La Fede Della Madonna

What I Remember About The "Special Italian Rosary".
As far as I know, this very Special Italian Rosary was originally made in Italy, years ago. I believe it has now become a lost devotion and a lost art. I thought I remembered that this particular Rosary had all the mysteries; The Joyful, The Sorrowful, and The Glorious, consisting of 15 Our Fathers, and 150 Hail Marys.

As I recall, a lot of devotion had to go into making this particular Rosary. This was a very personal Rosary; therefore, you had to hand make it out of white cord for yourself. As I remember, the first bead knot was hand made on a certain day and you were to recite the prayer for that bead knot. (On what day? I never knew.) You would then continue to hand make each bead knot every day until the Rosary was completed. (Until what day? I never knew.)

Nonna, my grandmother, made one of these very "Special Italian Rosaries". I believe that she made this Rosary when she was a young girl still living in Italy. I have chosen to call this Rosary "The Special Italian Rosary".

As I recall, the Rosary was made of white chord. When Nonna finished making her white cord Rosary she put colored ribbon in between the mysteries and then added the crucifix.

Nonna was very devoted to the Blessed Mother. She requested that when she died that her Rosary be buried with her. My mother told me that Nonna said her Rosary every day. Over the years my mother noticed that the white twine had turned dark from handling and from age.

When Nonna died, the Rosary was placed in the coffin with her as she requested. My mother was surprised that this same Rosary was pure white. She said, "The ribbons were bright in color and they appeared to be like new. " My mother asked the funeral director if he had washed the Rosary. He told her no.

I remember something else about making this particular Rosary, I was told that if you took the time to make the Rosary and perhaps said it every day, the Blessed Mother would be with you in your hour of death. Remember, this Rosary can only be hand made by one person for his or herself. It can only be made at a particular time of the year. So, you only have one chance a year to make it for yourself.

A Little History On Nonna Her name was Theresa Prestia Linarello, she was born in Gioesa Ionica,Calabria - Italy in 1875. She came to the United States. with my grandfather- Nonno, Luigi Linarello, and they lived in Follansbee, W.Va. The Americanized spelling of the name changed to Linorell when they came to the United States because of the illiteracy of the English language.

Aunt Janie told me, "Nonna called the Rosary, "La Fede Della Madonna", in Italian." The translation is "The Faith Of The Blessed Mother." Aunt Janie recalled that the bead knots looked like they were in the shape of roses." My aunt also mentioned the church Nonna attended in Italy. It was Chiesa Madre, Gia.

Being of Italian decent we always called our grandmother nonna, (pronounced nun-na)
and grandfather nonno (pronounced known-no) which is grandfather in Italian.

A Birthday Present from Our Lady It was on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1992, my birthday, that I got a very strong feeling to look in the Bible for Feast Days of Mary. I thought, where in the Bible. The Bible doesn't say much about Mary after her death; so, where am I going to find this information. Another very strong feeling came over me, look in the back of the Book, in the encyclopedic dictionary section. Much to my surprise there were the Feast Days of Mary. Being a poor mathematician, I got my trusty calculator out. Luckily for me it just happened to be the type that has the day, month, and year programmed in it. I began plugging in the dates that were listed under the Feast Days of Mary. Utterly to my amazement, I found these two dates October 7 and March 25 and they totaled up to be 170 days. Those were the closest dates that I could find that would total up to 169. I thought, now what do I do. Another feeling made me realize that in my anxiety and lack of patience I had totally forgotten to count the Cross. I knew I needed 169 beads to make the 15 decade Rosary; I did not figure in the Crucifix as another day. I looked at the information that I had collected again. I thought OK, I need
15 Our Fathers,
150 Hail Marys,
and the 3 Hail Marys and the 1 Our Father right before the Crucifix.
That is 169 beads.
If I add one more day for the crucifix, it come out to be 170 days. I thought, this is exactly what I was looking for 170 days not 169. Realizing my mistake, I began to cry tears of joy.

