By Tim Lilley
Thank you, Knights of Columbus, for the Tweet that inspired this column.
@KofC recently Tweeted, “Rosary check. Where did you get yours from?” The rosaries I use daily came from the website catholicprayercards.org. They are listed on the site as Rosary Rings; I’ve always thought of them as “finger rosaries.” They are single-chaplet, metal rings with an image of Jesus, Mary or one of the saints included as an Our Father bead.
These small single-chaplet sacramentals make it easy and convenient to incorporate the Rosary — and other prayers — into your hectic daily life. They also make it easy to pray a rosary for the intercession of a certain saint or image of Jesus or Mary without spending a ton of money on multiple full-size rosaries.
In my car, I keep two of them — one with a crucifix and the other with the image of the Divine Mercy Jesus. I use the latter for the Divine Mercy Chaplet any time I am in the car during the 3 p.m. hour. I use the rosary ring with the crucifix any time I wish to pray a rosary in the car. What blessings these rings are.
At home, I keep a Divine Mercy rosary ring and another ring with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe next to my recliner. In my pocket as I type this is a rosary pouch that is comfortably holding seven rosary rings. They include the Divine Mercy Jesus, the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, my Guardian Angel, St. Michael the Archangel and St. Padre Pio. The latter came from a shop in Rome and includes a second-class relic — a small piece of cloth from one of his robes.
Many of our parishes have volunteers who lead the rosary before weekend Masses. Wherever I am, I choose one of those rings to pray the before-Mass rosary.
Why have so many rosary rings?
Why not?
Each represents a saint or devotion to Jesus and Mary that I am fond of and seek intercession from through prayer. And each, with one exception, was very inexpensive. The St. Padre Pio rosary ring cost more because of its nature (i.e. the inclusion of a second-class relic, and seller-provided proof that it had been blessed by Pope Francis) and because of shipping charges to get it here from Rome.
All the others cost less than $3 each.
These rosary rings’ convenience is a big attraction for me — and they won’t break. I like that because I am fond of praying the rosary, and I have broken several full sets of beads.
I just checked catholicprayercards.org, and the site has more than 30 different rosary rings available for purchase. One of them — or more — could be perfect for you.