Msg Base:  AREA 5  - ASK FATHER            CIN ECHO   AMDG
  Msg No: 278.  Thu  4-02-92  8:20  (NO KILL)  (MAILED)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Eddie Maselli
 Subject: Rosary

+-
| Dear Father Mateo,
|      Recently I attended a talk in a Yonkers, NY church given by a
| woman from California who alledgedly receives apparations of the
| Blessed Mother.  Of course, I approach all such people with caution.
| My question, however, has nothing to do with any apparations.
|      She and her husband told the small crowd about a claim made by
| their local parish priest (I think the parish is a St. Joseph's in
| Los Angeles, but I'm not sure) that there were plastic rosary beads
| being circulated around the world that have on each corner of the crucifix
| what appears to be a head with horns!  They said their priest had showed
| their congregation a pair and said that it was some kind of satanic plot
| and that anyone who had them should burn them.
|      Outrageous as this sounds, when the folks in the crowd started
| checking their pockets/purses, they turned up a couple.  Indeed, the
| "horned heads" were on each corner.
|      Have you (or anyone else on this echo) ever heard of this?  The
| "heads" on the crucifix are their, although after studying a pair for
| awhile, I thought that maybe they were little Angels (Cheribum?).  I
| asked my local pastor about this; he thought it might be the very old
| custom of putting a skull & crossbones under the feet of Jesus on the
| crucifix, which supposedly symbolizes the legend of Adam being buried
| under Calvary.
|      Sorry this message was so long!  I hope you will respond by telling
| me that this is just another superstition gone haywire!  Thank you in
| advance for the reply!
| May the Peace of the Lord stay with you always,
|                                                Eddie Maselli
+-[EM=>FM]
 
 
Dear Eddie,
 
Your message comes as complete news to me.  I cannot think of
anything to say except that when a rosary is blessed, it becomes a
sacramental of the Church, so one can use it for prayer and gain the
indulgences.  I would not have any anxiety about the rosaries you 
describe. But if anyone does have anxiety about a rosary, just get rid 
of it. We have better, holier things to do than peering closely at our
rosaries.
 
 
                                Sincerely in Christ,
 
                                        
                                Father Mateo