Shrine to Mary, County Sligo, Ireland

Prior to beads, rosary books were used – pictorial manuals that depicted events in Christ’s life.  Around each picture was a series of 10 roses and one touched a rose for every prayer said.  Absent from rosary books were depictions of Christ’s public life (last supper, miracles, baptism by John, entrance into Jerusalem, temptation) since these events had nothing to do with Mary.  Rosary books weren’t about Christ’s ministry or his role as teacher; they were about the mysteries of his life, his being both God and man; about his passion and suffering; about redemption and the afterlife – those are the themes that resonated with the medieval mind.

Why the rose?  Many theories.  A rose’s five petals signify the 5 wounds of Christ; most are red like his blood or white as a virgin.  The Ave Maria has 5 phrases; Maria has 5 letters.

As pointed out in the novel, medieval man thought that by praying, he was weaving a chaplet for Mary, enrobing her in a living garment of prayer.

Rosary beads were employed in England by the 13th Century and used originally to say the Our Father.  The beads were considered an acceptable form of jewelry (they could be made of many materials, some precious) that even the most pious could wear either around the neck or waist.  Sometimes, they were consecrated and people came to view them as a type of amulet that protected one from the evil eye or spiritual assault.  A value was placed on the repetition of the Ave Maria and the meditation that went with repeating the same words over and over.  It was thought that this improved the individual Christian in a unique way.  Plus, saying the rosary was easier than going on pilgrimage and it could be done at home (just as praying from a book of hours) .

By the late 15th Century, rosary societies had formed.  After joining, at no cost, one was protected by the prayers of the other members.  In this way, one could call on a reservoir of collective prayer like a savings bank or spiritual Internet.  If one died without family to pray for him (bear in mind that prayer was required to ease the soul through Purgatory) the Society would pray for the departed.  In this way, rosary societies provided an insurance policy in the face of all the uncertainty of medieval life.