Many external things of devotion and piety draw us closer to the Lord in the Catholic Church. In many Catholic homes and parishes, rosaries, sacred images, prayer cards, saint medals, and candles are ‘sacramentals’ that are very common. Perhaps you already own some of these things in your house and have even had them blessed by a priest.
But what happens when these things are no longer helpful? You notice that you own 95 rosaries, but you only need 5. You have a drawer full of beads as many of your rosaries have broken, and you can’t discard them. This post will walk you through everything you need to know about rosary beads and whether or not it’s advisable to throw rosary beads away.
Heck, we will also answer some of the most frequently asked questions about rosaries and the Catholic tradition. So if you’re looking forward to exploring more about religious items, this post is for you.
Can You Throw Away Broken Rosary Beads?
Rosary beads are an excellent prayer item that helps in focusing on prayers without any distractions. They come in a variety of sizes and are easily broken when using them. Therefore, it is advisable to dispose of them well in such a case.
Your rosary is considered a sacramental item as it has been blessed. This means when it breaks, you can’t just replace it or throw it away. Although rosaries that have been damaged to the point of being unusable are no longer considered blessed, they must still be treated with respect.
You should avoid disposing of your rosary with other trash. The best alternative is to bury the items on church grounds or burn them and if that isn’t doable, consider burning them.
To avoid scandals at their disposal, you should destroy the rosary before choosing either option. In this article, we will show you the best way to bury or burn rosary beads. Broken rosary beads should be considered, and we will discuss the best approach.
Is It Bad To Throw Away Religious Items?
All holy cards, statues, or paintings might’ve been blessed as an image and therefore considered sacred. In addition to conventions around some objects, many other Catholic artifacts could be considered sacred according to their utilization. This is particularly the case if they have been blessed or prayed with. As such, it is considered bad to just throw away religious items.
As librarians, we may not know the history of how an item was utilized by the past owners—especially if it was given to us by a third party. Any holy card, statue, or painting could have been blessed and recognized as a sacred image.
Aside from blessings for sacred things, the Catholic Church also offers a “blessing of anything,” meaning a priest could’ve blessed any item. While this does not make an object sacred, it does show the versatility with which blessings are given.
Is It Ok To Burn a Rosary?
Everyone finds it hard to burn or bury their rosary. This is popular for many people who choose to live in apartment complexes in city centers. One can certainly take their rosary to their local church and put it there in such a case. In most churches, there are boxes where damaged rosaries can be placed.
However, it is preferable to take damaged beads in a rectory in your neighborhood. You can mail it to them instead of going there, and they’ll take care of it.
You can look at church projects around while getting rid of your old rosary. It is an excellent way to extend the life of your rosary while also feeling good knowing that your things are now part of something worthwhile.
Therefore, what are custodians supposed to do given the continuing state of mass production, extensive distribution, and daily donations on such items?
Remembering that intention matters is the best solution. As guardians of these goods, we have good intentions.
We make it clear that not all donations are accepted. We make every effort to find new homes for items that don’t belong in the Marian Library—whether by donating them for free to the community or finding other libraries that could be a better fit.
Disposal would be the absolute last option. We haven’t had a spiritual, respectful fire to destroy duplicated holy cards yet, but it’s not impossible.
How To Dispose of Rosary Beads?
As sacramental artifacts, rosary beads that have been prayed upon should be adored with extraordinary respect. Some people believe that throwing a rosary in the trash is sacrilegious since they are holy things that should be appropriately disposed of. Even if you are unaware of the history of such artifacts that come into your control, throwing them away is wrong.
You might be able to save the beads if you try to repair them yourself. However, if it contains metal, you can take it to your local jeweler or Catholic bookshop and have it fixed.
If neither of these solutions satisfies you, you can bury the religious objects in the ground as a kind of remembrance. You can even burn them instead of burying them. As previously stated, burying the rosary beads indicates that you are paying them appropriate respect and reuniting them with the earth from which they came.
The breaking down into bits also improves the burning process, as compounds react differently to fire. This makes the entire process safer, and you’ll be able to save some items for future use.
Before you add the materials to the rosary, make sure you have a fire going. Add the various items one at a time, ensuring that they burn wholly and individually.
Also, keep a safe distance from the fumes, which might be harmful. Allow the flames to go out on their own, and after the fire dies down, and the item completely burns, get rid of the ashes by burying them on church grounds.
Other Ways of Disposing Rosary Beads and Other Religious Items
1. Burn and Bury
What happens if you cannot repair the rosary or statue brakes and? Or when the palm dries up, and a new palm is given to us on Palm Sunday the following year? The standard procedure for disposing of these things is to burn or bury them.
As a result, the typical “rule of thumb” is to burn (and then bury the ashes) or just bury everything that has been blessed.
2. Give Away
Collecting sacramentals such as votive candles, sacred pictures, rosaries (which occasionally break), medals, palm branches, and other miscellaneous items as Religious Catholic items are pretty frequent. What should you do if you’re not sure if they’re blessed or not?
If they are still usable, one alternative is to give them away to others who could benefit from them. There are choices if you can’t find any takers.
Allowing candles to burn down entirely or, if this poses a risk due to the glass candle holders breaking, burning them on their own. It is not a sin to throw away blessed goods, but it is proper to do so out of respect for them. If devotionals haven’t been blessed, such as some holy cards and other mail-order items, they’re just photos that you can throw away.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How Do You Dispose Of Blessed Palms?
If you prefer, you can take your palm home and keep it as a sacred object. You can bury it or burn it and spread the ashes outside if you want to get rid of it. All of the palms are collected and burned by Catholic priests. They keep the ashes until the following year’s Ash Wednesday ceremony.
2. What Do You Do On Palm Sunday?
Processions and the distribution of holy palm leaves are common ways to commemorate Palm Sunday. Some churches have the palms and burn them into ashes on ash Wednesday the following year. Some Christians make crosses out of palm fronts and display them in their homes.
3. What Are The Colors Of Palm Sunday Mass?
Palm Sunday is best dressed in purple or red. Purple is always in use during a Holy week up to Thursday when they’re stripped off—Good Friday and Holy Saturday, though you may use black in some areas on those days.
4. How Do You Dispose Of Holy Pictures?
M V Narayan Rao, a Vedic scholar, advises religious people to avoid throwing holy pictures and paintings on the streets. He suggested using running water or removing the casing and burying the photos deep in the dirt. He said that before a holy figure can be buried, certain rites must be fulfilled.
5. How Do You Dispose Of Funeral Cards?
If you don’t value the old cards, they can be thrown away or recycled like any other object. Ghezzi, on the other hand, proposed burning the cards and uttering a little prayer over them while they burned, similar to the pious practice of disposing of holy goods.
6. Why Do We Use Purple During Lent?
The purple color (royal purple) was linked with royalty in Tyrian. Purple dye was the most time-consuming and most expensive to make. Therefore purple dyed fabric was prohibitively pricey for everyone else.