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Rosary

The Rosary (, in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary (as distinct from other forms of rosary such as the Franciscan Crown, Bridgettine Rosary, Rosary of the Holy Wounds, etc.), refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or beads used to count the component prayers. When referring to the prayer, the word is usually capitalized ("the Rosary", as is customary for other names of prayers, such as "the Lord's Prayer", and "the Hail Mary"); when referring to the prayer beads as an object, it is written with a lower-case initial letter (e.g. "a rosary bead").

The prayers that compose the Rosary are arranged in sets of ten Hail Marys, called "decades". Each decade is preceded by one Lord's Prayer ("Our Father"), and traditionally followed by one Glory Be. Some Catholics also recite the "O my Jesus" prayer after the Glory Be; it is the best-known of the seven Fátima prayers that appeared in the early 20th century. Rosary prayer beads are an aid for saying these prayers in their proper sequence.

Usually, five decades are recited in a session. Each decade provides an opportunity to meditate on one of the Mysteries of the Rosary, which recall events in the lives of Jesus Christ and his mother Mary.

In the 16th century Pope Pius V established a standard 15 Mysteries of the Rosary, based on long-standing custom. This groups the mysteries in three sets: the Joyful Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the Glorious Mysteries. In 2002, Pope John Paul II said it is fitting that a new set of five be added, termed the Luminous Mysteries, bringing the total number of mysteries to 20. The mysteries are prayed on specific days of the week; with the addition of the Luminous Mysteries on Thursday, the others are the Glorious on Sunday and Wednesday, the Joyful on Monday and Saturday, and the Sorrowful on Tuesday and Friday.

Over more than four centuries, several popes have promoted the Rosary as part of the veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church, and consisting essentially in meditation on the life of Christ. The rosary also represents the Catholic emphasis on "participation in the life of Mary, whose focus was Christ", and the Mariological theme "to Christ through Mary".

Praying the Rosary
[[File:Rosary - usage.svg|left|thumb|180px|Schematic representation of the Catholic Rosary:
 *  brown : Sign of the Cross and Apostle's Creed
 *  blue : Our Father
 *  blue / medium blue : Introduction of the relevant Mystery and Our Father
 *  pink : Hail Mary
 *  pink / dark pink : Hail Mary, Glory Be and Fatima Prayer
 *  yellow : Hail Holy Queen and Sign of the Cross]]

Basic structure
The structure of the Rosary prayer, recited using the rosary beads, is as follows:

The Rosary is begun on the short strand:
 * The Sign of the Cross (sometimes using the cross or crucifix);
 * The Apostles' Creed (the cross or crucifix is held in the hand);
 * The Lord's Prayer at the first large bead (for the needs of the Catholic Church and the intentions of the reigning pope);
 * The Hail Mary on each of the next three beads (for the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity);
 * The Glory Be in the space before the next large bead; and
 * The Lord's Prayer at the second large bead.

The praying of the decades then follows, repeating this cycle for each mystery:
 * Announcing the mystery (e.g. "The First Glorious Mystery is the Resurrection of Jesus.");
 * The Lord's Prayer on the large bead;
 * The Hail Mary on each of the ten adjacent small beads;
 * The Glory Be on the space before the next large bead (often followed by the Fatima Prayer).

To conclude:
 * The Hail Holy Queen (sometimes with other prayers, while holding the medal or large bead); and
 * The Sign of the cross.

Variations and common additions
Common pious additions to the Rosary are sometimes inserted after each decade and after recitation of the Salve Regina. Instead of ending each decade with the Gloria Patri, Pope Pius IX would add: "May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace."

Some Catholics piously add the Fatima Prayer after the Gloria Patri, still on the large bead. Some add the Miraculous Medal prayer which begins "O Mary, conceived without sin…", while others add the Eucharistic prayer "O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine" in honour of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. In the practice of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, there is a sixth decade for the intentions of the students, or the Virgin Mary.

Other popular additions include the shorter form of the Prayer to Saint Michael; the Memorare, and a prayer for the intentions of the Pope. In many cases, the Litany of Loreto is recited before the end.

In the practice of the Dominican Order, the beginning prayers of the rosary correspond to the preces that begin the Divine Office:

 * 1) In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
 * 2) Hail Mary, full of grace, the  is with Thee.
 * 3) Blessed art Thou among women, and Blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus.
 * O, open my lips.
 * 1) And my mouth will proclaim Your praise.
 * 2) Incline Your aid to me, O God.
 * O, make haste to help me.
 * 1) Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Group recitation of the Rosary
When a group recites the Rosary, it is customary that the prayers that constitute the decades are divided into two parts. The second part of the Our Father begins with "Give us this day our daily bread"; the second part of the Hail Mary begins with "Holy Mary, Mother of God"; and the second part of the Glory Be with "As it was in the beginning". This lends itself to antiphonal prayer.

Sometimes, a chosen leader will recite the first half of the prayer while other participants recite the second. In another style, recitation of the first part of the prayers is rotated among different persons while still maintaining the traditional Leader-Congregation alternation.

Mysteries of the Rosary
The Mysteries of the Rosary are meditations on episodes in the life and death of Jesus from the Annunciation to the Ascension and beyond. These are traditionally grouped by fives into themed sets known as the Joyful (or Joyous) Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the Glorious Mysteries. Pope John Paul II recommended an additional set called the Luminous Mysteries (or the "Mysteries of Light") in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (October 2002).

Typically, a spiritual goal known as a "fruit" is also assigned to each mystery. Below are listed from the appendix of Louis Marie de Montfort's book Secret of the Rosary for the original 15 mysteries, with other possible fruits being listed in other pamphlets bracketed:

Joyful Mysteries

 * 1) The Annunciation. Fruit of the Mystery: Humility
 * 2) The Visitation. Fruit of the Mystery: Love of Neighbour
 * 3) The Birth of Jesus. Fruit of the Mystery: Poverty, Detachment from the things of the world, Contempt of Riches, Love of the Poor
 * 4) The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Fruit of the Mystery: Gift of Wisdom and Purity of mind and body (Obedience)
 * 5) The Finding of Jesus in the Temple. Fruit of the Mystery: True Conversion (Piety, Joy of Finding Jesus)

Luminous Mysteries

 * 1) The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. Fruit of the Mystery: Openness to the Holy Spirit, the Healer.
 * 2) The Wedding at Cana. Fruit of the Mystery: To Jesus through Mary, Understanding of the ability to manifest-through faith.
 * 3) Jesus' Proclamation of the Kingdom of God. Fruit of the Mystery: Trust in God (Call of Conversion to God)
 * 4) The Transfiguration. Fruit of the Mystery: Desire for Holiness.
 * 5) The Institution of the Eucharist. Fruit of the Mystery: Adoration.

