Our Lady of Guadalupe – rosary

Description As an artist, Our Lady of Guadalupe holds a special place in my heart as for this apparition, Mary gave us the painting of herself on the tilma of St Juan Diego. It’s the only apparition in which an image was left behind and the more it’s studied, the more obvious it becomes that the image was divinely created. Immediately when I saw these amazonite beads I thought of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The coloring – bluish green like her mantle, creamy-white like her dress, pale yellow and bright red-orange like the rays – is exactly the colors in the miraculous image. Paired with these beads are dark redish-greenish-bluish beads to remind us of our sinful nature and our unfailing need for Mary’s intercession and of Jesus as our Savior. Our Lady appeared to St. Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican peasant, the last person anyone thought the Mother of God would visit. But appear she did, that year in 1531, and asked for a church to be built. The Archbishop did not believe Juan’s story and asked for a miraculous sign; roses from his homeland in Spain. Mary instructed Juan to climb the hill, and to his surprise, it was covered in those Spanish roses, and in the dead of winter. Upon opening his cloak to show the Archbishop the roses, they revealed the miraculous image of Our Lady exactly as she had appeared to Juan.  In these apparitions, Mary told Juan, “Am I not here, I who am your mother?”, affirming that she is our mother, regardless of the number of years since Jesus’ time on earth, regardless of our country of origin, regardless if we consciously ask her to be or not.  She is our mother. Paired with this already stunning rosary are some of the most gorgeous rosary parts I have ever seen together – the vintage style cameo Mary centerpiece and the highly detailed crucifix. The bronze and black background perfectly accent the Our Father beads while the white complements the pastel amazonite beads. Do note that these rosary parts are much larger than normal. They work so well together because they are a similar size, but if you’re planning on keeping this rosary on your person, it might be a bit awkward. Also, I did not assemble the centerpiece, but it is distinctly two parts that have been glued together with a very strong adhesive. __________ At 18 inches long, with 8mm beads, this rosary is roughly the same size as your standard rosary except the centerpiece and crucifix are larger. The rosary is assembled with 49-strand steel beading wire, crimping beads, and wire protectors. Because this rosary is made with stone beads, it has a weight to it and retains ambient cooler room temperate, which is really awesome to feel when you’re praying; it always made me focus more on what I was saying. And then as you pray the stones warm up from your body heat. Please remember that all things can break with excessive use. Under normal, conscientious use, this rosary will last a very long time, but, for instance, if you keep this rosary in a tight pocket every day, all day and get it crushed under you or against something, the small glass spacers can break and the steel wire will be under strain and can stretch and even break. These repairs can be made, and I would be delighted to do so, but as time goes on, I might not have extra beads or I might be gone. So do be gentle and take good care of your rosary.   __________ More on the painting; In analyzing the paint, they concluded that no animal or mineral colorings were used (and synthetics were not invented yet) and it was proven impossible to recreate to the same detail on tilmas of the same material because of how naturally rough it usually is. The fabric wasn’t treated and yet one side is coarse and the other as smooth as fine silk. In Mary’s eyes you can see the reflection of the people who were there when the image miraculously appeared. This detailing is so small you have to use a microscope to see it and it would be almost impossible to get this detailed now, much less in the 1500s. Also, it has casually withstood decaying and fading this whole time (even when it was displayed unprotected for the first hundred years) while tilmas made with the same material disintegrate after ten years in the same environment. So many more miraculous things happened with this image, and the image itself holds layer upon layer of meaning. Every time I go to research it more, I get blown away with how much Our Lady left us. __________ Features of the rosary: Center piece: 1-1/4″x7/8″ vintage style cameo Our Lady of Guadalupe bronze center piece Crucifix: 2-1/4″x1-1/2″ detailed bronze crucifix Hail Mary beads: 8mm amazonite stone beads Our Father beads: 8mm dark jasper stone beads with bronze accent beads Spacers: bronze czech glass seed beads ___________________ — Have a particular devotion, size, color, or style of rosary that you are looking for? Send me a message at [email protected] and I’d be happy to make a custom rosary just for you. —