NO. 1007. COLLECTIOX OF ROi^ARIES—CASAyOWICZ. 351 



Father, etc.). This forms the introduction to the rosary proper. 

 Then follow decades of aves, counted by the smaller beads, each 

 decade preceded by a pater noster, for Avhich a larger bead is used, 

 and followed by a gloria. The 150 aves correspond to the number of 

 Psalms, hence from an early period the devotion was called " Our 

 Lady's psalter." For each decade a subject, or " mystery,"" in the life 

 of Christ and Mary is set for meditation, the 15 mysteries being 

 divided into 5 joyful, 5 sorrowful, and 5 glorious. The 5 joyful mys- 

 teries are: the annunciation (Luke i, 2G), the visitation (Luke i, 39), 

 the nativity (Luke ii), the presentation (Luke ii, 21), and the finding 

 in the temple (Luke ii, 41) ; the 5 sorrowful mysteries are: the agony 

 in the garden (Matthew xxvi, 36) , the scourging (MattheAv xxvii, 26) , 

 the crowning with thorns (Matthew xxvii, 29), the carrying of the 

 cross (John xix, IT), and the crucifixion (Matthew xxvii, 35) ; the 5 

 glorious mysteries are: the resurrection (Matthew xxviii), the ascen- 

 sion (Luke xxiv, 50), the descent of the Holy Ghost (Acts ii), the as- 

 sumption of Mary into heaven, and the coronation of Mary in heaven 

 (the two last mysteries are accepted on the authority of tradition). 

 This arrangement of definite mysteries does not occur prior to the fif- 

 teenth century. The earlier and more widely accepted practice was to 

 assign an incident of Christ's life to each ave and to insert some short 

 clause, commemorating the incident, into the ave itself. The rosary 

 most in use, however, consists of five decades of small beads for the 

 aves and five larger l)eads for the pater nosters, called the " lesser 

 rosary." Otherwise it is arranged in the same way and recited in the 

 same manner and order as the " greater " or " full "' rosary. The en- 

 tire devotion of 15 decades may be said on it by counting it three 

 times." 



Rosaries are usually blessed with prayers and holy water by some 

 duly authorized ecclesiastical person and become thereby sacramen- 

 tals, that is, instruments of grace.^ 



The name "rosary" (Middle Latin, rosarium), which came in 

 vogue for the devotion, and the string of beads by which it is per- 



'^lu a rosary book entitled: Jesus, Maria, Joseph (dated 1663), the 15 

 mysteries are comprehended in the following three verses: 



She's told, she visits, He's born, offered, found. , 



He prays, is whipped, is crowned, carries, is killed. 

 Rises, ascends, sends down : she dies, is crowned. 



''Outside of the Roman Catholic Church, rosaries are in use among the 

 Copts in Egypt. They generally consist of 42 beads, or sometimes of 81, and 

 are employed to count the repetitions of the Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy 

 upon us!). Compare Alfred J. Butler, The Ancient Coptic Church of Egypt, 

 Oxford, 1884, II, p. 238. In the Orthodox Church when a novice is consecrated 

 into the " second grade of monastic life," he is given, among other things, a 

 chaplet (called in Russian, chotki, in Greek, kombologion, or proseukhe) to 

 count prayers and protestations by. Compare D. Sokolof, A manual of the 

 Orthodox Churches, New York and Albany, 1899, p. 153. 