Sorrowful Mysteries

 * 1) The Agony in the Garden. Fruit of the Mystery: Sorrow for Sin, Uniformity with the Will of God
 * 2) The Scourging at the Pillar. Fruit of the Mystery: Mortification (Purity)
 * 3) The Crowning with Thorns. Fruit of the Mystery: Contempt of the World (Moral Courage)
 * 4) The Carrying of the Cross. Fruit of the Mystery: Patience
 * 5) The Crucifixion and Death of our Lord. Fruit of the Mystery: Perseverance in Faith, Grace for a Holy Death, Forgiveness.

Glorious Mysteries

 * 1) The Resurrection. Fruit of the Mystery: Faith
 * 2) The Ascension. Fruit of the Mystery: Hope, Desire to Ascend to Heaven
 * 3) The Descent of the Holy Spirit. Fruit of the Mystery: Love of God, Holy Wisdom to know the truth and share it with everyone, Divine Charity, Worship of the Holy Spirit
 * 4) The Assumption of Mary. Fruit of the Mystery: Union with Mary and True Devotion to Mary
 * 5) The Coronation of the Virgin. Fruit of the Mystery: Perseverance and an Increase in Virtue (Trust in Mary's Intercession)

The original Mysteries of Light were written by George Preca, the only Maltese official Catholic saint, and later reformed by the pope.

Mysteries prayer schedule
Traditionally the full Rosary consisted of praying all 15 traditional mysteries (Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious) together. Alternatively, a single set of five mysteries can be prayed each day, according to the following convention:

Devotions and spirituality
Pope John Paul II placed the Rosary at the very center of Christian spirituality and called it "among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian contemplation." Pope Pius XI is quoted as saying, for example, "The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight."

Saints and popes have emphasized the meditative and contemplative elements of the rosary and provided specific teachings for how the rosary should be prayed, for instance the need for "focus", "respect", "reverence" and "purity of intention" during rosary recitations and contemplations. Scriptural meditations concerning the rosary are based on the Christian tradition of Lectio Divina (literally "divine reading") as a way of using the Gospel to start a conversation between the person and Christ. Padre Pio, a rosary devotee, said: "Through the study of books one seeks God; by meditation one finds him." From the sixteenth century onwards, Rosary recitations often involved "picture texts" that further assisted meditation. Such imagery continues to be used to depict the Mysteries of the rosary.

References to the Rosary have been part of various reported Marian Apparitions spanning two centuries. The reported messages from these apparitions have influenced the spread of Rosary devotion worldwide. In Quamquam pluries, Pope Leo XIII related Rosary devotions to Saint Joseph and granted indulgences in favour of Christians who, in the month of October, would have added the Prayer to Saint Joseph at the end of the Holy Rosary.

Praying the Rosary may be prescribed by priests as a type of penance after the Sacrament of Penance. Penance is not generally intended as a "punishment"; rather, it is meant to encourage meditation upon and spiritual growth from past sins.

History

Knotted prayer ropes were used in early Christianity; the Desert Fathers are said to have created the first such, using knots to keep track of the number of times they said the Jesus prayer or the 150 psalms.

According to pious tradition, the concept of the Rosary was given to Dominic of Osma in an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary during the year 1214 in the church of Prouille, though in fact it was known from the ninth century in various forms. This Marian apparition received the title of Our Lady of the Rosary.

According to Herbert Thurston, it is certain that in the course of the twelfth century and before the birth of Dominic, the practice of reciting the Ave Maria 50 or 150 times had become generally familiar. According to 20th century editions of the Catholic Encyclopedia, the story of Dominic's devotion to the Rosary and supposed apparition of Our Lady of the Rosary does not appear in any documents of the Catholic Church or the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) prior to the writings of the Dominican Alanus de Rupe (also Alan de la Roche), some 250 years after Dominic. However, recent scholarship by Donald H. Calloway seeks to refute this claim.

Leonard Foley said that although Mary's giving the Rosary to Dominic is recognized as a legend, the development of this prayer form owes much to the Order of Preachers.

The practice of meditation during the praying of the Hail Mary is attributed to Dominic of Prussia (1382–1460), a Carthusian monk who termed it "Life of Jesus Rosary". The German monk from Trier added a sentence to each of the 50 Hail Marys, using quotes from scripture (which at that time followed the name "Jesus," before the intercessory ending was added during the Counter-Reformation). In 1569, the papal bull Consueverunt Romani Pontifices by the Dominican Pope Pius V officially established the devotion to the Rosary in the Catholic Church.

From the 16th to the early 20th century, the structure of the Rosary remained essentially unchanged. There were 15 mysteries, one for each of the 15 decades. According to John Henry Newman, Mariology is always Christocentric. During the 20th century, the addition of the Fatima Prayer to the end of each decade became common. There were no other changes until 2002, when John Paul II suggested the five optional Luminous Mysteries; variations of these had previously been proposed by George Preca, and were implemented during the mid-20th century by figures such as Patrick Peyton.

Devotional growth

Through the preaching of de Rupe, Rosary confraternities began to be erected shortly before 1475.

When Penal Laws in Ireland restricted or banned the Mass, the Rosary became a substitute prayer ritual within private homes. During the 18th century, de Montfort elaborated on the importance of the rosary and emphasized that it should be prayed with attention, devotion, and modesty (reverence).

In Brazil, two million men engage in a movement called Terço dos Homens ("Men's Rosary"). It consists of weekly meetings to pray a set of mysteries. In neighboring Hispanic countries, the movement is called Rosario de Hombres Valientes.

The theologian Romano Guardini described the Catholic emphasis on the Rosary as "participation in the life of Mary, whose focus was Christ." This opinion was expressed earlier by Leo XIII who considered the rosary a way to accompany Mary in her contemplation of Christ.

Papal endorsements
During the 16th century, Pope Pius V associated the rosary with the General Roman Calendar by instituting the Feast of Our Lady of Victory (later changed to Our Lady of the Rosary), which is celebrated on 7 October.

Pope Leo XIII issued twelve encyclicals and five apostolic letters concerning the rosary and added the invocation "Queen of the Most Holy Rosary" to the Litany of Loreto. Leo XIII explained the importance of the Rosary as the one road to God from the faithful to the mother and from her to Christ, and through Christ to the Father, and that the Rosary was a vital means to participate with the life of Mary and to find the way to Christ. Leo instituted the custom of praying the Rosary daily during the month of October.

The Rosary as a family prayer was endorsed by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Ingruentium malorum: "In vain is a remedy sought for the wavering fate of civil life, if the family, the principle and foundation of the human community, is not fashioned after the pattern of the Gospel…We affirm that the custom of the family recitation of the Holy Rosary is a most efficacious means." Pope Pius XII and his successors actively promoted veneration of the Virgin in Lourdes and Fatima, which is credited with a new resurgence of the Rosary within the Catholic Church.

Pope John XXIII deemed the Rosary of such importance that on 28 April 1962, he issued an apostolic letter where he appealed for recitation of the Rosary in preparation for the Second Vatican Council.

