Anglicanism and the Rosary
Why the Catholic Rosary has no place in Anglicanism
Among Anglo-Catholics (people who claim they are Anglican but embrace either pre-Reformation or traditionally Catholic/Orthodox concepts) there is a reverence shown to spiritual practices that have no traditional presence in the English Reformation. I have walked into churches and seen holy water stations, physical reverence to icons, Missals, and seen self-styled Anglican Monks and Nuns. While these practices may have validity in either the Orthodox or Roman Catholic traditions, they have never been traditionally present within Anglicanism. They are a part of the phenomenon I have entitled “Anglicanism+”, when Anglicans add things to our tradition that either do not belong or are completely unnecessary. Such is the practice of the Rosary.
What is the Rosary
The Rosary is a traditional Roman Catholic devotional practice. The term itself comes from the Latin word rosarium, used to indicate a garland or crown of roses. The practice originates in the monastic devotional practices from the 4th and 5th centuries. Monks would pray through the 150 Psalms, and to help keep count would use pebbles and ropes. Eventually they would create knotted ropes and this is where the Rosary as a physical device has its origins.
As these practices spread outside of the monasteries, it first included the Psalms, and then the Our Father prayer (“Paternosters”) and then included the Hail Mary prayer (”Hail Mary, full of grace. Our Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen”). The form as we have it today dates to an apparition of the Virgin Mary to the founder of the Dominican order, St. Dominic de Guzman.
What Occurs During The Rosary
The Rosary consists of 5 sections of 10 beads each (called “decades”). It also traditionally starts with a crucifix, five beads, and an attachment which connects the two ends of the rosary to the former. When Roman Catholics pray the Rosary, they navigate through the Four Mysteries over the course of the week. These Mysteries contain episodes from the Life of Christ and a few after his ascension.
The Mysteries of the Rosary
The Joyful Mysteries (recited Monday and Saturday)
1. The Annunciation
2. The Visitation
3. The Nativity
4. The Presentation
5. The Finding in the Temple
The Luminous Mysteries (recited Thursday)
1. The Baptism of Jesus
2. The Wedding Feast of Cana
3. The Proclamation of the Kingdom, with the Call to Conversion
4. The Transfiguration
5. The Institution of the Eucharist
The Sorrowful Mysteries (recited Tuesday and Friday)
1. The Agony in the Garden
2. The Scourging at the Pillar
3. The Crowning with Thorns
4. The Carrying of the Cross
5. The Crucifixion
The Glorious Mysteries (recited Wednesday and Sunday)
1. The Resurrection
2. The Ascension
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit
4. The Assumption
5. The Coronation of Mary Queen of Heaven and Earth
What’s Wrong With the Rosary
Let me be the first to agree with Catholic apologists regarding a few things. One, there is nothing wrong with meditating on the events in the life of Jesus, or using instruments to do so. Second there is nothing wrong with the first portion of the Hail Mary, as it is taken from scripture. Third, there is nothing wrong with demonstrating respect and devotion to the blessed and ever Virgin Mary, the Theotokos.
Where things go awry is how the Rosary is actually conducted. The first area of concern is in the prayers which have been added to the Rosary. The first problematic prayer is the Hail Holy Queen:
Hail, Holy Queen Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
The highlighted portions are those most problematic for Anglicans and Reformation based Christians. While there is no question to Mary’s saintliness and piety, Mary is a human like us all. Where Roman Catholics will interpret certain Biblical passages to suggest that Christ gave Mary to the Church as our Mother, and that she is the Queen of Heaven (borrowing from imagery in the Book of Revelation), we do not entertain either of these as dogmas and are not required of us to believe. We therefore, while honoring the Mother of God, refuse to show her excess reverence or devotion that we rightfully feel should only be directed to God and his son, Jesus.
The second problematic prayer is that which is contained in the concluding dialogue and prayer. Here it is:
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
O God, whose only-begotten Son, by his life, death and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech thee, that meditating on these mysteries of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
The issue for Anglicans is not the vast majority of the prayer, which by and large is not disagreeable to scripture. It is also not in the asking of live saints and pious people to pray for us. The issue is in the asking of the departed to do so. The 39 Articles of Religion (1571) states the following in Article 22
22. Of Purgatory
The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Relics, and also Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.
Anglicans and other Reformation based Christians believe that when Christ said “it is finished” (John 19:28-30), that he was being truthful. His death on the Christ purchased forgiveness for all sinners everywhere; what is required is for the sinner to accept the offer for the merits to be applied. When one believes in Christ, they are called into a life of saintliness and holiness, and while we may sin we can also ask forgiveness. We repent and turn back from sin and continue our walk with God in Christ.
When we take our last breath and cross over to the other side, it is done. We either meet our Lord (Phil. 1) or we die separated from God (Luke 16), awaiting our final judgment and eternal punishment. There is no further interaction between the living and dead, (Psalm 146:4) and we are strongly directed to not seek to interact with the dead in the Bible (Lev. 19:31; 20:27; Deut. 18:10-13; 1 Sam. 28; Job 7:7-10; Eccl. 9:5). We are further encouraged and empowered to call on God ourselves for help, forgiveness, or assistance (Heb. 4:16; Phil. 4:6-7; James 5:13; Jer. 33:3; Psalm 18:6).
The third area of concern is in combining the meditations on the life of Jesus with calling on Mary. Catholics will say that Mary participates in the work of salvation by having said yes to God and therefore we are right in honoring her when we meditate and pray to her son. They also say that without the mother you do not get the son.
While on the surface this sounds logical, why does the logic not get extended to the Holy Spirit who also participated in the incarnation (“he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,” says the Nicene Creed; Luke 1:35). Why do we not add prayers to the Holy Spirit here? Or why do we not honor Joseph who also said yes to this process, who shielded Mary from stoning as a single woman who gave birth outside of wedlock would have received, who took Mary to Bethlehem in fulfillment of the Prophecy, who participated in protecting Jesus and raising him?
Anglicans, Romans, and the Rosary
The real issue with the Rosary and the number of practices that have slowly crept into Anglicanism (particularly since the Oxford Movement) is that they neither are Anglican and they declare to the world that Anglican spirituality is somehow deficient or devoid of depth and needs supplementing. The Anglican reformers were very careful to maintain the best of English catholic spirituality while casting aside practices which are in direct contradiction to the scriptures or orthodox catholic Christianity. We do need the Roman Missal, we have the Book of Common Prayer. We do not need the Liturgy of the Hours, we have the Daily Offices. We do not need the Rosary as we have daily prayers and devotions in our own liturgies.
Accepting spiritual practices at odds with authentic Anglicanism reduces us to nothing more than Catholic cosplayers, trying to be something that we are not while showing the world that we are either ignorant of our own rich heritage and spirituality or worse, ashamed to actually be Anglican. I, therefore, agree with the Book of Homilies when it tells us to leave these things behind (“A Sermon Of Good Works Annexed Unto Faith”):
“some other kinds of papistical superstitions and abuses, as of Beads, of Lady Psalters and Rosaries, of Fifteen Os, of St. Bernard’s Verses, of St. Agathe’s Letters, of Purgatory, of Masses Satisfactory, of Stations, and Jubilees, of feigned Reliques, of hallowed Beads, Bell, Bread, Water, Palms, Candles, Fire, and such other, of superstitious Fastings, of Fraternities (or Brotherheads), of Pardons, with such like merchandise; which were so esteemed and abused to the great prejudice of God’s glory and commandments, that attain to the everlasting life or remission of sin.”