Showing posts with label rosary beads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rosary beads. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Rosary Glass Beads - Discover Its History

6:20 AM | Posted by Jen | Edit Post
The rosary beads serve to be one of those ancient symbols and tools of Christianity. It was first made during the twelfth century when the blessed Virgin Mary was said to appear to Saint Dominic and made a promise that if Saint Dominic will spread the rosary’s devotions to people, peace would be found.

When the rosary was first made, it contained 150 glass beads, which serve as a mirror to the set of psalms that the Bible contains. Anybody who doesn’t have regular access to this set of Psalms can just move along the string of rosary glass beads and pray. This benefits the blind and those people who have no means of learning how to read.

However, it should be noted that rosary beads were not always strung together. It used to be just stones kept in one’s pocket which get sorted as the individual prays. It was only much, much later that these beads were thought to be strung together for ease of use.


Bones and stones were what comprised the first Catholic rosaries. As time passed, other materials were then used such as glass beads, metal, wood, seeds and precious stones. In poor countries where Christianity was also widespread, rosaries were made of seeds and dried flowers. For devout Catholics in these countries, the religious significance of these rosaries matter more than what they’re made of. Although, it greatly helps their faith when these rosaries come from glass beads excavated from the Holy Land, or if the rosaries contain holy water and other religious relics. Ultimately, the purpose of the rosary is to assist the devout in getting closer with God.

In the beginning, the “Hail Mary” was not really part of the prayer. It was only added to introduce Angel Gabrielle and they chose to do this before the “Our Father”.

Today we find that the Dominican rosary contains 59 beads. They are divided into ten sections which are called "decades". These beads are crafted with a larger bead used to say the 'Our Father' prayer followed by ten smaller beads used to say the 'Hail Mary'.

You can create your own rosaries too, using glass beads and other beaded materials.

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