Origins of the Rosary Necklace
Originally the Rosary was not as we know it today. At first “saying the Rosary” meant reciting 150 Psalms of David by heart. Given the understandable difficulty in learning the entire Rosary by heart (sometimes the monks were uneducated and sometimes they didn’t even know how to read) around 850 AD an Irish monk suggested reciting 150 Our Fathers instead of the Psalms. At this point the prayer began to be used outside of religious centers and, to count the prayers, the faithful used various methods: 150 pebbles, strings with 150 knots up to those with 50 knots.
In the 13th century, the Cistercian monks created a new form of prayer that they called “rosary” because it recalled the crown of mystical roses given to the Madonna. The rose is, in the language of the Church and of flowers, the “Marian” flower par excellence, a symbol of the same as the “Ave Maria”.
Over the centuries, the Rosary took on different connotations and various formulas were associated with it until the one we know today: a prayer in the name of the Virgin Mary that consists of the recitation of 150 Hail Marys, interspersed with Pater Nosters that divide them into 15 decades. This is also accompanied by a sort of meditation on the main mysteries of the Redemption.
But there is not only the Marian rosary that we know. The Muslim religion has the Tasbeeh or Tespih (also called Misbaha, Sebha or Subha), composed of 99+1 beads or 33+1 beads and is connected to the form of prayer Dhikr: the incessant remembrance of God, the repetition of His Name to forget everything that is not God. The Hindu religion also has a rosary, the Japamala (a word that derives from japa = repetition and mala = garland) which is composed of 108 beads. Ja stands for “janmaviccheda”, the cessation of the cycle of birth and death; and pa stands for “Pa kara papanasana”, purification and redemption of all sins. Usually a Japamala is made of plant seeds: lotus, bohi or sandalwood, some, of fine workmanship, are also made of jade or amber.
How did it become a jewel?
Charged with religious meaning, it has reached modern times by changing material, shape and function. The oldest and most common were made of wood, belonged to monks, common people and were a sign of their devotion to the Catholic religion. Over time, the highest-spending classes of society used increasingly precious materials. Rosaries in mother-of-pearl, jade and gold appeared in the world as a sign of Marian devotion and were often part of the jewelry of noblewomen. Women had the role of pious, devoted souls, in direct descent from the Virgin Mary, and were often represented as her.
Over time, in the evolution of customs and society, the rosary has maintained its religious value but has also transformed into a real jewel with the reduction of its length. In silver, gold, even in plastic it has graced the stages of jewelry also becoming a style accessory.
It was Madonna in 1984 who marked a moment of split from the idea of the rosary as a symbol of devotion to that of a pure aesthetic element. In fact, in that year Madonna stepped onto the stage of the MTV Music Video Awards performing her Like A Virgin wearing a tulle wedding dress, covered in bold jewelry such as rosaries and chain necklaces with crosses.
This stylistic choice caused so much astonishment that it reached the highest levels of the Catholic Church, but the “denunciation” against her came only later when Madonna exploded again with her “Papa Do Not Preach”.
In the following years, crosses and rosaries became fashionable, an accessory that became popular on the catwalks until it became common use, deprived of its religious meaning. Indeed, it almost became a movement of rebellion against a Catholicized society that imparted commandments seen as antiquated and narrow compared to modern times. A value therefore, entirely aesthetic, not necessarily mystical. The circle closed with the red carpet of the Met in 2018, Met Gala Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination which marked a decidedly iconic moment in fashion.
Today more and more jewelry companies have reinvented rosaries, with new materials, colors, shapes and sizes. We at Giuzi have also done our part, maintaining the element that we like most about rosaries, that is, colored beads.