Prayer Beads Revisted – The Components

Last time we discussed the basic geography of a rosary and what the most common forms were for European Roman Catholics. Now let’s discuss the individual components of the Rosary in greater detail.

Beads, that is what both the Ave and Paternoster beads are. The average person was most likely to have a rosary that was made of wooden, bone or glass beads. Wooden and bone beads were manufactured locally in most places in Europe. The City of London still has a Paternoster Row – a street where Paternosters were once sold and probably manufactured.

Henry VIII’s rosary is a tenner that is made of elaborately carved boxwood beads with a ring at one end and a large gaude/Paternoster at the other. I was fortunate to actually see this rosary in person a number of years ago when it was on tour in Las Vegas at the Bellagio Art Gallery. You can see it online here.

Do glass rosaries surprise you? The import records from England indicate the import of literally thousands of Paternoster strands from Italy during the 1500’s – all made of glass. I have not been able to locate any surviving paternosters that are made of glass. The beads that they were believed to have been made of do appear archaeologically.

What else can the beads be made of? Well, we have already mentioned wood, bone and glass, but all sorts of stones, semi-precious and precious, coral and metal beads were used. There were actually special rules, called sumptuary laws, put into place in some locations to attempt to control the ostentatious display of wealth. The church put specific sumptuary laws in place to prohibit some of their clergy from using rosaries that contained precious stones and coral.

Other materials may also have been used, like clay or rose petals. There is a lot of modern mythology about when mashed rose petals began to be used to make rosary beads. I have not been able to find any reliable scientific information on this technique as a source of medieval rosary beads. I believe that some of the confusion on this topic may be due to the association with the red rose with the cult of Mary. Modern researchers may have taken comments about roses and Mary literally, when they are meant symbolically. This sort of confusion is unfortunately common. For instance, the German word for beads is Perle. Modern English speakers often assume the word means pearl, when it actually just means a bead made of ANY material.

Multi-decade rosaries are often made as loops. The looped rosary is probably the most common form that we find modernly, and it was definitely used prior to 1600. Loops commonly contained 3 or 5 decades. They generally had a decorative tassel or cross. The cross could be a solid cast or carved piece, or it could be made of multiple beads, as demonstrated in this picture. Several rosaries that were found aboard the wreck of Henry VIII’s ship the Mary Rose (July 19, 1545) had constructed crosses like this. Many of the crews skeletons were found with their rosary on their person or in close proximity, indicating that most of the sailors carried rosaries at all times.

English: A rosary found on board the carrack M...English: A rosary found on board the carrack Mary Rose. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rosary ends could be decorated with crosses, tassels, a large beads called a gaude, or a ring. Remember Henry VIII’s rosary – he had a gaude and a ring.

I hope that this brief summary of rosary components helps you better understand what a pre-1600’s rosary should look like.

Prayer Beads Revisited – The Basics

Over a year ago I wrote a blog on Prayer Beads. Chatting with people in my shop over the past year has consistently brought up some specific questions. The majority of my customers who are looking for prayer beads have European personas, they know that they should be “using” prayer beads as an accessory, and they do NOT know what the prayer beads should look like.

The first important thing to realize, if you are familiar with modern rosaries, is that most of the standardization of rosaries for the general public has occurred in the last 100 years. Prior to that time geographic regions, various religious orders, and personal preference and wealth were all very important considerations.

So, you want a set of prayer beads, but you do not have a “totally focused” persona from a very specific town? If you are male – get a tenner, and if you are female get a three decade rosary.

Now what does that mean? Let’s discuss the geography of a rosary. The standard number of Ave beads in a decade is 10. An Ave, or Hail Mary, bead is used to say the prayer that begins, Hail Mary full of grace… But remember, no matter what your native tongue, if you were a regular Roman Catholic in Europe, you said your rosary in Latin during the Middle Ages, so that would have been Ave Maria Gratia Plena. The decades in a rosary are separated by a Paternoster, or Our Father, bead – this is where the Our father who are in heaven prayer goes… in Latin of course (that is what Paternoster means).

