What exactly are roasry beads, and why are they used? (I’m reading a novel, and being Jewish, I have n experience with this.)
Here you go, sir.
In more profaner words, rosaries are little strings with pearls of different size on them. Each pearl stands for one prayer (I’m not too religious either, but I guess the relevant ones are the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary). Each time you’ve finished one prayer, you let the corresponding pearl glide through your hand and proceed with the next one. It’s basically a device for keeping track of how many Lord’s Prayers and Hail Maries you’ve already prayed in that session.
I’ve heard other religions, notably Islam, use something similar as well, but the rosary as described in the link provided by Q.E.D. is a Catholic domain.
Catholics say the Our Father; The Lord’s Prayer is the Protestant version, and has an extra line at the end, before the amen, which the Catholics do not have.
In the Catholic Mass, the same line which ends The Lord’s Prayer
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever
is actually said by the priest, but it comes after the congregation have said the Our Father prayer and finished with amen
Other religions use prayer beads also. I’ve seen both Mahayana Buddhists and Shi’a Muslims using prayer beads.
Close, but not quite, at least the last time I went to mass. The congregation ends with “deliver us from evil” and then the priest says something like:
“Deliver us Lord from every evil and grant us peace in our day, in your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ.” (I may have missed a line in there, or flubbed a few words, it’s been awhile)
And then the congregation chimes in with the “For thine is the kingdom” stuff.
Here is how you pray the Rosary.
1> Make the sign of the cross
“In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen”
and say the Apostles Creed
“I believe in God the Father, maker of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus christ, his only son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.”
2>Say the “Our Father”
“Our Father, Who art in heaven: hallowed be Thy name;They kingdom come;they will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread;and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation,; but deliver us from evil. Amen.”
3>Say 3 “Hail Marys”
“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the our of our death. Amen.”
4> Say the “Glory Be”
“Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”
5> Announce the first mystery and then the “Our Father”
6> Say 10 “Hail Marys”, meditating on the mystery
7> Say the “Glory Be”
8> Say the Prayer of Fatima
“Oh my Jesus, forgive all our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those who have most nedd of your mercy.”
9> Announce the second mystery, say the “Our Father” and repeat 6,7 and 8, continuing with the 3rd 4th and 5th mysteries.
10> Say the “Hail Holy Queen” after the fifth decade.
“Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope, to you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears; turn, then, most gracious Advocate, your eyes of mercy towards us, and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.”
The Joyful Mysteries are:
The Annunciation
The Visitation
The Birth of Jesus
The Presentation
Finding the Child Jesus in the Temple
They are said on Monday and Thursday.
The Sorrowful Mysteries are:
The Agony in the Garden
The Scourging at the Pillar
Crowning with Thorns
Carrying of the Cross
The Crucifixion
Said on Tuesdays and Fridays
The Glorious mysteries:
The Resurrection
The Ascension
Descent of the Holy Ghost
The Assumption
The Coronation
Said on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
What is said on Sunday depends on the season.
irishgirl.
(who isn’t catholic)
Really? In Ireland the congregation get to the “deliver us from evil” line and then they say amen
No further chiming in required after the priest says the “Deliver us lord from every evil…” None at all.
So, given that you say the bit that we don’t, because that is the bit that makes it the Lord’s Prayer, rather than The Our Father; do the American Catholics? **call ** it the Lord’s Prayer, or you call it the Our Father?
Re; American Catholics?
Ignore the question mark in that line, it was just a typo.
There is no way I would ever question that there might be American Catholics. No way, no how.
Just wanted to make sure no one took offence.
As far as I know, American Catholics call it the Our Father. When we’re saying the rosary, or just saying it ourselves for whatever reason, we just end with “deliver us from evil, Amen.”
I didn’t know the mass in English was different from country to country. I knew there were different holy days of obligation and such. I did go to mass once in Ireland, but I don’t recall the Our Father being different. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything, since it was more than ten years ago, and that’s a pretty small detail. I do recall that as soon as mass was over (this was a weekday evening mass) the priest and congregation just started singing some Marian hymn I’d never heard before. It was obviously a local custom, and it was quite a nice tune, I thought.
Oh, and I’ve always considered the two prayers to be basically the same. Most people I know use the two terms (Our Father, and The Lord’s Prayer) interchangeably, except Protestants usually call it the Lord’s Prayer and Catholics usually (but certainly not always) call it the Our Father. In (Catholic) grade school, we were told that the Our Father was also called The Lord’s Prayer–with no mention of the different ending. In fact, I was quite shocked to discover that there was a different ending. I’d venture to guess most people don’t think of it as being two different prayers with two different names, but two slightly different versions of the same one, either of which can be called by one or the other name.
Oh, and the Catholic Encyclopeida lists it under “Lord’s Prayer” and uses both terms pretty interchangeably.
The “Kingdom and the Power and the Glory” part is the Protestant version of the Lord’s Prayer.
In the Anglican tradition, both versions are used. For example, in the Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church of Canada, the prayer ends at “deliver us from evil” in the services of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer. In the Communion service, the extra line is used. I’ve also heard it called by both names.
“Our Father” and “The Lord’s Prayer” are used interchangeably by Catholics in the U.S. AFAIK.
The former is usually used in situations where you are saying it repeatedly. E.g. “For your penance, say three Our Fathers”.
But only the dopiest of Catholics wouldn’t know what the Lord’s Prayer is.
Noting Irishgirl’s summary of the prayers and the mysteries, I think it’s wise to observe that the original way to pray the Rosary, and the one taught as “most proper” today, is to occupy your lips/body with the saying of the prayers, by rote but with the intent of meaning them, while you occupy the part of your mind that would otherwise be wandering to what to have for supper, how red the priest’s nose is today, how attractive that person in the aisle across from you really is (with consequent fantasies), etc., with contemplating the mysteries instead. Note that John Paul II made the first major revision of the Rosary in several hundred years within the past few months, in announcing a fourth set of five Mysteries of Light.
In the official English Liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, it’s called The Lord’s Prayer. But more often than not, Catholics in America refer to it colloquially as The Our Father.
It’s rather traditional to call a prayer by its first word or two, especially by the first words of the Latin text. So, e.g., we have: the Hail Mary, the Gloria, The Credo (but in English, referred to as the Creed or the Profession of Faith), the Sanctus (or, the Holy, Holy), etc…
The traditional form of the Our Father that English speakers use is from the King James Version of the Bible, Matthew 6:9-13. This ends with …but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
However, that last phrase was an insertion to later biblical manuscripts. This extra part, called the Doxology, comes from a first century Christian text called The Didache (the Teachings). It has two versions. The common Protestant formula is:
While the translation that Catholics use in their liturgy is:
Protestants almost always use the doxology to the Lord’s prayer because the King James Bible has it. All truly scholarly bibles, both Catholic and Protestant, now leave the doxology out.
Catholic practice in America during the celebration of the Mass is to insert a little prayer between the Lord’s Prayer and the Doxology to make the point that the doxology is not originally the words of Jesus.
And that this is not the practice in the Catholic Mass in Ireland is understandable, since national episcopal conferences can tinker with the Mass parts as they see fit (with Rome’s permission).
Peace.
And lead us not into sweeps week.
And Vajrayana (Tibetian) Buddhist use them as well. They are used for counting mantras during meditation (certain mantras are supposed to chanted a minimum number of times). Also, they provide a distraction or busy work activity for the body.
And just to be thorough, the Mysteries of Light:
Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan
Manifestation of Jesus at the Wedding at Cana
Proclamation of the Kingdom of God
Transfiguration of Jesus
Institution of the Eucharist
I believe they are to be said on Thursdays.