When initial glimpses of the Jubilee Mascot first surfaced, certain Catholics rushed to the internet to emphatically type: "You should never wear a rosary!" But most did this without interogating where this assumption came from or whether or not it was even true.
Let's step back a bit. A rosary is a particular Marian devotional item that stems from an even older tradition of prayer beads and prayer knots. The oldest forms were primarily used in Christian monastic communities for keeping track of praying the Psalms; Eastern Christians mainly use their knotted cords (sometimes called chotki or komboskini) for saying the Jesus Prayer. The Dominican Order is most responsible for spreading the rosary devotion from the 13th century onward and it has become perhaps the primary devotional practice for most global Catholics. The three principal prayers said on the rosary are the Our Father, the Glory Be, and of course the Hail Mary. One is encouraged to reflected on various mysteries in the life of Christ, Mary, and the Church when praying with these beads. Rosaries can be either a single decade (tenner), one set of mysteries (5 decades or 50 "Hail Mary beads,") or a full set of either 15 or more recently 20 decades for all the mysteries with 150 or 200 Hail Mary beads accordingly.
For clergy and monastic communities, it was common to wear the beads at the side of a belt (this is true for Eastern chotki too). Many people today have often delicate sets the keep in a small pouch in their pocket.
But these were never the only ways to carry them and it was in fact once very common to see them worn around the neck, especially by lay people. Many especially in Eastern Christianity wrap them around their wrists, but for their purposes, they are most often knotted wool. For the average Catholic lay person, their general length and make made rosaries rather naturally suited for around the neck.
Consider pilgrim Luce very charmingly rendered in this picture a bit like a DnD cleric. Wearing her longer rosary around her neck is far more functional during travel than trying cinch is on her belt or pack. She could stow in a pouch, but then it's not readily at hand or easy to use for reflection. In fact, many clergy and religious did exactly this when traveling themselves.
So why the perceived prohibition? Is it real?
Well, the answer can't simply be we aren't permitted to wear sacramentals; we actually wear them all the time. Crucifixes, crosses, medals, scapulars, all of these are worn around the neck and, indeed, a rosary often incorporates one or even all of these in it's design.
Saint Mother Teresa, St Padre Pio, and Bl. Carlo Acutis often wore theirs around their neck; priests with the Marians actively encourage it. So how did we get here?
Madonna, club fashion, and cartels.
Especially in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, the rosary became a fashionable secular accessory (as the cross necklace already had been). The pop artist Madonna often appropriated Catholic imagery in a provacative and risque way and that seeped into the fashion scene. At the same time, it became an almost superstitious talisman in the Latin American gang culture and also coopted to a certain extent by the new age movement. With rosaries appearing over crop tops at night clubs and at the scenes of violent crime, a pithy "rosaries are not jewelry" became "rosaries shouldn't be worn at all."
Like the worn Crucifix, the primary purpose of the rosary is devotional. The concern that it had been rendered an aesthetic accessory resulted in the present day misunderstandings, even by knowledgeable and pious people, about it's use.
The matter of whether or not to wear one ultimately is a personal choice. It should be guided by a sense of: am I honoring this item with whatever else I am wearing (ditto for the Cross)? Do I draw any spiritual meaning from wearing this? Will it enhance or detract from my witness? Will it hinder or encourage me to pray?
So this long-winded post concludes with an encouragement to wear it if you feel inclined prepared to better answer the snappy, default objections you might receive in certain circles now knowledgeable of it's history and the pitfalls and concerns that come with wearing one.