Pope John Paul II issued the apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae which emphasized the Christocentric nature of the Rosary as a meditation on the life of Christ. He said: "Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as by the hands of the Mother of the Redeemer."

On 3 May 2008, Pope Benedict XVI stated that the Rosary was experiencing a new springtime: "It is one of the most eloquent signs of love that the young generation nourish for Jesus and his Mother." For Benedict XVI, the Rosary is a meditation on all the important moments of salvation history.

The Congregation for Divine Worship's directory of popular piety and the liturgy emphasizes the Christian meditation/meditative aspects of the rosary, and states that the Rosary is essentially a contemplative prayer which requires "tranquility of rhythm or even a mental lingering which encourages the faithful to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord's life." The Congregation for Divine Worship points out the role the Rosary can have as a formative component of spiritual life.

Indulgence
The Enchiridion Indulgentiarum of 2004 confirmed the partial indulgence for the Prayer to Saint Joseph. For the Marian Rosary he provided for plenary indulgence on condition that it is piously recited in a church or oratory (even alone), in a family, religious community, association of Christ's faithful or, more generally, in a meeting of a plurality of people who come together honourable for this purpose.

Rosary encyclicals and Apostolic Letters

 * Consueverunt Romani Pontifices – Pius V
 * List of encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII on the Rosary
 * Ingravescentibus Malis – Pius XI
 * Ingruentium malorum – Pius XII
 * Grata recordatio – John XXIII
 * Christi Matri – Paul VI
 * Rosarium Virginis Mariae – John Paul II

Rosary beads
Rosary beads provide a physical method of keeping count of the number of Hail Marys said as the mysteries are contemplated. By not having to keep track of the count mentally, the mind is free to meditate on the mysteries. While most rosaries contain five groups of ten beads, called "decades", some other rosaries, particularly those used by religious orders, contain fifteen decades and since the early 20th century twenty decade rosaries have been manufactured.

Rosaries normally take the form of a loop from which hangs a short strand holding a crucifix or cross. The loop contains all the decades, the beads of which may be called Hail Mary beads as they are used for reciting the Hail Mary prayer, as well as one fewer Our Father beads, used for saying the Lord's Prayer, than there are decades. To make them stand out to the user's touch, Our Father beads are often larger, made of a different material, or spaced further apart from the Hail Mary beads. The pair of decades that do not have an Our Father bead between them instead have an attachment to a shorter strand of beads. This shorter strand has five beads on it and may connect to the main loop by a center medal, a knot or a large bead. The five beads are one Our Father bead, three Hail Mary beads, another Our Father bead then and finally a cross or crucifix. A five-decade rosary consists of a "total" of 59 beads.

Although counting the prayers on a string of beads is customary, the prayers of the Rosary do not require beads, but can be said using any type of counting device, by counting on the fingers, or by counting mentally.

Single-decade rosaries

Single-decade rosaries can also be used: the devotee counts the same ring of ten beads repeatedly for every decade. During religious conflict in 16th- and 17th-century Ireland severe legal penalties were prescribed against practising Catholics. Small, easily hidden rosaries were thus used to avoid identification and became known as Irish penal rosaries. Sometimes rather than a cross, other symbols of specific meanings were used: a hammer to signify the nails of the cross, cords to represent the scourging, a chalice to recall the Last Supper, or a crowing rooster signifying the denial of Peter.

Materials and distribution
The beads can be made from any materials, including wood, bone, glass, crushed flowers, semi-precious stones such as agate, jet, amber, or jasper, or precious materials including coral, crystal, silver, and gold. Beads may be made to include enclosed sacred relics or drops of holy water. Rosaries are sometimes made from the seeds of the "rosary pea" or "bead tree." Today, the vast majority of rosary beads are made of glass, plastic, or wood. It is common for beads to be made of material with some special significance, such as jet from the shrine of Saint James the Greater at Santiago de Compostela, or olive seeds from the Garden of Gethsemane. In rare cases, beads are made of expensive materials, from gold and silver, to mother of pearl and Swarovski black diamonds. Early rosaries were strung on thread, often silk, but modern ones are more often made as a series of chain-linked beads. Most rosaries used in the world today have simple and inexpensive plastic or wooden beads connected by cords or strings. Italy has a strong manufacturing presence in medium- and high-cost rosaries.

There are a number of rosary-making clubs around the world that make and distribute rosaries to missions, hospitals, prisons, etc. free of charge. Our Lady's Rosary Makers produce some 7 million rosaries annually that are distributed to those deemed to be in economic and spiritual need.

Wearing rosary beads
Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort encouraged Christians to also wear the rosary beads, stating that doing so "eased him considerably." Many religious orders wear the rosary as part of their habit. A rosary hanging from the belt often forms part of the Carthusian habit.

Canon Law §1171 provides that sacred objects, which are designated for divine worship by dedication or blessing, are to be treated reverently and are not to be employed for profane or inappropriate use even if they are owned by private persons. As such, according to Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum University: If the reason for wearing a rosary is as a statement of faith, as a reminder to pray it, or some similar reason "to the glory of God", then there is nothing to object to. It would not be respectful to wear it merely as jewelry. This latter point is something to bear in mind in the case of wearing a rosary around the neck. In the first place, while not unknown, it is not common Catholic practice. While a Catholic may wear a rosary around the neck for a good purpose, he or she should consider if the practice will be positively understood in the cultural context in which the person moves. If any misunderstanding is likely, then it would be better to avoid the practice … Similar reasoning is observed in dealing with rosary bracelets and rings, although in this case there is far less danger of confusion as to meaning. They are never mere jewelry but are worn as a sign of faith.

A 2022 opinion piece in The Atlantic, an American magazine and multi-platform publisher, linked Catholic rosary beads to Christian nationalism, radical traditional Catholicism and "extremist" right wing movements in the United States. The article raised concerns of anti-Catholic sentiment and disrespecting people of faith.

Wearing rosary rings
A rosary ring is a finger ring with eleven knobs on it, ten round ones and one crucifix, representing one decade of a rosary. These and other kinds of religious rings were especially popular during the 15th and the 16th centuries. Rosary rings are sometimes given to Catholic nuns at the time of their solemn profession. Ring rosaries have also been used in cases of religious persecutions against Catholics, as they are small and can be easily hidden. An example is the Irish penal rosary also with 10 beads. However, they were also sometimes worn for protection and adornment at times when Catholicism was not persecuted, as it would be more difficult to break or wear down a rosary ring, rather than a traditional rosary threaded onto a string.

Wearing rosary bracelets
A rosary bracelet is one with ten beads and often a cross or medal. Another form is the rosary card. A rosary card is either one with a "handle" that moves like a slide rule to count the decade, or it has a whole rosary with bumps similar to Braille and ancient counting systems. Some households that cannot afford Christian artwork or a crucifix simply hang up a rosary as a focal point for prayer. In addition, many Christians hang rosaries from the rear-view mirror of their automobiles as a witness of their faith and protection as they drive.

