have a rosary made out of human teeth. Prayers and specific meditations of each religion are different and there are theological reasons for the number of beads. Rosaries may come in different colors, sizes, and designs. However, the central purpose, which is to pray repetitively and to meditate, is the same across all religions that use them as a prayer tool. If you are seeing rosary beads in your dream it suggests that prayer and meditation is needed in your daily life. The unconscious generally provides us with helpful images that are not always difficult to understand. Thus, if you are not a prayerful person, the rosary in your dreams may be encouraging you to begin a more introspective and meditative life. Think about the rosary in your dream and try to decipher what it means to you and how you may incorporate meditation and peaceful reflection into your conscious life.

References in periodicals archive ?

They hope that humans Will evolve to the level of a "cosmic consciousness" that will one day do away with all the evils of the Sorrowful Mysteries.

Rosaries focus on sacred creation. (Spirituality)

Traditional devotions include praying the Way of the Cross (Via Crucis), the Holy Rosary, meditating on the five Sorrowful Mysteries, and reciting the five prayers in honor of Christ's five wounds.

Catholics observe Passion Friday

If you already pray the joyful mysteries on Mondays and Saturdays, the sorrowful mysteries on Tuesdays and Fridays, the glorious mysteries on Wednesdays and Sundays, and the luminous mysteries on Thursdays, congratulations.

New year, new you: stretch your soul in ten minutes a day

When we recite the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary, the first, is the "Agony and sweat of blood the Garden.

Meditation on the Passion of Our Lord

Traditional devotions includethe praying of the Way of the Cross (Via Crucis), the recitation of the Holy Rosary, meditation on the five Sorrowful Mysteries, and the recitation of the five prayers in honor of Christ's five wounds.