A rosary is a chaplet, but is a chaplet a rosary?

This is a Stations of the Cross chaplet from Poland that I picked up for almost nothing because nobody knew what it was. To understand how rosaries work you have to speak French. In French the word for rosary is "chaplet", the word used in English to refer to other beaded devotions besides the rosary. So in France, all beaded devotions are chaplets, and so any devotion, such as the Stations of the Cross which is normally placed on the walls or floors of a church, can become a chaplet by translating it into beads.

For this chaplet, one Our Father and three Hail Marys are said for each station. The drop and medal actually represent a "fifteenth station", the resurrection, and are recited last.


This rosary is currently available for auction on ebay.