Rosary recordings and products
Audio recordings of the Rosary help with aspects of prayer such as pacing, memorization, and by providing inspirational meditations in the form of commentary. Some are sponsored by various groups such as the Knights of Columbus, and religious congregations. In 2008, Vatican Radio released a 4-CD set of Pope Benedict XVI praying the Rosary in Latin. Ecclesiastical Latin was used because “we have received requests not only from Italy but from places such as Germany and other countries. So we have used this language for the Rosary which everyone understands easily and because it is the universal language of the Church.”

In October 2019, the Vatican launched a US$109 "electronic rosary" with ten black agate and hematite beads, and a metal cross that detects movement. It is linked to the "Click to Pray eRosary" mobile app designed to help Catholic users pray for world peace and contemplate the Gospel. The rosary can be worn as a bracelet, and is activated by making the Sign of the cross. The app also gives visual and audio explanations of the Rosary.

Rosary-based devotions

 * Novenas which include recitation of the Rosary is popular among Catholics. The traditional method consists of praying the Rosary along with the other component prayers of the Novena on nine consecutive days.
 * The Servite Rosary – originated with the Servite Order, it consists of seven groups of seven beads. It is often said in connection with the Seven Dolours of Mary.
 * The Franciscan Crown – a devotion that recalls seven joyful episodes in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The practice originated among the Franciscans in early 15th-century Italy. The themes resemble the 12th-century Gaudes, Latin praises that ask Mary to rejoice because God has favoured her in various ways.
 * 54-day Rosary Novena – consists of two parts, 27 days each. It is a series of Rosaries in honor of the Virgin Mary, reported as a private revelation in 1884 by Fortuna Agrelli in Naples, Italy. This Novena is performed by praying five decades of the Rosary each day for twenty-seven days in petition. The second phase which immediately follows consists of five decades each day for twenty-seven days in thanksgiving, and is prayed whether or not the petition has been granted. During the Novena, the meditations rotate among the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries.
 * Peace Rosary – also known as the "Workers' Rosary" or the "Peace Chaplet", it is popular with devotees of Our Lady of Medjugorje. The Chaplet later became a basis for a prayer for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, known as the Chaplet in Honour of the Holy Spirit, and has been translated into many languages.

Other denominations
Many similar prayer practices exist in other Christian communities, each with its own set of prescribed prayers and its own form of prayer beads (known in some traditions as the Chotki), such as the prayer rope in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. These other devotions and their associated beads are usually referred to as "chaplets". The Rosary is sometimes prayed by other Christians, especially in Lutheranism, the Anglican Communion, and the Old Catholic Church.

Another example of Rosary-based prayers includes the non-denominational Ecumenical Miracle Rosary, "a set of prayers and meditations which covers key moments in the New Testament."

Anglicanism

The use of the Catholic Rosary is fairly common among Anglicans of Anglo-Catholic churchmanship. Many Anglo-Catholic prayer books and manuals of devotion, such as Saint Augustine's Prayer Book contain the Catholic Rosary along with other Marian devotions. The public services of the Anglican churches, as contained in the Book of Common Prayer, do not directly invoke the Blessed Virgin or any other saint in prayer as the Thirty-Nine Articles reject the practice of praying to saints, but many Anglo-Catholics feel free to do so in their private devotions. Anglicans who pray the Catholic Rosary tend not to use the Luminous Mysteries or the Fátima decade prayer.

Anglican prayer beads, also known informally as the "Anglican rosary", are a recent innovation created in the 1980s. They consist of four "weeks" (the equivalent of a decade) of seven beads each. The weeks are separated from each other by single beads termed "cruciform beads". A variety of different prayers may be said, the most common being the Jesus Prayer.

Anglican Prayer Beads are not a Marian devotion, and there are no appointed meditations. Although it is sometimes called the "Anglican rosary", it is distinct from the Rosary of Our Lady as prayed by Catholics, Anglicans, and other Western Christians.

Lutheranism
A small minority of Lutherans pray the Rosary. However, while using the Catholic format of the Rosary, each "Hail Mary" is replaced with the "Jesus Prayer". The only time the "Hail Mary" is said is at the end of the Mysteries on the medal, where it is then replaced with the "Pre-Trent" version of the prayer (which omits "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death"). The final "Hail Mary" can also be replaced by reciting of either the Magnificat, or Martin Luther's "Evangelical Praise of the Mother of God."

The Wreath of Christ is used in the Lutheran Church of Sweden. While an official order and rubric for its use exists, it is often used as a tool for reflection and meditation rather than recitation of specific prayers or devotions, often as part of Confirmation classes. Some members of the Church of Sweden of high-church or evangelical catholic churchmanship will pray the traditional rosary, sometimes in an ecumenical setting with Roman Catholics.

Churches named for the Holy Rosary
Catholic Marian church buildings around the world named in honor of the rosary include:

 * The Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei in Italy.

 * Our Lady of the Rosary Basilica in the archdiocesan seat of Rosario province, Argentina.

 * The Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolás in the neighboring sufragan diocese of San Nicolás de los Arroyos.

 * Our Lady of Pompeii in New York City, which is named for the Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii.

 * The Rosary Basilica in Lourdes, Nossa Senhora do Rosário in Porto Alegre, Brazil

 * The Chapel of the Virgin of the Rosary (1531–1690) in Puebla City, Mexico.

 * Church of Our Lady of the Rosary (San Diego) in San Diego, California.

In Marian art
Since the 16th century, the rosary began to appear as an element in Catholic Marian art. One notable depiction of the rosary in Marian art is seen in Caravaggio's Madonna of the Rosary oil canvas painting in Vienna. Other depictions are shown below.

General references

 * "Rosary" in New Catholic Encyclopedia. Ed. Catholic University of America. New York: McGraw Hill, 1967.

title: Rosary


text:
Ionia

Ionia was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day İzmir, Turkey. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionians who had settled in the region before the archaic period.

Ionia proper comprised a narrow coastal strip from Phocaea in the north near the mouth of the river Hermus (now the Gediz), to Miletus in the south near the mouth of the river Maeander, and included the islands of Chios and Samos. It was bounded by Aeolia to the north, Lydia to the east and Caria to the south. The cities within the region figured significantly in the strife between the Persian Empire and the Greeks.

Ionian cities were identified by mythic traditions of kinship and by their use of the Ionic dialect, but there was a core group of twelve Ionian cities that formed the Ionian League and had a shared sanctuary and festival at Panionion. These twelve cities were (from south to north): Miletus, Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedos, Teos, Erythrae, Clazomenae and Phocaea, together with the islands of Samos and Chios. Smyrna, originally an Aeolic colony, was afterwards occupied by Ionians from Colophon, and became an Ionian city.

