Getting a rosary blessed: who blesses it and why only after purchase

A rosary that arrives already blessed when you buy it: that sounds convenient, but it runs up against a rule hardly anyone knows. The 1917 Code of Canon Law makes the indulgences attached to a rosary cease as soon as it is sold. The better way is therefore simple. You buy the rosary unblessed and then have it consecrated, or more precisely blessed, by a priest. This guide explains why you have a rosary blessed, who may do so, how the old Dominican blessing of rosaries reads and when a rosary loses its indulgences.

Why do you have a rosary blessed?

You have a rosary blessed so that it becomes a sacramental: an object that the Church dedicates to God through her prayer and with which she implores graces for the one who prays. Indulgences attached to the rosary itself are conferred by the blessing of a priest who has the necessary faculty.

The 1917 Code defines sacramentals as "things or actions which the Church, in a certain imitation of the sacraments, is accustomed to use in order to obtain through her intercession effects chiefly of a spiritual kind" (can. 1144). The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1912 explains how they differ from the sacraments: sacramentals do not confer sanctifying grace ex opere operato, by virtue of the act performed. In her formulas of blessing the Church speaks not in assertions but in petitions, and this shows that she expects the effect directly from the divine mercy.

A blessed rosary therefore remains an instrument of prayer. It does not help of itself but in use: when you pray with it. And it calls for reverence. Whatever has been blessed by a constitutive blessing must be treated reverently and may not be put to profane or improper use, even when privately owned (can. 1150).

Can you buy a blessed rosary?

Buying an already blessed rosary has a catch: under can. 924 § 2 of the 1917 Code, the indulgences of a rosary cease when it is sold. If you want to own a blessed rosary with its indulgences, you therefore buy it unblessed and then have it blessed by a priest.

The Latin text reads: Indulgentiae coronis aliisve rebus adnexae tunc tantum cessant, cum coronae aliaeve res prorsus desinant esse vel vendantur. In English: indulgences attached to rosaries or other objects cease only when the rosaries or objects entirely cease to exist or are sold.

Then there is the rule against simony. Under can. 727 § 1, buying or selling a spiritual thing for a temporal price is simony; as an example the Code names the consecration when a consecrated chalice is sold. Selling a blessed object is not simony only if the price is not raised on account of the blessing (can. 730). So there may be no surcharge for "blessed". An unblessed rosary from our collection of handmade rosaries, blessed after purchase, avoids all of this.

Who can bless a rosary?

A rosary is blessed by a priest. Under can. 1147 § 2 of the 1917 Code, any priest may impart blessings that are not reserved to the Pope, to bishops or to others. The proper blessing of rosaries in the Rituale Romanum, however, is a Dominican formula and requires a faculty from the Apostolic See.

According to can. 1146, the lawful minister of the sacramentals is the cleric who has been given the faculty for it and who has not been forbidden its exercise by competent ecclesiastical authority. Deacons and lectors may validly and lawfully impart only those blessings that the law expressly permits them (can. 1147 § 4). A blessing is valid only with the formula prescribed by the Church (can. 1148 § 2).

The 1925 edition of the Rituale Romanum lists the blessing of rosaries among the "proper blessings of certain religious orders", to be used by priests with an apostolic indult. Whether a priest has this faculty cannot be seen from outside. So simply ask the priest whether he may bless rosaries with the Dominican formula. A priest who does not have the faculty can tell you how he blesses and what that means for the indulgences.

What is the Dominican blessing of rosaries?

The Dominican blessing of rosaries is the Benedictio coronarum sacratissimi Rosarii, a proper formula of the Order of Preachers in the Rituale Romanum. In its prayer the Church asks that everyone who prays with a rosary so blessed may share in the graces and indulgences of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary.

In the 1925 Rituale the full formula stands in the appendix under no. 35, expressly as Propria Ordinis Praedicatorum, proper to the Order of Preachers. Its prayer asks God to bless and sanctify these signs of the Rosary, so that everyone who carries one of them, keeps it reverently in his home and prays devoutly with it according to the statutes of the Confraternity, meditating on the divine mysteries, may receive a share in all the graces, privileges and indulgences that the Apostolic See has granted to the Confraternity. At the end the rosary is sprinkled with holy water.

Under no. 36 there follows a shorter formula, approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites on 23 November 1918. The Raccolta of 1943 confirms the consequence: whoever uses in prayer a rosary blessed by a religious of the Order of Preachers or by another priest with a special faculty can gain further indulgences in addition (no. 360, note 2). For plenary indulgences the Raccolta names in its preface the usual conditions of sacramental confession, Holy Communion, a visit to a church or public oratory and prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father; for the Rosary itself no. 360 names conditions of its own. The Raccolta does not list the indulgences of the Dominican blessing individually at this point.

Ad laudem et glóriam Deíparæ Vírginis Maríæ, in memóriam mysteriórum vitæ, mortis et resurrectiónis ejúsdem Dómini nostri Jesu Christi, bene ✠ dicátur et sancti ✠ ficétur hæc sacratíssimi Rosárii coróna: in nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.

To the praise and glory of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in memory of the mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, may this chaplet of the most holy Rosary be blessed ✠ and sanctified ✠: in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Rituale Romanum, Formula brevior benedicendi coronam sacratissimi Rosarii, Propria Ordinis Praedicatorum, approved on 23 November 1918 (1925 edition, printed Regensburg 1937, p. 556); our translation from the Latin

How does the blessing of a rosary take place?

The blessing of a rosary takes only a few minutes. The priest says the formula of blessing from the Rituale Romanum over the rosary, makes the sign of the cross as he does so and sprinkles it with holy water. Ask him after Holy Mass or in the sacristy.

This is how to go about it:

1. Buy the rosary and unpack it. Feel free to bring several: the full prayer of the blessing of rosaries is in the plural and is intended for many rosaries at once.
2. Approach the priest after Holy Mass. Say that you would like to have a rosary blessed, and ask whether he has the faculty for the Dominican blessing.
3. Hold the rosary open in your hand or lay it before you while the priest prays and sprinkles it with holy water.
4. Afterwards keep it reverently, for example in a rosary pouch, and pray with it.

To ask a price for the blessing itself would be simony (can. 727). An offering made on the occasion of the blessing and recognised by law or lawful custom is not simony according to can. 730; whether you give a donation to the church is up to you.

When does a blessed rosary lose its indulgences?

Under can. 924 § 2 of the 1917 Code, a blessed rosary loses its indulgences only if it entirely ceases to exist or is sold. The Code does not mention giving it away or bequeathing it. Nor does it name any separate ground on which a rosary loses the blessing itself.

The word prorsus, "entirely", is important here. A rosary whose cord has snapped does not entirely cease to exist. We have found no ruling in the 1917 Code or the Raccolta on how many beads may be replaced before it counts as a new rosary. If in doubt, simply have it blessed again after a major repair.

For consecrated or blessed church furnishings, can. 1305 lays down that they lose their consecration or blessing if they are so damaged that they lose their original form and are no longer fit for their use, if they are put to unworthy use or if they are publicly offered for sale. This does not apply expressly to rosaries, but it shows how seriously the Church takes the sale of consecrated things.

Mentioned in this article Rosary with stone beads, black/blue Handmade with 8 mm matt stone beads, blue glass Our Father beads, a Miraculous Medal and a Pardon Crucifix. View the rosary Mentioned in this article Rosary with lava stone beads, black/anthracite Handmade from 8 mm lava stone beads and obsidian Our Father beads, with a St Benedict cross, about 55 cm long. View the rosary

Frequently asked questions about having a rosary blessed