As a salesman covering 15 Midwestern states, Patrix Heschel often would see lighted rosaries in windows and on the outside of houses. He now has one hanging above his garage door.

Although Heschel wasn’t Catholic when he first noticed the illuminated rosaries, he always thought they were beautiful, and after he converted, he decided it was time to get one for his house in Oak Harbor, Ohio. 

That was in 2018; and when he ordered his rosary, he got another one for a fellow Knight of Columbus. Together, the two men bought a third lighted rosary for their parish of St. Boniface in Oak Harbor, where it hangs on the rectory. 

The practice of displaying illuminated rosaries on houses and other buildings appears to be decades old and has spread largely through word of mouth as various craftsmen have taken up the task of making them to meet the demand. Some are sold on Amazon, Etsy, and in religious gift shops, but many simply pass from craftsman to customer through informal exchanges initiated when someone sees a lighted rosary and asks where to buy one. The cost ranges from $145 to $330 and can vary depending on the size and whether shipping is included. 

Rich Schwieterman of Versailles, Ohio, who has been assembling the lighted rosaries for more than 20 years, told of a truck driver who had seen one of the rosaries on a Knights of Columbus hall on his way through town. When he stopped to make a delivery at a local factory, he asked about the rosaries and where he could get one. He was directed to Schwieterman, who works at the plant, and arranged to have a rosary made for pickup on his next run. 

The late Larry Gorniak became one of the better-known makers of lighted rosaries after an article about him appeared in 2019 in The Compass in the Wisconsin Diocese of Green Bay. Before he died last year, Gorniak told the Register he had made more than 200 of the displays for customers in Ohio, Texas, California, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and even Canada. He first learned about the illuminated rosaries through a Knights of Columbus group that was putting them on barns in northeastern Wisconsin and went on to make them himself, developing and tweaking his design and techniques over the years.

 

“What got me started sending them out,” he said, “was one of my friends wanted one for his house, so I gave him one. And then, out of the blue a year later, someone from Texas who was in the area was interested. I said, ‘I have four.’ And he said he would take all four.”  

Schwieterman started crafting the lighted rosaries after learning that a man in his area who had made them was going to quit because the arthritis in his hands had worsened. “I called and asked if I could continue to make them,” he told the Register, “because I thought it was too good a thing to let go. He said, ‘Yes.’” 

The rosaries Schwieterman makes come in several sizes and two shapes — traditional and heart — and are sold mainly to customers in his area. He also provides some to the Pilgrim Gift Shop at the nearby Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics. 

Heidi Pierron, manager of the shrine gift shop, said most people put them up as a way to display their Catholic faith. “When you drive around this area, you will see them typically on top of a barn or the side of a house. It’s a very Catholic area.” Pierron said Schwieterman and another craftsman who make the rosaries for the shop have a hard time keeping up with the orders, especially during holidays. 

Missy Bennett, who owns the Silver Cross Catholic Store in Fort Loramie near the Maria Stein Shrine, said she believes there is a special devotion to the Blessed Mother in the area. “It’s beautiful to drive through the landscape in the evening and see the rosaries on our farmsteads,” she said, adding that they serve as a reminder to pray the Rosary. Her store carries the lighted displays and recently had an extra-large one made for an area business, Industrial Recyclers. 

CEO Brent Schulze commissioned the rosary to be hung on one of the silos at the business site. He also has one of the rosaries at RC Family Wood Products, which was founded by his parents and consecrated to St. Joseph on the saint’s feast day on March 19, 1999. In displaying the lighted rosaries, Schulze said, “Our thought was, ‘Be bold in your faith.’” 

Gorniak said he never asked people why they wanted to put up the rosaries he made. “I’m just pleased as all get out that they want to display a rosary,” he said. “It’s either people who are religious enough or have respect for the Blessed Virgin Mary or are praying the Rosary that are going to put one on display.”

When he has met his customers, he said, he has been surprised at the variety of people who buy the rosaries. “One guy had long hair and looked like he just got off a motorcycle. I thought, ‘This can’t be the guy.’ He said he was getting it for his next-door neighbor who was involved in the church; and when he paid for it, he gave me an extra $100.”

Schwieterman, who prays the Rosary daily, said he thinks the lighted rosaries have become popular because people know the country needs prayers right now. “We’ve got to start praying more, and Mary is our patroness of the United States,” he said. While making the rosaries, Schwieterman said he tries to pray. 

“Blessed Mother Mary has helped me out quite a bit through life,” he said, “and I tell my kids to always ask her for help. She will help you. I tell them, ‘Just keep praying to her; talk to her like we talk back and forth. She’ll answer you. If it’s not what the good Lord wants, she’ll point you in the right direction.’” 

Gorniak’s widow, Penny, said her husband would listen to the Rosary and pray along while he made the displays, offering the prayers for the person who would receive that rosary.

Since her husband died, she said, many of his customers have sent her cards and been a source of support for her. “One lady sent me a dozen roses on our wedding anniversary. From talking to Larry, she knew he always sent me roses.”

Although each craftsman has his own way of making the rosaries, all of them are built to withstand the weather.  

Heschel said his, which is made of aluminum and high-quality Christmas lights, has seen plenty of rain and snow, winds and storms. 

Since putting his lighted rosary up, Heschel initially kept it illuminated during Christmas and later extended the time through Easter, but after his wife, Sandy, was diagnosed with cancer last year, he started keeping it lit 24/7. 

Catholics who have seen Heschel’s illuminated rosary have told him they like it while non-Catholics are more likely to ask what it is, giving him an opportunity to tell them about the Rosary.

Those who make the rosaries are more than happy to share the work with other craftsmen. Gorniak told the Register he had sent out instructions and pictures many times and his widow said she still has copies of them. Likewise, when a former Ohio man who had moved to Colorado called Schwieterman to say he was interested in making the rosaries but wanted to know if there were any patents on the design, Schwieterman assured him there were none and urged him to proceed, adding, “The more the merrier.”