The Ionian school of philosophy, centered on 6th century BC Miletus, was characterized by a focus on non-supernatural explanations for natural phenomena and a search for rational explanations of the universe, thereby laying the foundation for scientific inquiry and rational thought in Western philosophy.

Geography
Ionia was of small extent, not exceeding 150 km in length from north to south, with the cities located on a narrow band between the sea and the mountains, which varies in width from 60 to 90 km. So intricate is the coastline that the voyage along its shores was estimated at nearly four times the direct distance. The location of the eastern border with Lydia and Caria was vague in antiquity.

The region comprised three extremely fertile valleys formed by the outflow of three rivers, among the most considerable in Asia Minor: the Hermus in the north, flowing into the Gulf of Smyrna, though at some distance from the city of that name; the Caÿster (modern Küçük Menderes River), which flowed past Ephesus; and the Maeander, which in ancient times discharged its waters into a deep gulf between Priene and Miletus, but which has been gradually filled up by this river's deposits.

Two east–west mountain ranges divide the region and extend out into the Aegean as peninsulas. The first begins as Mount Sipylus between the Hermus and Caÿster river valleys and continues out as the Erythrae peninsula, which faces the island of Chios. The second is the Messogis range between the Caÿster and Maeander ranges, which becomes the Mycale peninsula, which reaches out towards the island of Samos. None of these mountain ranges exceed 1200 m.

Ionia enjoyed the reputation in ancient times of being the most fertile region of Asia Minor. Herodotus declares "in terms of climate and weather, there is no fairer region in the whole world."

Etymology
The etymology of the word Ἴωνες (Íōnes) or Ἰᾱ́ϝoνες (Iā́wones) is uncertain. There are various theories proposed to explain its origin. Frisk suggests that it stems from an unknown root, *Ia-, which would be pronounced as *ya-. Nonetheless, there are several alternative theories that have been put forward as well.

The term Ἰᾱ́ϝoνες (Iā́wones) in turn became the source for words for Greeks in many languages of the Near East, compare Aramaic 𐡉𐡅𐡍𐡉𐡍 (*Yawnayīn), Hebrew יָוָן (yāwān), Arabic يُونَان (yūnān), Demotic Egyptian wynn (/wəjˈniːn/) and Coptic ⲟⲩⲁⲓⲛⲓⲛ (ouainin).
 * Word Ἴωνες or Ἰᾱ́ϝoνες may have originated from a Proto-Indo-European onomatopoeic root *wi- or *woi-, which conveyed a shout made by individuals rushing to help others. Another proposition, put forth by Pokorny, suggests that *Iāwones could signify "devotees of Apollo," based on the cry iḕ paiṓn uttered in his worship; the god was also called iḕios himself.
 * Word Ἴωνες or Ἰᾱ́ϝoνες may have derived from an early name associated with an unknown nation inhabiting an Eastern Mediterranean island. This population was referred to as ḥꜣw-nbwt in ancient Egyptian, indicating the people residing in that region. However, the exact nature of this early name and its connection to the term Ἴωνες remains uncertain.
 * It may have come from a Proto-Indo-European root *uiH-, meaning "power."

History
From the 18th century BC the region was a part of the Hittite Empire with possible name Arzawa, which was destroyed by invaders during the 12th century BC together with the collapse of the Empire. Ionia was settled by the Greeks probably during the 11th century BC. The most important city was Miletus (the Millawanda/Milawata of Hittites). There is no record of any people named Ionians in Late Bronze Age Anatolia but Hittite texts record contact with Ahhiyawans ("Achaeans") without being clear on their location. Miletus and some other cities founded earlier by non-Greeks received populations of Mycenaean Greeks.

Settlement
Greek settlement of Ionia seems to have accelerated following the Bronze Age collapse, but the lack of contemporary sources makes the sequence of events unclear. The ancient Greeks believed that the Ionians were the descendants of Ion (either a son or grandson of Hellen, the mythical ancestor of the Greeks) and had migrated from Greece to Asia Minor in mythic times. The story is attested from the Classical period. Herodotus states that in Asia the Ionians kept the division into twelve cities that had prevailed in Ionian lands of the north Peloponnese, their former homeland, which became Achaea after they left. However, the story of the migration is recounted most fully by the Roman-period authors Strabo and Pausanias. They report that the Ionians were expelled from the Peloponnese by Achaians, and were granted refuge in Athens by King Melanthus. Later, when Medon was selected as King of Athens, his brothers, the "sons of Codrus", led a group of Ionians and others to Asia Minor. Simultaneously, the Aeolians of Boeotia settled the coast to the north of the Ionians and the Dorians settled in Crete, the Dodecanese and in Caria.

According to Pausanias, the sons of Codrus were as follows: Pausanias reports that other cities were founded or became Ionian later:
 * Neileus conquered Miletus from the Cretans. Pausanias and most other sources present Neileus as the overall leader of the Ionians.
 * Androclus conquered Ephesus from the Leleges and Lydians, conquered Samos, and died defending Priene from Carians. Strabo says that Androclus was the leader of the Ionians and the only legitimate son of Codrus.
 * Cyaretus took Myus from the Carians.
 * Damasichthon and Promethus found the descendants of Thersander of Thebes at Colophon and settled alongside them, but later Promethus killed his brother and fled to Naxos.
 * Andraemon conquered Lebedus from the Carians.
 * Damasus and Naoclus settled at Teos, along with Boeotians led by Geres. The city had already been settled by Ionians under Apoecus (whose name literally means "founder") and Minyans who settled under Athamas.
 * Cleopus gathered a group made up of equal portions from all the Ionian cities and settled them at Erythrae, where there were already Cretans, Lycians, Carians and Pamphylians.
 * Priene was founded by Neileus' son Aegyptus, along with Philotas, as a joint Ionian and Theban settlement.
 * Clazomenae was founded by a group of Ionians, who received Parphorus, a descendant of Codrus from Colophon as their founder.
 * Phocaea was founded by a group of Phocians from near Delphi, led by Philogenes and Damon of Athens and then received Deoetes, Periclus and Abartus, descendants of Codrus, as their kings in order to gain recognition as Ionians.
 * Procles son of Pityreus of Epidaurus, a descendant of Ion, who had been expelled by Argos conquered Samos. Under his son Leogorus, the Ephesians under Androclus conquered the island and the Samians fled to Samothrace and to Anaea, but then reconquered Samos.
 * Chios was settled by Cretans under Oenopion, then by Carians and Abantes from Euboea. Oenopion's grandson Hector drove them out and received a tripod and the right to sacrifice at the Panionion from the Ionians (Pausanias expresses uncertainty about how this made them Ionian).
 * Smyrna had been conquered by the Aeolians, but was later conquered by the Colophonians.

Archaic period
In the Archaic period, "the Ionian poleis were among the cultural, intellectual, and political leaders of the Greek world." The region prospered economically due to the contributions of immigrants, traders, and other social classes from at least 750 BCE to well after 510 BCE.

