Tracing the serpentine path of the rosary

SIUC professor to speak about the medieval history of this Catholic symbol

Factoid:Anne Winston-Allen’s lecture on the history of the rosary through the Middle Ages will be 7:15 p.m. Thursday at the Newman Catholic Student Center, 715 S. Washington St. It is free and open to people of all faiths.

People in the Middle Ages prayed the rosary to get out of purgatory.

Mike LoMedico prayed to get safely out of World War II.

And after surviving a jump from an exploding tank and earning a Purple Heart, the Carbondale resident quips, I guess it helped.

Today LoMedico still prays the rosary every day, wishing wellness for his friends and family.

You pray, you pray for something, he says in a wisp of a New York accent.

Devout Catholics have used the rosary to pray since the eighth century, says SIUC associate professor Anne Winston-Allen. She will give a free lecture on the history of the rosary through the Middle Ages at 7:15 p.m. Thursday at the Newman Catholic Student Center, 715 S. Washington St.

Prayer beads are something that belong to the human species, said the German and medieval literature expert. Even Lady Godiva had a set in 1040.

Catholic prayer beads were invented to help illiterate monks and peasants keep track of their prayers they often said 150 in one sitting.

Rich folks prayed with precious jewels, but hermits in the desert used pebbles and knotted cord. Others made rosaries of coffee beans, coral bits or pieces of bone.

The ritual itself is like jazz, Winston-Allen says. The rhythm of the prayers remains the same, while the mental meditations on Jesus’ life meander in new directions.

Then in the 15th century, praying the rosary surged in popularity.

The pope decided you could pray someone out of purgatory, Winston-Allen said. And you got 40 days off your time in purgatory for each time you prayed the rosary.

Soon 100,000 medieval worshippers in 82 European cities joined groups that let them pool their praying merits like brownie points for heaven.

This was a huge group of people for the time, Winston-Allen said. The largest city in Europe only had a population of 30,000.

And therein lies the mystery for religious scholars like Winston-Allen. Why all this praying?

Some historians think people were too anxious; others didn’t think they were pious enough, she said.

Today the rosary is still a prayerful way to reflect on Christ’s life, says the Rev. Bob Flannery, a priest at St. Francis Xavier, 303 S. Poplar St.

It has become a teaching tool a time capsule of the Catholic faith and an icon of its doctrine.

When we don’t know exactly what to say, Flannery said. We meditate and lift our thoughts and entire being up to God.