One of the best ways to teach children to pray is with prayer beads, including the rosary. Let’s revive this ancient and treasured practice.

Let’s give prayer beads back to our children. Using them is an ancient and popular religious practice. Prayer beads offer the earliest form of holistic, meditative experience, appealing and appropriate for children, even very young children.

In our Catholic tradition, the use of prayer beads diminished with the diminished use of rosary beads in the late sixties and early seventies during a period of change after Vatican Council II. At that time people were discouraged from saying the rosary during Mass and from putting devotion to Mary before devotion to Jesus. Unfortunately, through trying to correct excesses, a wonderful private devotion was diminished to the point that it is no longer readily available to today’s children.

Learning from Adults

In the past, children frequently saw others using the rosary in church and at home. At one time, the Hail Mary was recited at the end of every Mass, and it was one of the few prayers recited in English (when Latin was the language used at Mass). Using the rosary was a goal for children just as receiving first communion is a goal for children today.

The Hail Mary is no longer a prayer children hear frequently, and children are not as apt to see significant adults using rosaries. The rosary has become more of a curiosity for children than a goal. A child receiving a rosary is very likely to wear it as a necklace, something unheard of in the past.

Ancient Tools for Prayer

Prayer beads are ancient tools for prayer and meditation. The word bead comes from an old English word, bode, which means prayer The way beads are used for prayer has always been very simple. The first bead is fingered while a prayer is said. That prayer is repeated as the fingers move from one bead to another Strings of beads are usually made into circles like wreaths or crowns. These are called “chaplets.”

In the Christian religion, the earliest prayer beads were used by those who could not read, a large portion of the people. While others read the one hundred and fifty psalms each day, those who used beads recited The Our Father one hundred and fifty times, counting with their prayer beads. Others used prayer beads for mantra-like Jesus prayers such as, “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Eventually other chaplets of beads were used. These included some with prayers of saints and angels and some using favored Scripture quotes.

The rosary was first used in the Middle Ages. The Dominicans introduced and promoted the use of meditations on Jesus’ life through the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries. This eventually became the typical and wonderfully meditative practice for Catholics. We still cherish the rosary, but the prayer form is no longer readily available to children because the rosary is no longer part of everyday life for many of them.

Where To Begin

To introduce children to praying in this way, you might begin with simple prayer beads. Praying this way is an innate and natural way for children to learn their prayers. As in early times, children can make their own prayer beads and choose the prayer they want to use. The prayers can change as the children grow and might eventually lead us all back to more frequent use of the rosary.

Younger Children

Preschoolers can use safe, colorful wooden beads (25 mm.), cords (such as shoe strings), and wooden crosses (one or two inches tall with a hole near the top). They can string ten beads (a decade) with the cross as their starting point. A mantra-like prayer for children of this age might be as simple as “God loves me.” Often repeated mantra-like expressions reach deep within and last forever. “God loves me” is a wonderful early teaching that children need to internalize.

Intermediate-age children can use smaller wooden beds of varied colors (ranging in size from about 10mm. to 20 mm.) with their cords and crosses. Beads of plastic, terra cotta, glass, and other materials can also be used. Most of these, along with appropriate cords, are available in bulk from craft supply shops and catalogs.

Wooden crosses are not quite as easy to find. Religious good shops and catalogs are possible sources. Pierre Charbonneau Inc. of Canada is one source. They offer wooden crosses at a reasonable price with cords that can be used as pendants and/or for stringing beads (Les Creations, Pierre Charbonneau, Inc., Quebec, Canada, phone: 1-800-663-3788). A variety of wooden crosses, chaplets, and rosaries are also available from Prospect Hill Company in Brockton, Massachusetts (1-800-586-1951).

Making Their Own

Children can also make their own beads using poly-clays such as “Sculpey” that can he baked in a conventional oven. Wonderful color combinations with marbleized effects can be created by rolling several colors together. Each bead is created by simply rolling a small amount of clay in the palms of the hands until the roundness and coloring desired is reached. After making the beads, children can use a thin wooden dowel to create holes in the beads. Note that the holes need to be large because they will shrink in the baking process. Crosses can also be made with poly clay. Just follow the baking instructions that come with Sculpey or other types of poly clay. Once the beads are baked and cool, they can be strung along with the cross.

If the equipment and expertise are available to you, you can make, fire, and glaze them in a kiln. This is a longer process requiring more skills and equipment, but great for older youngsters when possible.

A Variety of Prayers

Many prayers besides the Jesus Prayers, the Our Father, and the Hail Mary can be used with beads. Angel chaplets can offer the words of angels, to be repeated as each bead is fingered. Examples include: “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest” or “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to God’s people on earth.”

Or children can pray “Scripture chalets” by choosing a favorite Scripture passage and repeating it on each bead. An example might be. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Exploring the Bible with your class to choose prayers for Scripture beads can be a rewarding, fruitful experience.

“Saint” beads can also be created using the words and prayers of saints. On these beads, a medal honoring the saint might replace the cross. St. Patrick’s “Christ Before Me” and St. Francis’ “Prayer of Peace” are two of many prayers that might be used.

Liturgy beads would involve using prayers and acclamations from the liturgy. For example: “Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” Praying the Gloria or the Creed, or a portion of either, are other possibilities. Children can easily identify with prayers from the liturgy because they hear them frequently. Children preparing for First Communion can learn liturgy responses with the help of these beads.

The Rosary Itself

The rosary can be introduced by having youngsters make a decade of beads. The Hail Mary can be taught and connected to the stories of Mary’s encounters with her cousin Elizabeth and the Angel Gabriel. This can lead to learning the history, prayers, and mysteries of the rosary.

Children can gain much from both exploring and choosing prayers for their chaplets. It is also important to encourage them to use their prayer beads frequently as part of the meditative process. When you involve them in creating the prayer beads and choosing the prayers, chances are they will use the beads more often and more meaningfully.

Marge Tuthill is DRE at St. Mary’s Parish in Carolina, Rhode Island.

RTJ March 1998 36-37