Month of the Holy Rosary

Every year, the month of October is dedicated to the Rosary. The origins of this go back to at least 1571, when Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the rosary for victory at the Battle of Lepanto. The Christian victory at Lepanto was celebrated as the feast of Our Lady of Victory (now Our Lady of the Rosary) on October 7.

Rosary beads are traditionally divided into five groups of ten beads, called decades. There is a prayer to be recited for each bead and a mystery of Christ’s life that is to be contemplated for each decade. The repetition of prayers assists in entering a state of prayerful meditation.

Rosary beads come in all shapes, sizes and colours. This week, we thought we would showcase a couple of interesting Rosary beads from our collection.



This five decade Rosary is unlike any we've seen before: the beads are made from the pits of nuts.

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ARCAT Artifact Collection

This Rosary is unusal for its size and the fact that is has six decades. The six decade Rosary is of the Brigittine tradition and has a slightly different structure to its prayer.

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ARCAT Artifact Collection

You can find out more about how to pray the Rosary here.