In
countries with Spanish traditions, it is customary for both children and
adults to wear their rosary to Church, processions, funerals, etc. This
is just how
they prefer to carry it!
Unless a rosary has been blessed, and thereby constituted into a sacramental, wearing a rosary around the neck is not contrary to Catholic beliefs, customs, or dogma. However, once it becomes a sacramental, according to the Church, it should only be worn as part of religious garments.
There are a number of paintings throughout the history of sacred art that show wealthy women,
no doubt devote Catholics, wearing rosaries as jewelry.
Rosaries are now perhaps more than ever being constructed using natural stones that are not only beautiful, but known to contain wonderful physical energy of their own. Handling them, wearing them against the skin, even on the neck, close to the heart can be a healing experience by itself. Their intrinsic beauty, their history, and all the symbolism that is attached to religious medals, crucifixes and other rosary parts will have a subconscious effect on the wearers, and inspire devotion, even if they do not identify with Catholic beliefs.
A rosary is a wonderful thing for anyone to possess, to use, to hold and to wear, unless it has been blessed and is meant by its owner to be used exclusively for praying or purely sacramental purposes. This should be a personal choice.
Unless a rosary has been blessed, and thereby constituted into a sacramental, wearing a rosary around the neck is not contrary to Catholic beliefs, customs, or dogma. However, once it becomes a sacramental, according to the Church, it should only be worn as part of religious garments.
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| Mary of Agreda wearing a rosary |
As praying beads, rosaries can be constructed out of any
materials that help the user keep count of the prayers, from humble
seeds to precious gemstones, for being an aid to praying is its purpose. Yet, in the very early days of the Catholic Church, there is believed to have been a capitulary ordinance, probably emanating from a successor to the court of the first Frankish emperor Charlemagne, whereby monks and friars, were prohibited from having beads of coral, crystal, amber, or other precious stones, and nuns were forbidden from wearing beads around the neck. This fact tells us those must have been common practices, if the Court felt compelled to prohibit them (probably for political reasons). Note, there is no mention of such ordinances prohibiting others from wearing the rosary around the neck.
Rosaries are now perhaps more than ever being constructed using natural stones that are not only beautiful, but known to contain wonderful physical energy of their own. Handling them, wearing them against the skin, even on the neck, close to the heart can be a healing experience by itself. Their intrinsic beauty, their history, and all the symbolism that is attached to religious medals, crucifixes and other rosary parts will have a subconscious effect on the wearers, and inspire devotion, even if they do not identify with Catholic beliefs.
A rosary is a wonderful thing for anyone to possess, to use, to hold and to wear, unless it has been blessed and is meant by its owner to be used exclusively for praying or purely sacramental purposes. This should be a personal choice.