Ionian League
The twelve Ionian cities formed a religious and cultural (as opposed to a political or military) confederacy, the Ionian League, of which participation in the Pan-Ionic festival was a distinguishing characteristic. This festival took place on the north slope of Mt. Mycale in a shrine called the Panionium. The foundation took place late in the Archaic period, but the exact date is unclear. This is also when stories of the Ionian migration are first attested. All of these initiatives were probably aimed at emphasising Ionian distinctiveness from other Greeks in Asia.

But the Ionian League was primarily a religious organisation rather than a political one. Although they did sometimes act together, civic interests and priorities always trumped broader Ionian ones. They never formed a real confederacy. The advice of Thales of Miletus to combine in a political union was rejected. In inscriptions and literary sources from this period, Ionians generally identify themselves by their city of origin, not as "Ionians."

Ionians overseas
The cities became prosperous. Miletus especially was, in an early period, one of the most important commercial cities of Greece, and in its turn became the parent of numerous other colonies, which extended all around the shores of the Euxine Sea and the Propontis from Abydus and Cyzicus to Trapezus and Panticapaeum. Phocaea was one of the first Greek cities whose mariners explored the shores of the western Mediterranean. From an early period, Ephesus, though it did not send out any colonies of importance, became a flourishing city.

In the eighth century, Ionian Greeks are recorded in Near Eastern sources as coastal raiders: an inscription of Sargon II (ca 709–07, recording a naval expedition of 715) boasts "in the midst of the sea" he had "caught the Ionians like fish and brought peace to the land of Que Cilicia and the city of Tyre". For a full generation earlier, Assyrian inscriptions had recorded troubles with the Ionians, who escaped on their boats.

Lydian rule
About 700 BC Gyges, first Mermnad king of Lydia, invaded the territories of Smyrna and Miletus, and is said to have taken Colophon. His son Ardys conquered Priene. In the middle of the 7th century, the Cimmerii ravaged a great part of Asia Minor, including Lydia, and sacked Magnesia on the Maeander, but were defeated when they attacked Ephesus. It was not until the reign of Croesus (560–545 BC) that the cities of Ionia fell completely under Lydian rule.

First Achaemenid rule
The defeat of Croesus by Cyrus the Great was followed by the conquest of all the Ionian cities in 547 BC. These became subject to the Persian monarchy with the other Greek cities of Asia, forming part of the satrapy of Lydia. In this position they enjoyed a considerable amount of autonomy, but were subject to local despots (called "tyrants"), who were loyal to the Persian king.

Art and archaeology show that Ionia was characterised by "openness and adaptability" towards the Lydians, Persians, and their eastern neighbours in this period. Lydian products and luxury objects were widespread.

The Persians used "Yaunā" (Ionian) as a catch-all term for all Greeks, dividing them into "Yaunā of the mainland" in Asia Minor, "Yaunā dwelling by the sea" in the Aegean islands, "Yaunā dwelling across the sea" in the Greek mainland, and "Yaunā with shields on their heads" in Macedonia.

Ionian revolt
It was at the instigation of one of the tyrants, Histiaeus of Miletus, that in about 500 BC the principal cities ignited the Ionian Revolt against Persia. They were at first assisted by the Athenians and Eretria, with whose aid they penetrated into the interior and burnt Sardis, an event which ultimately led to the Persian invasion of Greece. But the fleet of the Ionians was defeated off the island of Lade, and the destruction of Miletus after a protracted siege was followed by the reconquest of all the Asiatic Greeks, insular as well as continental.

Athenian empire
The victories of the Greeks during the Persian invasion of Greece and the liberation of Thrace, Macedon, and Ionia from the Persian Empire had the effect of enfranchising their kinsmen on the other side of the Aegean, and the Battle of Mycale (479 BC), in which the defeat of the Persians was in great measure owing to the Ionians, secured their emancipation. They henceforth became the dependent allies of Athens within the Delian League. In the Athenian tribute lists, one of the regions of the empire is the Ionikos phoros, a region that includes the cities of Ionia, but also Aeolis and Mysia to the north. Caria to the south was initially its own region, but was folded into the Ionikos phoros in 438 BC.

The Athenians advanced an expansive definition of Ionian identity, which included most of the communities under their control and emphasised common descent from Athens. This was probably intended to legitimise their rule over the region. It clashed with the restrictive definition of Ionian identity that was maintained by the Ionian League.

Herodotus, who came from Halicarnassus, a Dorian city in southwestern Asia Minor which was also part of the Athenian Empire, writes in opposition to the Ionian League's claims that "it would be stupid to say that they are more truly Ionian or better born ...." He lists other ethnic populations among the settlers: Abantes from Euboea, Minyans from Orchomenus, Cadmeians, Dryopians, Phocians, Molossians, Arcadian Pelasgians, Dorians of Epidaurus, and others. Even "the best born of the Ionians" had married girls from Caria. He defines Ionians as all peoples who were descended from Athenians and celebrated the Apaturia festival, which aligns with the expansive Athenian definition of Ionian identity.

Satrapy (387–335 BC)
The Spartans dissolved the Athenian Empire at the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. The Spartans installed harmosts (governors) in the cities, but had to withdraw them because they had promised Ionia and the other Greek communities in Asia to the Persians. In 401, the Ionian cities and Sparta supported Cyrus the Younger, the Persian overlord of Asia Minor, in his attempt to seize the throne from his brother, King Artaxerxes II but he failed. Artaxerxes tasked Tissaphernes, the satrap of Lydia and Caria, with retaking the Ionian cities, and the Spartans opposed him.

In 396 BC, Agesilaus led a large expedition to Asia Minor to defend the cities and attack the Persians, which landed in Ephesus. From there he invaded Phrygia and Lydia, sacking Sardis in 395 BC. But the outbreak of the Corinthian War forced him to withdraw in 395 BC.

The region was under Persian control by about 390 BC, when the Persian satrap arbitrated a boundary dispute between Miletus and Myus. Sparta, Athens, and the other mainland Greek states formally acknowledged Persian possession of Ionia and the other Greek cities in Asia Minor in the Peace of Antalcidas in 387 BC. In this period, Ionia was a separate satrapy, rather than part of Lydia - the only time in the region's history that formed an administrative unit. Ionian cities appear to have retained a considerable amount of autonomy until the conquest of Asia Minor by Alexander the Great in 335 BC.

Hellenistic period
Ephesus was conquered by Philip II of Macedon in 336 BC in preparation for the invasion of Persia, which took place under his son Alexander the Great. After the battle of the Granicus in 334 BC most of the Ionian cities submitted to Alexander, except for Miletus, which was taken only after a long siege. Alexander presented his invasion as a liberation of the Greeks of Asia and therefore treated the Ionians generously, granting them freedom, autonomy, and tax-free status.

