Antique Nun's Rosary, Steel Beads, Chain, Link Medal and Cross, Rare 4 Decade Rosary, Paternoster Rosary, Prayer For The Dead Circa 1850

Antique Nun's Rosary, Steel Beads, Chain, Link Medal and Cross, Rare 4 Decade Rosary, Paternoster Rosary, Prayer For The Dead Circa 1850

Such a lovely little rosary with lots of history attached to it. Clearly it is a nun's rosary as it is of steel throughout. Simple and unobtrusive, it was made to be used and not to show off.

It is small and delicate as it measures just 25 centimetres in length.

This rosary (or more properly, chaplet) consists of 4 groups of 10 small beads and these are in memory of the 40 hours Christ is thought to have spent in "Limbo" between the crucifixion and the resurrection.

Prayers for the dead have taken many forms over the centuries and this 4-decade "Rosary for the Dead" dates back only to the middle of the 1800s. According to the Basilian Fathers' website, it was invented by Abbé Serre of the Chapel of the Hôtel Dieu at Nismes, France, and promoted by the Archconfraternity of Notre Dame du Suffrage.

A rare collector's rosary.