Rosary Makers
St. Michael's Rosary Makers will mark a decade of a different sort this spring when the group celebrates its 10th anniversary.
The group of nearly 50 women meets the second Tuesday of every month, March through November, in St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church's social hall, 432 Center Ave., to deliver the rosaries it has made and to pick up supplies for more.
Rosaries are made up of five decades, or strings of ten beads, separated by single beads. A crucifix is attached to the circular strand by another grouping of beads and a medal.
Used as a meditation aid, each component of the rosary represents a specific prayer.
Starting at the crucifix, each bead is held and a standard prayer is said, such as the Apostles' Creed.
To pray, users follow the beads around the string, praying on each bead, eventually returning to the crucifix.
The rosary's five decades each represent an event from the life of Christ.
Founding member Jackie Olenic said the group was started by former St. Michael Church secretary Marlene Angelo in May 2007.
“Marlene called me and said she got paperwork from an organization that said there was a desperate need for rosaries overseas and asking people to volunteer to make them.”
Olenic said, “She talked to the pastor, Father James Donlan, about organizing a ministry, and got the word out in church bulletins.”
The group's first meeting drew so many women that later meetings had to be moved to the social hall.
Olenic said, “I think they were devoted to the Blessed Mother and Jesus.”
“That first night, we passed the hat to get money for the first order of supplies,” said Olenic, but since then the group pays for its supplies by selling crystal rosaries and rosary bracelets to individuals and at the church's fall festival.
A traditional rosary is usually not worn as jewelry, but rosary bracelets serve a double purpose. They can be worn as jewelry and used for prayer.
Darla Shuster, the group's president, said, “We actually branched into cancer awareness with a cancer awareness bracelet.” The colors of the stones on the bracelet each correspond to a different type of cancer.
“It's kind of sad that there are so many cancers,” she said.
“Ten percent of the sales goes to the (American) Cancer Society,” Shuster said.
Working from home, the women meet once a month to turn in their completed rosaries and pick up supplies for new ones.Founding member Barb Macurdy said members create the rosaries using a bag of beads, cord, centers and a crucifix.“They take them home and put them together. Depending on the person, a rosary can be put together in 10 or 15 minutes, “ said Macurdy.Another founding member, Rosemary Questiaux of Butler, said making rosaries can be like knitting, something that can be done while talking with friends or watching television.In the 10 years since its founding, the group estimates it has completed 76,412 rosaries that are shipped overseas, to members of the military and to prisons and hospitals both here and abroad.“We've sent rosaries to all seven continents,” said Shuster.Olenic said the group's members range in age from 90 to high school girls.The rosary makers plan to mark their 10-year anniversary with a members-only tea May 6.But the real celebration is the meaning behind the rosaries the women make.Olenic said the rosary is a prayer that focuses on an event in the life of Jesus and that of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.Shuster said, “We are praying to Jesus through Mary. We pray to her to ask her to pray for her son to intercede on our behalf. We go through the rosary to Mary to Jesus.”
