R is for. ~ROSARY~

R is for ~ROSARY~

I was raised Catholic so I am very familiar with saying the rosary... These rosary beads belonged to my Grandfather. They are tiny and came in this small gold box..
A very special keepsake.

The term "Rosary" is used to describe both a sequence of prayers and a string of prayer beads used to count the prayers.

For over four centuries, the rosary has been promoted by several popes as part of the veneration of Mary. The rosary also represents the Roman Catholic emphasis on "participation in the life of Mary, whose focus was Christ," and the Mariological theme "to Christ through Mary," taught by Saint Louis de Montfort.

The sequence of prayers is the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary ten times, and the Glory Be to the Father, sometimes followed by the Fatima Prayer. Each sequence is known as a decade. Five decades are prayed, after beginning with the Apostle's Creed and five initial prayers. The praying of each decade is accompanied by meditation on one of the Mysteries of the Rosary, which recall the life of Jesus.

The traditional fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary were standardized based on the long-standing custom by Pope Pius V in the 16th century. The mysteries are grouped into three sets: the Joyful mysteries, the Sorrowful mysteries, and the Glorious mysteries. In 2002 Pope John Paul II announced a set of five new optional mysteries called the Luminous mysteries, bringing the total number of mysteries to twenty.
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