What is a rosary?

Question

As in when someone passes away and a rosary is held for this person prior to the funeral. Thank you.

Answer 1

An antique notion from the Catholic church that repetitive prayers can accomplish something that a single prayer cannot. The beads are to keep track of the how many prayers said. Each group of ten beads are Hail Marys said one behind the other and all the other beads are other prayers. A new Rosary is traditionally brought to the priest after a mass for him to bless it before use. The same goes with a new prayerbook. When a Catholic dies after the wake all the people there say all those prayers togeather at the funeral home in the presence of the body. That is what is call having or holding a rosary for someone.

Answer 2

The term denotes both a set of prayer beads and a system of set prayers to be said as the beads are told. The Rosary combines vocal prayer and meditation centered around sequences of reciting the Lord's Prayer followed by ten recitations of the "Hail Mary" prayer and a single recitation of "Glory Be to the Father"; each of these sequences is known as a decade.

Until the recent addition of five additional Mysteries by Pope John Paul II, the Rosary had been prayed in three parts of five Mysteries assigned throughout the week. Today the Rosary can be prayed in four parts, one part each day, with the "Mysteries" (which are meditated or contemplated on during the prayers) being rotated daily. But those who want to say the rosary the way all of the saints did can still pray it in three parts.

What distinguishes the Rosary from other forms of prayer is that, along with the vocal prayers, it includes a series of meditations. Each decade of the Rosary is said while meditating on one of the "Mysteries" of redemption. These mysteries originated in the 15th century, and while there has been some disagreement on them (the final mystery is sometimes the Last Judgment) the earliest sets bear a remarkable resemblance to those still used.

Many similar prayer practices exist in popular Catholicism, each with its own set of prescribed prayers and its own form of bead counters. These other devotions and their associated beads are usually referred to as "chaplets."

The Rosary came to replace the popular devotional practice that consisted of reciting the 150 Psalms of the Bible in thirds or 50 at a time. Instead of the Psalms, 150 Our Fathers were recited. Over the course of the middle ages, the Lord's Prayer was replaced with the Angelic Salutation, commonly called the Hail Mary. The prayers of the Rosary were set by the late 16th century. From the 16th to the early 20th century, there were no changes in the Rosary until the mid-20th century when the addition of the Fatima Prayer became popular. There were no other changes until 2002 when John Paul II proposed five new Luminous Mysteries as an option.

Answer 3

I've never heard the term used that way. A rosary is a string of beads, usually with a crucifix attached. It's used, usually by catholics, to count prayers. More information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosary#Rosary_beads

I've never heard it in the context of a "rosary being held" for someone. Perhaps it's some sort of ceremony in which someone or several someones pray the rosary for the deceased? Unless someone was quite literally holding a rosary for them, maybe to be placed in the coffin later, I'm not sure. I can tell you it's quite common at catholic funerals for the deceased to have a rosary in their hands.

Answer 4

A Rosary is a Catholic wake. The people pray the Rosary together, which is a loop of prayer beads used by Catholics.

Answer 5

The rosary is a collection of beads on a metallic string with a crucifix at its end. The beads are arranged in groups of ten with a separated bead. For each bead a prayer, such as the Hail Mary or Our Father is recited. At the end of each sequence of beads, contemplation of some of the great mysteries of the Christian faith takes place.

See
http://www.pacifier.com/~rosarweb/howto.htm

Answer 6

Rosary, as most devout Catholic don't know is "prayer counter'. An instrument you use to count your prayer so you will not get confuse in bubbling those never ending 'hail marys". I was just wondering why they even let the dead hold unto it during funeral. Well, maybe the dead can start praying once he's left alone in the grave?...or is it just one of those I call "stupidity of faith"?

God bless you...

Answer 7

In the Catholic faith, the rosary is a string with beads and a cross on it. Originally, people lost track of how many prayers that they felt they needed to say so they put one bead per prayer, to insure that they wouldn't say too little prayers.

Answer 8

A symbolic icon! what its puprose is I am not sure!

Answer 9

It is a foolish icon.