Medieval rosaries were usually ended, or decorated, with either a tassel or a cross, the use of a crucifix on a rosary is extremely rare prior to 1600, but becomes more common after that date. And the difference, in case you are not sure, between a cross and a crucifix, is the presence of a representation of the crucified Christ, hence the name, crucifix. Crosses could be one piece or made of several beads.

So back to my persona recommendations! A tenner is simply a string of ten Ave beads with an end bead, known as a gaude, or a cross, or a ring, or sometimes a tassel, or a combination of those things. If you are in a German speaking area, it will be called a Zehner – you guessed it – a tenner. Women use them too, but they are definitely the most popular form that we find for men. This picture shows a tenner with coral Aves (the black and white beads are just spacers), a carnelian cross at one end, and a ring at the other end. The ring can be used for hanging the rosary off of a belt, or if it is large enough, it can be placed on a finger to make it easy to carry and use the rosary at all times.

Etsy 125

And what about the three decade rosary for women? This form is usually made into a loop, for easier carrying. So we have three sets of ten Ave beads with a larger Crystal Paternoster bead separating them, and a tassel or cross at the end – like this.

Etsy 126

 

I hope that this brief blog helps to demystify what sort of rosary your persona should be carrying. Next time I will discuss the details of bead choices, tassels and crosses.

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Making a Garment Bag from a Table Cloth

One of the challenges that we deal with all the time is how to safely transport long gowns and tunics to events. I remembered that when my children used to compete in major figure skating competitions a lot of the skaters had custom garment bags. A single outfit, and all of the accessories that went with it, would go into a specially designed bag. That seemed like an excellent solution, so I went to the internet to see if I could locate some general directions for garment bag construction. I wanted one without zippers that would take into consideration the sheer volume of the fabric that I was trying to transport. And there it was – a web page with instructions on how to build a custom garment bag that is designed to handle bulky or long items.

Now I understood how someone else was making a successful garment bag, and I actually have bought some good quality ticking to make some custom bags, but I was looking at another issue at the same time – what to do with an old, completely intact, but stained on one end, Christmas table cloth. The stain simply would NOT come out. But it felt like a waste to just toss it out. And then the two projects merged in my brain and here it is. I laid the table cloth out on my bed – it was the only cat and dog free location that was big enough. I recommend using large rectangular table cloths – thrift store finds are perfect, and cheap.

Center the hangers that you plan to use, with the clothing that you plan to hang on them on the short side of the table cloth so that the longest part of the table cloth will be way longer than the clothes that you want to protect.

garment bag 1Then carefully fold over one side of the table cloth so that it goes more than half way across the clothes. Do not make it tight against the clothes – leave at least three inches at the shoulder. Make sure that you keep the top edges of the table cloth even and straight. Use a couple of sewing pins if you need to to keep things from sliding.

garment bag 1st fold

Then fold over the other half of the table cloth, lining up the top edges again and pinning them to keep them from slipping.

garmentbag fold 2

You now have a big cloth burrito with clothes hangers sticking out of the top. So now it is time to shape the top. Carefully fold down the top corners of the table cloth to shape the bag and pin it. Be sure to catch all of the layers of the table cloth in the pins and NONE of the clothing. You can choose to place the folds to the front or the back, hide them inside, trim them off – it is up to you. You will need to sew the shoulder seams. I recommend leaving about 2-3 inches open for the hanger hooks.

garmentbag top

Once you have the top pinned, or sewed, go to the bottom of the soon-to-be-bag and figure out how long it needs to be. The easiest way to do this is peek inside. I recommend leaving at least an extra 4-6 inches at the bottom before you seam it. I usually leave a little bit more so that I can throw a pair of shoes and socks in the bottom of the bag.

garmentbag finding bottom

Once you have decided the length of the “bag” you can cut it, sew it, fold it, whatever you want. I decided to fold mine and then whip stitch it in place. I view the bag as a work in progress and I wanted the option to able to change things later.

garmentbag bottom

To take clothes in and out of the bag, just open the flap. If you are concerned about the flap opening you can add a tie or two to keep it closed.

garmentbag open

Here is my final version, hanging in the laundry room.

garmentbag done