In the conflict that broke out between Alexander's successors after his death in 323 BC and throughout the Hellenistic Age that followed, Ionia was a contested territory, divided between the Antigonid, Seleucid, and Ptolemaic kingdoms. Cities were regularly forced to switch allegiance from one monarch to another, but they were also able to play the kings off against one another in order to get better terms for themselves. Despite the political situation, the Ionian League continued to operate throughout the period.

Following their victory in the War with Antiochus in 189 BC, the Romans placed Ionia under the control of the Attalid Kingdom, which retained the region until it was annexed by Rome in 133 BC.

One of the major theatrical associations of the Hellenistic period was the Synod of the Dionysiac Artists of Ionia and the Hellespont, which was established around 250 BC and had its headquarters successively in Teos, Ephesus, Myonnesus, and Lebedus.

Roman empire
Ionia became part of the Roman province of Asia in 133 BC, which had its capital at the Ionian city of Ephesus. Ionia had no formal place in the Roman administration of the province, which was divided into conventus districts that were totally distinct from the traditional ethnic divisions of the region. However, the Ionian League continued to function in this period.

The geographer Strabo treats Ionia as the narrow coastal strip from the Hermus river in the north to the Maeander river in the south (though noting that other authorities included the plain south of the river). He treats Ephesus as its most important city and presents an unbroken tradition of intellectual culture in the region stretching from the Archaic philosophers down to his own day - in contrast to the intellectual life of mainland Greece, which he presents as a thing of the past. Other authors sometimes use "Ionia" as a metonym for the whole province of Asia.

Decreased political agency for the Greek cities under Rome, led to increased focus on cultural identity as a source of civic prestige. In the fierce rivalries that raged between the cities of the Province of Asia in the Roman Imperial period, Ionian cities emphasised their Ionian identity as "one of the purest, 'primordial' forms of Greekness," while their rivals denounced Ionians as overly influenced by oriental luxury and recalled their support for the Persians in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC. Most sources discussing Ionian founding myths belong to this period. Ionian cities retained local month names and continued to count years by eponymous magistrates rather than adopting era dating like most other cities in Asia Minor. Distinctive Ionian personal names remained common.

Medieval and modern history
Greeks continued to live in Ionia through the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires but were forced to vacate the region in 1922 after the events of the Greek Genocide which culminated with the population exchange between Turkey and Greece. The suburbs of Nea Ionia and Nea Smyrni were primarily settled by refugees from Ionia and still maintain an Ionian identity.

Legacy
From the 7th century BC, Ionia, and in particular Miletus, was home to the renowned Ionian school of philosophy. The Ionian school, founded by Thales and his student Anaximander, pioneered a revolution in traditional thinking about Nature. Instead of explaining natural phenomena by recourse to traditional religion/myth, the cultural climate was such that men began to form hypotheses about the natural world based on ideas gained from both personal experience and deep reflection. According to physicist Carlo Rovelli, this was the "first great scientific revolution" and the earliest example of critical thinking, which would come to define Greek, and subsequently modern, thought.

Ionia has a long roll of distinguished men of letters and science (notably the Ionian School of philosophy) and distinct school of art. This school flourished between 700 and 500 BC. The great names of this school are Theodorus and Rhoecus of Samos; Bathycles of Magnesia on the Maeander; Glaucus of Chios, Melas, Micciades, Archermus, Bupalus and Athenis of Chios. Notable works of the school still extant are the famous archaic female statues found on the Athenian Acropolis in 1885–1887, the seated statues of Branchidae, the Nike of Archermus found at Delos, and the objects in ivory and electrum found by D. G. Hogarth in the lower strata of the Artemision at Ephesus.

The Persian designation for Greek is Younan (یونان), a transliteration of "Ionia", through Old Persian Yauna. The same is true for the Hebrew word, "Yavan" (יוון) and the Sanskrit word "yavana". The word was later adopted in Arabic, Turkish, and Urdu as well as in other places.

Literary references
Ionia appears as the major setting in these novels:
 * The Ionia Sanction (2011), by Gary Corby
 * The Ionian Mission (1981), by Patrick O'Brian

Many scholars believe the biblical Yavan refers to the alleged ancestor of the ancient peoples of Ionia.

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title: Ionia


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Jane Seymour (actress)

Jane Seymour (born Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg; 15 February 1951) is a British actress. After making her screen debut as an uncredited extra in the 1969 musical comedy Oh! What a Lovely War, Seymour moved to roles in film and television, including a leading role in the television series The Onedin Line (1972–1973) and the role of psychic Bond girl Solitaire in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973).

Critical acclaim followed, with a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for her role in Captains and the Kings (1976). In 1982, Seymour won her first Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for her role in the miniseries East of Eden (1981). She received three additional Golden Globe nominations in that same category: one for her portrayal of Wallis Simpson (the twice-divorced American wife of King Edward VIII) in the television film The Woman He Loved (1988), and another two (in consecutive years) for her role in the miniseries War and Remembrance (1988-1989). Her War and Remembrance role also garnered her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special.

Seymour also won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special for her portrayal of Maria Callas in Onassis: The Richest Man in the World (1988).

In 1993, Seymour was cast as Dr. Michaela Quinn in the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, a medical drama set in the Wild West. For her performance in this role, over the course of its six-season run she received nominations twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, twice for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, and four times for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama. She also went on to win one of the latter awards).

Seymour was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and, in 2000, was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Seymour also had roles in numerous films, including Somewhere in Time (1980), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982), La Révolution française (1989), Wedding Crashers (2005), Love, Wedding, Marriage (2011), Little Italy (2018), The War with Grandpa (2020) and Friendsgiving (2020).

In addition to her acting career, Seymour established a nonprofit, the Open Hearts Foundation, co-authored several children's books and self-help books, and created jewellery, scarves, furniture, rugs, handbags, paintings and sculptures under the label Jane Seymour Designs.

Early life
Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg was born on 15 February 1951 in Uxbridge, Middlesex (now part of Greater London), England, to Mieke van Tricht (1914–2007), a nurse, and Benjamin John Frankenberg FRCOG (1914–1990), a distinguished gynaecologist and obstetrician. Her father was Jewish; he was born in England to a family from Nowe Trzepowo, a village in Poland. Her mother was a Dutch Protestant (with family from Deventer) who was a prisoner of war during World War II and had lived in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Seymour has stated she learned Dutch from her mother and her fellow survivors from the Japanese internment camp, who frequently spent holidays together in the Netherlands when she was a child. Encouraged by her parents (who sent her to live with family friends in Geneva to practise her languages), she learned to speak fluent French.

