I’ve learned a few things about the Rosary. For one, using a rosary to pray the Rosary is apparently optional and is meant as a guide for following the proper procedure. I still want to get one (more on that in a minute) but I guess it’s not strictly necessary.
Also, non-catholics are encouraged to pray the Rosary, which surprised me. I felt a little like I was crashing a wedding by doing it on the sly, and without a physical rosary no less! But apparently the Catholics are happy for anyone to pray in such a way.
I’ve also learned that the prayer of Alma that WJT includes in his own Rosary practice is not some Catholic saint named Alma, but WJT’s Latin translation of BoM Alma saying this before he baptized Helam:
O Lord, pour out thy Spirit upon thy servant, that he may do this work with holiness of heart.
That seems like a good prayer but I think it might be better placed at the very beginning rather than its current spot. I’m also inclined to utter this prayer from Nephi instead or in addition to Alma’s:
But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.
WJT informs me that there is a Dominican version of the Rosary that omits the Apostles’ Creed, which greatly appeals to me, but I also like WJT’s point that one could read the creed as lowercase C catholic which just means universal or “all-embracing”. That could work but I still don’t love praying a creed as mentioned before. I’ll experiment.
And lastly I’ve learned it’s considered acceptable to pray a shortened Rosary with just one Decade/Meditation but I get the idea it’s an as-needed thing for a good reason rather than a standard way to do it. Praying the full 53 Hail Marys every day just seems like an awful lot but I also don’t want to be lazy so….
Speaking of Hail Mary, apparently the original version included just the first two sentences and not the 3rd longer sentence. I don’t really know the history much but any emendation makes me very suspicious. I may try the old way, and yes it being shorter is definitely part of the appeal. Sue me.
I’m toying with putting together my own take on the Rosary that uses the Quenya prayers where applicable and maybe Nephi’s prayer but for now I’ll just keep experimenting.
“But what’s all that got to do with the title of this post???”
The biggest problem with my current experiment is I lack a rosary to pray the Rosary.
Granted, it’s considered optional supposedly, but WJT is quite fond of using one so I’m inclined to try it. I was going to order one online but it just seemed a little weird and I figured it would be better to find a local shop that had one. Since I was going to be out and about today I looked for a Catholic store. Wouldn’t you know, I found one all the way downtown, 30 min away and it’s called The Paraclete:
Paraclete is a Greek word that refers to the Holy Ghost but it’s also a word Bill received back in 2019.
Nov. 3 and 4, 2019
Ever longinquitous lore eli-yhu para-cle’et lea alsado ish nee eshtaru te ak’a to go out useru
My ‘translation’ (probably not great, but I think good enough, honestly, for this):
Ever distant/ remote lore Elias Holy Ghost compose light out of your nothing-place whence I Eressea path very far to go out without love/ lover
As soon as I saw that store name I thought that was a good sign. And then to make matters even better, a reviewer raved at the great selection of rosaries:
The best selection of rosaries in town? You had me at Paraclete but that’s a great bonus!
Well as it turns out, they had the *only* selection of rosaries in town, emphasis on “had” because unfortunately the Holy Ghost is permanently out of business here. I was really bummed. I half thought I’d show up and like Harry Potter at Olivander’s, the rosary would choose me, boxes would fly off the shelves, the light would shine and the wind blow, and some old timer would lean in close to tell me about the time a mass murderer picked out a rosary that was similar to mine.
No such luck.
My wife got me in contact with the local Diocese and a very sweet lady who seemed genuinely sad to tell me reports that she is unaware of a single shop in town that sells rosaries since Paraclete closed and directed me to a store 3 hours away. We’re a metro of over 1 million people, by the way. You’d think a Holy Ghost could turn a profit selling Catholic wares! At least break even? Not so.
3 hours away just won’t do, of course, so it’s looking like this will be an Internet purchase after all. Maybe I’ll spring for a nicer one off Etsy at least. But mostly for this post I just wanted to call out the Paraclete nod.
I plan to get back more to BoM stuff after this but I will continue to post updates about my Rosary journey.
William James Tychonievich
That logo in the lower right corner of the rosary photo you included is a bit suggestive of Tolkien’s monogram, isn’t it?
I’ve tried using the Quenya prayers but still prefer the Latin. Doing it in Quenya felt too much like it was a “novelty prayer” and incompletely serious. Perhaps it’s because I don’t really “believe in” Tolkien’s world in the literal way that you and Bill do. I think we have to conclude that Tolkien himself did sometimes pray in Quenya, though. Certainly no Elf would be praying the Rosary in-universe, so Tolkien’s only motivation for translating the prayers would have been for his own use. I know amateur language-creators will sometimes translate the Lord’s Prayer as a sort of proof-of-concept, but Tolkien was obviously way beyond that level.
That’s funny that you thought there might be a Saint Alma in Catholicism. I just assumed the name and content would make it obvious that that prayer comes from the BoM.
I’ve always been struck by 2 Nephi 32:9, too, and I did a couple of posts about its concept of “Russian reversal consecration”:
https://narrowdesert.blogspot.com/2022/11/in-mormon-russia-lord-consecrates.html
https://narrowdesert.blogspot.com/2023/05/russian-reversal-consecration-revisited.html
I actually use a prayer inspired by that verse when I want to consecrate sacred or magical instruments — or, rather, ask God to consecrate them to me. I do this in English for the time being but may tackle a Latin translation later:
“O God, the Eternal Father, I ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and consecrate this _______ to me, that my use of it may be for the welfare of my soul. Amen.”
It’s crazy that it’s so hard to find rosaries for sale in your area. I don’t even live in a Christian country, and I easily found a place within walking distance to buy a one. That Paraclete thing is an interesting coincidence, though. I recently learned that the Rosary has been known for centuries as a synchronicity magnet; the Catholic term is “signal graces.”
WW
Bummer on the store. Seems crazy there aren’t any other physical locations to buy rosaries – probably doesn’t speak too well of their current adoption rates.
Even Wands have gone digital and online these days, though. My kids have searched many a wand on the Wizarding World site. Probably a new Harry Potter book would have all of the aspiring wizards ordering their wands that way, and delivered by Owl.
You might end up with a better selection and quality of rosaries online to choose from than in the store, in the end.
Can you construct your own modified rosary (like building your own lightsaber)? How to spec do these things have to be?
Lucas
You could look for a Catholic church nearby and call their office, ask if they have any. Although they might hand out the cheap plastic ones and not a nice one.
LEE
Apologies to WJT and Lucas. Your comments somehow got flagged in the backend and I just barely saw them today.
WJT – I admit that I have only tried the Quenya once and so far prefer Latin as well, but it wasn’t a serious attempt. I think elves did pray a Rosary of sorts, their own Hail Mary essentially. I have a post planned about it. But I agree, it seems that Tolkien must have prayed it in Quenya although for all we know he too preferred the Latin. And I think it’s high time you go all in on Tolkien as history. Enough trifling. 😉
Lucas – I thought for sure the local Diocese would offer me one but the very kind lady directed me to a store 3 hours away instead! I almost bought one online but I took WW’s suggestion and made my own. I’ll post a picture in another post. Though I have not mustered the courage to bless it, I do keep it close at hand.