Like doubting Thomas, a few days later, I began to question the information. Is this really the day? Did I really find the information that I was looking for? I needed a confirmation.

I began to pray to the Blessed Mother to please confirm these days. I also prayed for Her to please remind me to start this Rosary on October 7th, if this was, in fact, the right day.

Later that month I called my Aunt Janie, in West Virginia, and asked her to tell me anything that she remembered about Nonna's Rosary. She told me that Nonna always spoke of the date March 25, in reference to the Rosary. Once again I began to cry tears of joy. When my aunt told me this, I knew that March 25 had to be one of the days involved in making the Holy Rosary.

I strongly believe that with prayer and research the information that I have could very well possibly be the days for making this very "Special Italian Rosary".

I believe that the strong feelings that I was experiencing were given to me by Our Lady. I believe She was the one who prompted me to find this information. She knew I had been praying and searching for information, on how to make that very "Special Italian Rosary" that my grandmother made so many years ago. I had been praying and searching for quite sometime. On Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1992, my birthday, Our Blessed Mother gave me one of the best birthday presents I've ever received and for that I will always be eternally grateful. The dates I found on the Feast day of Mary were October 7, The Feast of The Holy Rosary and March 25, The Annunciation. From October 7 to March 25 is exactly 170 days. I was lucky because ten months previously, in February of 1992, was the Leap Year and it had just passed. I could begin my very "Special Italian Rosary" in a few short months.

I began making my "Special Italian Rosary" on October 7, 1993. On March 25, 1994 I completed my "La Fede Della Madonna" and had it blessed by Father Mark Ebert at my parish St. Norbert Catholic Church in Florissant, Missouri.

References found in the New American Bible under Feasts, Christian (page 72) Encyclopedic Dictionary section.
Feast days for Our Blessed Mother:

The Annunciation - Mar 25
The Visitation - July 2
Our Lady of Mount Carmel - July 16
Our Lady of the Snow - Aug. 5
The Assumption - Aug. 15
Immaculate Heart of Mary - Aug. 22
The Nativity of Mary - Sept. 8
The Seven Sorrows - Sept. 15
Feast of the Holy Rosary - Oct. 7
The Maternity - Oct. 11
The Presentation of Mary - Nov. 21
The Immaculate Conception - Dec. 8

Mysteries for the complete Rosary are:

The five Joyful Mysteries are
1. The Annunciation
2. The Visitation
3. The Nativity of Christ
4. The Presentation
5. The Finding of the Christ Child in the Temple

The Sorrowful Mysteries are
1. The Agony in the Garden
2. The Scourging at the Pillar
3. The Crowning with Thorns
4. The Carrying of the Cross
5. The Crucifixion

The Five Glorious Mysteries are
1. The Resurrection
2. The Ascension
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles
4. The Assumption
5. The Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven

By custom, the following schedule for saying the Mysteries of the Rosary is observed. The Joyful Mysteries are recited on Mondays and Thursdays, The Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesdays and Fridays, and The Glorious Mysteries on Wednesday, Saturdays and Sundays. Exception's to these are the recitation of the Joyful Mysteries on Sundays in Advent and the Sorrowful Mysteries on Sundays in Lent.

In my uncertainty and not having a calendar to verify if I was going to come out right I remembered a poem. I wrote it down, as I could remember it, and started to count the days.

The most recent Leap Year, at this point in time, was in 1992 with 29 days in February. I discovered that the Day to begin had to be the Feast of the Holy Rosary, October 7, and that the last day had to be The Annunciation, March 25.
I counted the days left in October and then added the other days in the other months together. The total was 170 days.
The year of 1994 was not a Leap Year and for this I was grateful. I was happy to know that I could begin making my Rosary on October 7, 1993 and I would end it on March 25, 1994. I was ecstatic, even though I had to wait several more months before I could begin making my Rosary.

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