Greetings Fellow Quill Readers

When I first heard of paternosters I did not know what they were. First thought I assumed it was a foodstuff or a treat. Then I saw pictures of complete paternosters from various people in the Kingdom and I quickly realized I was way off. So then it led me to ask myself what exactly is a paternoster? Is it just a "medieval rosary"? If so why are they called paternoster? Well I asked her Excellency Rowan Berran McDowell if she had more information. She indeed had a handout and is kindly willing to let me share with the Barony. So here is her handout on paternosters and it is really quite interesting.

Blessings,
Lady Rohesia

Countess Rowan's paternoser handout: "Making a “Paternoster” or “Rosary”
 
We fly to your patronage, O holy Birthgiver of God;
despise not our petition in our necessities,
but deliver us always from all dangers,
O ever-glorious and blessed Virgin.
                   -one of the oldest known prayers to Mary

Overview/ Introduction
The use of the word “bead” dates back almost 400 years and  is derived from the Anglo Saxon word “bidden” and also the word for prayer-“bede”. Prayer beads may have originated with Hindu religious practices in India, but were also  found  in general use throughout China, Japan, Korea and Tibet. Prayer beads in the form of bead strings were in use by Christians as early as the 2nd century and by the late 1600’s the form we now know as  the “rosary”  could be  found everywhere. In Europe, a string of prayer beads was  first called a “paternoster” after the Latin term for the prayer most often recited on it. Later it evolved into several forms and configurations, but initially it was just a linear string of beads. History although in common usage by Christians, prayer beads were not officially accepted by the Catholic church until in 1520, Pope Leo X made the rosary an official instrument for veneration.

The “rosary” took the place of the daily recitation of the Psalms for the non clergy. The Our Father was used because  every  good Christian  was  supposed  to  know  the prayer and while the Daily Office might require you to be able to read, the “rosary” did not. When the primary prayer changed from the Our Father to the recitation of “Hail Mary.”It included only the first part of the prayer with which we are familiar today. Both parts of the prayer are derived from Scripture-   the Gospel of Luke, 1:28   combined with Luke, 1: 42. It was the Church which added the second half which came from the prayer book for the dying written by St. Anselm of Canterbury who died himself in 1109. In 1196, the Bishop of Paris ordered his clergy to teach this form to the members of their flocks and in a short time the prayer became used throughout Europe.

In 1568 The Hail Mary was added to the Our Father, along with the Glory Be to the Father, which is how the rosary is prayed today. Materials and Construction Medieval rosaries in all their forms could be made from many different materials, including clay, wood, bone, glass, and mother-of-pearl; semiprecious stones such as chalcedony, amber, jet, and coral; and even gold, silver and precious stones, basically whatever you could afford. They were strung on silk cord or linen thread- the favorite color for this was red. Crosses did not become a predominant part of the rosary until the Council of Trent, 1543-1563. Usually you would find tassels on either or both ends, medals, reliquaries, tokens  from pilgrimages- whatever was meaningful to the owner. There was no hard  fast rule about the number of beads or even the number of decades. Decades evolved as an easy way to divide the 150 recitations of the Our Father that replaced the 150 Psalms the clergy were required to say. Many prayer strings had as few as 5 and as many as 150 beads on them. Usually you would find prayer strings of 33 beads for the life of Christ, 64 beads for the life of Mary, 5 for the Five Wounds, 7 for the Seven Sorrows, etc.

Rosaries usually had 53 or 59 beads and were  frequently  formed  into bracelets or necklaces and worn by both men and women. Men usually adopted the linear form of the rosary. By the 15th century no self respecting Christian would be  seen out and about without  their  rosary prominently displayed!


How To For a Rosary:
Length of silk
wire  twist  needle
52  small beads
6  larger  beads

Medal, cross, tassle at one end or both make a knot at one end of the silk leaving a two inch tail, string your beads, etc. then either tie the ends together to make a  loop  leaving some give so that the beads can slide on the silk. Add a cross or tassel or token with the ends.  Knot firmly and trim excess. You may add a tiny dot of superglue on the knot to keep it from unraveling.

For a Paternoster (33 or 50 beads):
Length of silk
wire  twist  needle
33 or 50 beads

Cross or token or tassle at either end make a knot at one end of the silk leaving a two inch tail, string your beads, etc.  Add a cross or tassle or token at either of the ends.  Knot firmly and trim excess. You may add a tiny dot of superglue on the knot to keep it from unravelling.

References
Beads and Prayers: The Rosary in History and Devotion by John D. Miller Dubin, Lois S. The History of Beads, from 30,000 B.C. to the present. (New York: Abrams, 1987).

Praying With Beads: Daily Prayers for the Christian Year by Nan Lewis Doerr and Virginia Stem Owens Miller, John D.

Beads and Prayers: The Rosary in History and Devotion. (London: Burnes and Oates, 2001).

Beads of Faith: Pathways to Meditation and Spirituality Using Rosaries, Prayer Beads, and Sacred Words by Gray Henry and Susannah Marriott

Praying With Our Hands: 21 Practices of Embodied Prayer from the World's Spiritual Traditions by Jon M. Sweeney, Jennifer J. Wilson, Taitetsu Unno, and Mother Tessa Bielecki

"Rosary" Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service.

Bedes Byddyng: Medieval Rosaries and Paternoster Beads by Chris Laning Michael Cleary, SVD.

The Jesus Prayer Rosary (Canterbury Press.) Lois Sherr Dubin

History of Beads, New Advent, Catholic Encyclopedia

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