Hey all! This will be a quick post answering the question: can I pray with a rosary that hasn’t been blessed?

Of course you can 🙂

Yes, you can 🙂 You can pray with your fingers, they haven’t been blessed. You can pray counting the number of Hail Marys in your head. Your head hasn’t been blessed.

Seriously though, of course you can! I’ve used rosaries that haven’t been blessed. It’s not like you’re sinning. You’re glorifying God by using his creation to enhance your prayers.

And in some sense, every set of rosary beads (blessed or not by a priest) is already blessed. When a set of rosary beads is made by someone, they make it for a specific purpose. The rosary beads have been made for prayer and worship of God.

A crucifix is attached to the beads with Jesus on the cross.

It would be impossible to say that such a set of beads with the crucifix isn’t in some sense already a blessed item.

You surely wouldn’t think it’s ok to take a set of non-blessed rosary beads and throw them in the mud! Such a thing would be great dishonour to Christ, pictured in the crucifix, and it shows contempt for Mary and God whom the rosary was created to serve.

I have many icons in my house from the Eastern Orthodox tradition, none of which have been blessed (so far as I’m aware). But these are holy objects, they were created for a specific purpose and are special. They have done untold good to my soul. I would never dream of thinking, ‘O well, they aren’t blessed, so I can just chuck them into the sea.’

Also, consider this little fact. Broken rosaries are supposed to be disposed of honourably. You cannot throw them away, you must either burn them or bury them.

Now, consider also that a substantially broken rosary is no longer a blessed rosary. It loses it’s special blessing when it ceases to function as a rosary.

And yet, despite this fact, it must STILL be treated honourably.

So there you have it. A non-blessed rosary is still, in some sense, a sacred object.

Try to get your rosary blessed in due time

However, it is a good idea to get your rosary blessed when opportunity arises. This is because a blessed rosary gives you more blessing and indulgences.

A blessed rosary is an officially, objectively sanctified object. It takes on a special degree of sacredness, and must be treated as such.

This cannot but help the person who owns it from feeling a closer connection to God when using it.

You get a partial indulgence, either for yourself, or the holy souls, every time you pick up a blessed object and start praying, even if you don’t pray the Rosary with it.

You can see that here (number 35):

35. Use of Articles of Devotion. (Verbatim follows:) “The faithful, who devoutly use an article of devotion (crucifix or cross, rosary, scapular or medal) properly blessed by any priest, obtain a partial indulgence.

So there you are. It’s much better to get your rosary beads blessed because then you can benefit yourself and the holy souls in purgatory much more by obtaining lots of partial indulgences every time you ‘devoutly use’ your blessed rosary.

What is devout use? Well, holding your rosary in faith, I suppose, at the very least. As St Padre Pio said: ‘To hold the Rosary is like holding Mary’s hand.’

Holding it and saying any prayers also would be devout use. You don’t have to use the blessed beads to pray the Rosary prayers.

Don’t forget that the Chaplet of Divine Mercy is used with the rosary beads. Some Catholics never pray the Rosary and only ever use the Rosary beads to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

I would say that it is far better to pray with a rosary that has not been blessed than to wait for it to be blessed and only then use it. That’s my view and that’s what I do.

I recommend using it right away, because the important thing ultimately is to pray to God. And if using a set of rosary beads helps you pray better, even if they haven’t been blessed, then go for it.

==> If you’re interested in buying a rosary, please check out this review; there are gorgeous rosaries here! <==

If you have any questions, get in touch!

God bless 🙂