Star of the Sea — Stella Maris, in Latin — is one of our Blessed Mother’s most ancient titles. From the earliest centuries of the Church, Mary the Mother of God has been understood to serve as our North Star — the always visible guiding star by which we may navigate to her son. She is the patron of mariners, and all “people of the sea.” As Saint Anthony of Padua wrote, wisely, this includes those of us who’re on land but who are spiritually seafarers..

Seashells are the Paters of this one-of-a-kind rosary — large, luminous disks of abalone shell and mother of pearl, with gorgeous ever-shifting variations in color, and gorgeous textures as well, with little pits and pocks — quite wild-looking!

Suspended as they are, the Paters beads provide a lot of movement to the rosary, and also provide a lot of sound — something like the sound of pebbles rolled by the waves at the shore.

We came across these beads — just these few, and no more — when we navigated off our normal path one day. They’re a challenge to photograph, so we took extra photos — please see below.

The cross is large, hefty, and beautifully marked on both sides. Its base rises from a winged heart — a traditional Oaxacan motif. The cross is solid bronze, hand-cast from an antique Mexican original.

The jasper Aves are pleasant greens with an occasional fleck of russet. Separating the Aves are beads of matte glass in a range of colors which here and there pick up some of the unexpected tones of the abalone shells.

Around the Paters and at each end of the rosary are substantial ribbed beads of solid brass.

This rosary is made all-in-one-loop, rather than the familiar “Y” shape. We don’t see a lot of all-in-one-loop rosaries these days, but they were the norm until just a couple centuries ago.

The connecting rings and the wire-wrap are all solid bronze. The rosary is strung on premium quality Soft Flex jewelers’ cable, composed of 49 strands of steel encased in nylon, with a test-strength of 26 pounds; each end is double-crimped for security.

Cross: 2.75”
Paters: 1” shell, 1.6” pendant
Aves: 8mm
Length: 21” from top of loop to bottom of cross