St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-10-14
ORIGIN OF THE ROSARY.
It's Use by Christians, Mohammedanss
Baddhists. Jews, and Others
In Early Times.

NE lHSGutlUu Vi tAC IOS0A OSNA
variously attributed to st. Albert de.
Crespin. Peter the Hermit. st. Dominic,
and Others. o. the latter, the Roman
breviary Office states that he was adj
monished by the Blessed Virgin Mary to
preach the rosary as a special remedy
against heresy and SIM" Of the three,
the most probable is Peter the Hermit.
who, toward the end Of the eleventh
century, travelled through Europe, ex-
horting all Christian princes and peo-
pie to take up the cross in crusade
against the Saracens, who had closed
the holy sepnlcher against them.
Peter, who is credited with introducing
the fashion with the hours of Our
Lady among the. crusaders. had un-
doubtedly seen the instrument OF the
rosary in the hands Of the Moham-
medans.
The Mohammedan counts his repeti-
tions-e. e.. .1'he absolute glory OF
God' (33 times); THE absolute glory
Of God, the great. with his praise for
ever. (once); Praise be to God" t33
times; .Extolled be his dignity There
is no Deity, but him" (once); God is
most great (33 times); God is most
great in greatness, and praise be to God
in abundance (once)-with string OF
beads called seb'hhab or soob' 'hhab.
The be ads are 80 in number, and have a
mark between 30, made of aloe or other
odoriferous or precious woods, or OF
coral, or Of certain fruit stones. seeds,
etc. At the death of Moos-lim fickee
(fakir), as many as so say the sebhhab.
or rosary, upon = rosary Of 1000 beads,
each about the size of pigeon's-egg.
thrice repeating 1000 times: "There is
no Deity but God." and other ejacuia-
tions 50 or 100 times. The Moham-
medan probably derived the use OF this
appliance from the Hindoo Remain
ujas and other, sectaries, who carry
rosaries OF seeds of the, tulasi (holy
basiD. or OF lotus; or the Buddhists,
as those Of Thibet, who tell the beads
of their large rosaries, as they repeat
the words: .,Om name padme houm
-.Oh, the jewel Of the lotus "a phrase
which thousands of men repeat all their
lives without understanding its mean
ing, but believing that they are insur-
inR for themselves happy future;
or, vet again. perhaps from the Jews,
who have o chaplet called Meah Bera-
cot.
The use OF such strings of beads ss
an aid to devotion was an ancient usage
in the east. Bonomi, in his Palaces Of
Nineyeh,"s shows divinity holding in
his extended left hand . chaplet COM
posed of large and small beads placed
alternately. Large numbers Of long
strings Of carnelian beads. all exactly
alike in form. have been found with
tools and pottery during excavations a
lllahun. In Babylonian prayer oc
cur the words: 20, my God, sever
times seven are my transgressions. my
transgressions are before me-" which
were to be repeated ten times And
again: MAY thy heart. like the hear
Of the motherof the setting day. to it
place return" to be repeated five times
The use OF the rosary by the orthodo,
Christians of the east differs widely
from that of western Christendom
The Greek priests are required to re
peat 10 Kyrie eleisons thrice every day
and these they count of on their beads
The Copts use : string OF Il Reeds
saying: 20, my Lord. have mercy!
Il times; others count by their fingers
The separated Copts and Armenian
| very often use rcsaries exactiy SSn'
! same as the Mohammedans. without
cross; but mcst of those Of the Gfeek
and the Russians have crosses et
tached to them. All the separated est
erns told IN Anglican clergyman tia
th.v onIv nsed the rosary to count tlei
prostrations and kyries, or else to AaS
something in their hands while talking
ar thinkinr.-ReliQuary -