Jasper prayer beads

This is my idea of a five decade set of paternoster beads with a Celtic flair. We cast the pewter Irish cross and I used pewter beads with the green jasper and agate beads to give it some contrast.

A better photo of the Garnet Prayer Beads.

This set of prayer beads I made for my husband. I made this using a small bronze Celtic Cross, and large, natural garnet beads. The Skull bead is made of Crystal quartz and I used small , brass, African trade beads as accents. It is strung on red hemp beading twine.

Paternoster made of Green Quartz and Bronze

This Paternoster is made of Green Sega Quartz and Bronze.
The spacers between the decades are Ethiopian trade beads. The small round beads at the ends are from India and the little ferrule-like beads with the rope pattern are from Indonesia. The bronze angel and equal armed cross were cast here in the USA.The beads are strung on hemp beading twine that I waxed with bees wax. The round ball is a prayer box or for a icon. There are 33 beads counting the brass ball for the 33 years in Jesus' life in human form. The green stone (Burma Jade) cross can be removed and is on a hemp string. It is a little bit fragile I fear. We shall see how it holds up.

Paternoster Prayer Beads

The beads I made for Jim with large, crude, garnet beads. On the ends a bronze, Celtic cross and a small, quartz, skull bead.

There is an old Medieval practice, older than the Rosary known as "Pater Noster" beads. Before the Rosary, for those who could not pray the 150 psalms, it was considered just as good to say 150 "Pater Noster's," which is the "Our Father" or "The Lords's Prayer" in Latin. The beads had such a close association with the Our Father that they were commonly known as Paternoster beads. Many customs of reciting Paternosters existed in the Middle Ages. The monks at Cluny were urged to recite 50 Paternosters at the death of one of their fellow monks (Udalric, 1096). The Knights Templar, from a rule dating from about 1128, were required to say the Lord's Prayer 57 times if they could not attend choir, and on the death of any of their brethren they had to say the Pater Noster a hundred times a day for a week.