The centerpiece is the part of the rosary your hand returns to before the first decade and after the last one. On several of our rosaries, we make that centerpiece a Miraculous Medal, and the choice is more than decorative.
What a centerpiece actually is
On a traditional rosary, the centerpiece sits where the loop of five decades meets the tail holding the crucifix and the opening prayers. It's the piece your fingers find first, before you've prayed a single Hail Mary.
Centerpieces have carried all kinds of images through the centuries: Christ, a favorite saint, the Sacred Heart, or a specific Marian apparition. Whatever image sits there becomes the first thing you look at each time you pick up the rosary.
Why we use the Miraculous Medal here
Our Miraculous Medal Rosary carries a TCW Custom Silver Color Miraculous Medal Centerpiece, cast with the same front and back imagery Catherine Labouré described in 1830. It's paired with a matching silver-colored Pardon Crucifix, so the finish stays consistent from crucifix to centerpiece to clasp.
For a rosary with a little more shine, Our Lady, Arrayed in Gold pairs a 24K Antique Gold-Plated Miraculous Medal Centerpiece with a matching gold-plated Pardon Crucifix, set against dark Imbuia beads and midnight-blue paracord.
How it's used in prayer
Before the first decade, you hold the centerpiece while praying the opening prayers, the same prayers that lead into the Creed and the first three Hail Marys on the tail of the rosary. Holding a Miraculous Medal centerpiece at that exact moment puts Mary's promise of grace directly in your hand before you begin.
It's a small design choice, but it changes the feel of the prayer. Every time you pick it up, you're holding the same image Mary asked to be struck onto a medal nearly two centuries ago.
If you already own a rosary with a different centerpiece and want to add the Miraculous Medal to your prayer another way, our Symbolism Guide walks through the same imagery in more depth.
