People who are uncertain of what rosary beads are , tend to use a variety of spellings. We have seen -rosemary beads – rosary beeds – rosery beads – roseary beads – rossery beads – roseery beads and others.
The correct name is “rosary beads” – because the name derives from the latin rosarium describing a rose.
The bible is full of plant imagery.
The rose is often associated with mary in her role as intercessor and intermediary.
Those who have reported apparitions of our lady, often describe the scent of roses. And the rose features in some of the history of these apparitions.
Juan Diego at Guadalupe was instructed to take castillian roses from mary to the local bishop which are not native in Mexico as a proof that he was not making the story up – and our lady really did appear to him.
Saint Bernadette describes the roses on the feet of our lady as she appeared at the grotto at Masabielle in Lourdes.
So for those who aren’t sure what the correct spelling is – or indeed what rosary beads are – the word is rosary and its plural is rosaries. The rosary beads are not just a piece of religious jewellery, they are prayer beads, each bead representing a prayer, and each decade a mystery in the life of our lord
