The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-05-10
HISTORICAL
DEPARTMENT.
S-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-S-0-9-9-9-O
ORIGIN OF THE ROSARY.
Interesting Legend Associates I
With Garland of Roses.

Tracing the origin of the rosary
back to times and places far remote
FaIner Thurston. who read a recent
paper before the members of the APP
piled art section of the Society OF
Arts, says the London Daily Tele-
graph, pointed out that it would be a
great mistake TO suppose that the use
of beads for counting prayers was pc
culiar to the Catholic church, or was
of comparatively modern date. To de-
termine at what time the name rosary
rosenkranz) was introduced is eX-
tremely difficult. Garlands of roses,
implying a reference to the term ro-
sary, were a conspicuous feature of
| pictures and tablets of the fifteenth
century, but before this no clear eX-
ampleS are forthcoming. At that epoch
1t was common for both men and
| women in ordinary life to wear gar
| lands of flowers, and to place them as
a mark of respect upon the heads of
persons and statues. Father Thurston
is strongly inclined to believe that its
I application to the particular devotion
now under discussion was mainly due
| to the popularity of a certain story of
a garland which can be traced very
/ much earlier than the word itself in
! almost every part of the Christian
world. The name must have come from
the story, and the story was not
evolved out of an already pre-eXisting
name
The legend in question is briefly
! this: A youth was accustomed to make
a wreath of roses or other flowers every
day, and to place it upon the head of
our lady's statue. He became a monk,
and in the cloister his occupations no
longer permitted him to observe this
pious practice. Being much distressed,
he asked counsel of an aged priest, who
advised him to say his ayes every even-
ing, which would be accepted by our
lady in lieu of the garland. This the
young man faithfully observed, until
one day, while on journey, he had to
pass through a lonely wood, where rob-
bers We're lying in wait. Quite unsus-
piciOus of their presence, he suddenly
remembered that his ayes were not yet
said, and forthwith stopped to say
them. Then, to their surprise, the rob-
bers saw a most glorious lady stand
before him. and take one after another
from the lips of the kneeling monk
fifty beautiful roses, which she wove
into a garland and placed upon her
head. The robbers, conscience stricken
at the vision, were all converted to a
better life, and themselves soon after
entered the monastery.
In the London municipal records of
the thirteenth century we not infre-
quently find citizens described as pater-
nosterers, and there can be no doubt
that their trade primarily consisted in
the turning, polishing, perforating and
mounting of beads for devotional pur
poses. Their calling evidently gave to
Paternoster row its name, for, as
Father Thurston pointed out, in the
Of ir1p hold in 1919 fbrpp
of the witnesses were described as pa
ternosterers. They resided in PateT-
nOster lane, as it was even then called,
which lay just under the shadow of the
great cathedral and in the devotional
center of London. The craftsmen them
selves lived there, but the lecturer was
inclined to think that their wares were
largely retailed by the persons called
Atationers,' so styled from the fact that
they were allowed to occupy certain
stations round st. Paurs cross and the
Cheap. Rosary makers in England do
not seem to have been quite so special
lied as in France, where the makers of
rosaries were divided into four differ
ent guilds and companies, according to ,
the material in which they wrought
in coral, mother Of pearl bone |
and horn, amber and jet or belonging |
to the more miscellaneous association |
engaged largely in metal work and the |
of buttons, buckles and !
rings.
Speaking specially of the rosary as
used in the Roman Catholic church, |
Father Thurston disagreed with the |
view that the devotional exercise was /
simply initiated from the Mohamme-
dams and introduced into western Eu-
rope by the Crusaders. OF Lady Co /
diva of Coventry, the wife of Earl Lee
ofric, who lived long before the days
Of the Crusaders, it is recorded that she
bequeathed to the monastery which she
founded a circlet of gems, which she
threaded on a string in order that by
lingering them one by one. as she sue
recited her prayers she might
not fall short of her exact number
The use of rosaries was a practice COM
mon to many Oriental races long be-
'ore the Christian era. They were en-
1loyed by the Buddhists in India. China
and Japan, and by the Mohammedans.
Rosaries especially those of precious
stones, were used for personal adorn-
nent as well as for purposes of devo%
ion, with the result that these objects
If piety were not overlooked in the
laws which strove to check
he unbecoming extravaganza of the
,urgher class. particularly in Ger
many"