Seymour's paternal grandfather Lee Grahame had come to live in the East End of London after escaping the Czarist pogroms when he was 14. He is listed in the 1911 census as living in Bethnal Green working as a hairdresser and went on to establish his own company. Seymour's father Benjamin qualified at the UCL Medical School in 1938. He joined the medical branch of the RAFVR after the outbreak of war, serving in England, Belgium, Italy and South Africa, ending his service as a squadron leader with a mention in despatches. After the war, Frankenberg continued his career at various London hospitals, including St Leonard's Hospital, Hackney, the East End Maternity Hospital, the City of London Maternity Hospital and finally Hillingdon Hospital, for which he designed the maternity unit. A close associate of Patrick Steptoe, he assisted in pioneering discussions on in-vitro fertilisation and published papers on adolescent and teenage sexual behaviours.

Seymour was educated at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire. She chose the screen name Jane Seymour, after the English queen Jane Seymour, because it seemed more saleable. One of Seymour's notable features is heterochromia, making her right eye brown and her left eye green.

Acting career
In 1969, Seymour appeared uncredited in her first film, Richard Attenborough's Oh! What a Lovely War. In 1970, Seymour appeared in her first major film role in the war drama The Only Way. She played Lillian Stein, a Jewish woman seeking shelter from Nazi persecution. In 1973, she gained her first major television role as Emma Callon in the successful 1970s series The Onedin Line. During this time, she appeared as female lead Prima in the two part television miniseries Frankenstein: The True Story. She appeared as Winston Churchill's girlfriend Pamela Plowden in Young Winston, produced by her father-in-law Richard Attenborough.

In 1973, Seymour achieved international fame in her role as Bond girl Solitaire in the James Bond film Live and Let Die. IGN ranked her as 10th in a Top 10 Bond Babes list. In 1975, Seymour was cast as Princess Farah in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, the third part of Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad trilogy. The film was not released until its stop motion animation sequences had been completed in 1977. In 1978, she appeared as Serina in the Battlestar Galactica film and in the first five episodes of the television series. Seymour returned to the big screen in the comedy Oh Heavenly Dog opposite Chevy Chase.

In 1980, Seymour played the role on stage of Constanze in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus, opposite Ian McKellen as Salieri and Tim Curry as Mozart. The play premiered on Broadway in 1980, ran for 1,181 performances and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, of which it won five.

Also in 1980, Seymour was given the role of young theatre actress Elise McKenna in the period romance Somewhere in Time. Though the film was made with a markedly limited budget, the role enticed Seymour with a character she felt she knew. The effort was a decided break from her earlier work, and marked the start of her friendship with co-star Christopher Reeve.

In 1981, she appeared in the television film East of Eden, based on the novel by John Steinbeck. Her portrayal of main antagonist Cathy Ames won her a Golden Globe. In 1982, she appeared in The Scarlet Pimpernel with Anthony Andrews and her Amadeus costar Ian McKellen. In 1984, Seymour appeared nude in the film Lassiter, co-starring Tom Selleck, but the film was a box office flop. In 1987, Seymour was the subject of a pictorial in Playboy magazine, although she did not pose nude.

In 1988, Seymour got the female lead in the twelve part television miniseries War and Remembrance, the continued story from the miniseries The Winds of War. She played Natalie Henry, an American Jewish woman trapped in Europe during World War II. That same year, she won an Emmy Award for playing Maria Callas in the television movie Onassis: The Richest Man in the World.

In 1989, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, Seymour appeared in the television film La révolution française, filmed in both French and English. Seymour appeared as the doomed French queen, Marie Antoinette; Seymour's two children, Katherine and Sean, appeared as the queen's children.

In the 1990s, Seymour earned popular and critical praise for her role as Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn in the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and its television sequels (1993–2001). Her work on the series earned her a second Golden Globe Award. While working on the series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, she met her fourth husband, actor director James Keach.

In the 2000s, Seymour continued to work primarily in television. In 2004 and 2005, she made six guest appearances in The WB series Smallville, playing Genevieve Teague, the wealthy, scheming mother of Jason Teague (Jensen Ackles). In 2005, Seymour returned to the big screen in the comedy Wedding Crashers, playing Kathleen Cleary, wife of fictional United States Secretary of the Treasury William Cleary, played by Christopher Walken. In spring 2006, she appeared in the short lived The WB series Modern Men. Later that year, Seymour guest-starred as a law-school-professor on an episode of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and as a wealthy client on the Fox legal drama Justice. In 2007, she guest-starred in the ABC sitcom In Case of Emergency. She also appeared in ITV's Marple: Ordeal By Innocence, based on the Agatha Christie novel. She was a contestant on season five of the US reality show Dancing with the Stars; she finished in sixth place, along with her partner Tony Dovolani. Seymour guest starred in "One Life to Lose", a soap opera-themed episode of the ABC crime-dramedy Castle.

Seymour appeared in the Hallmark Channel film Dear Prudence (2008); the romantic comedy Love, Wedding, Marriage (2011); and the Hallmark Movie Channel film Lake Effects (2012).

In April 2016, she starred as Florence Lancaster in Noël Coward's play The Vortex, presented in Singapore by the British Theatre Playhouse. In 2022, Seymour began playing the title role on the Irish Acorn TV series Harry Wild.

In 2020, Jane starred in Ruby's Choice, an Australian comedy/drama produced and directed by Michael Budd. It follows Ruby (played by Seymour) as a woman with early dementia and its impact on her and her family when she is no longer able to live independently and moves in with her family. Jane won Australian screen industry Network Award for best actress.

The film was released theatrically across Australia and New Zealand on 3 March 2022. On 7 March 2022, Ruby's Choice premiered in Santa Barbara, California at the 37th Santa Barbara International Film Festival where it was Nominee Best International Feature Film. On 24 September 2023, at the Burbank International Film Festival (BIFF), won Best Foreign Film and Best Feature Film with Ruby's Choice. The event coincided with the honouring of the legendary filmmaker Tim Burton. 'Ruby's Choice' will be released nationwide in North America on May 7th, 2024."

She is due to appear in the Netflix movie, Irish Wish  in 2024.

Personal life
Seymour has been married and divorced four times. Her first marriage was to Michael Attenborough. She was then briefly married to Geoffrey Planer.

In 1981, Seymour married David Flynn. The marriage produced two children: Katherine Flynn (born on 7 February 1982) and Sean Flynn (born on 31 July 1985). Flynn had involved her in the housing market, an involvement which left her "completely beyond bankrupt". They divorced in 1992. The following year, Seymour married actor James Keach. Together they had twins, John Stacy and Kristopher Steven, born 30 November 1995, and named after family friends Johnny Cash and Christopher Reeve and James's brother, actor Stacy Keach.

In February 2005, Seymour became a naturalised citizen of the United States.

Seymour is a celebrity ambassador for Childhelp, a national nonprofit organisation dedicated to helping victims of child abuse and neglect. In 2007, she sponsored a children's Art Pillow contest as part of the Jane Seymour Collection, with the proceeds going to Childhelp.

On 12 April 2013, it was announced that Seymour was divorcing Keach. The divorce was finalized in December 2015.

In February 2018, she posed for Playboy for a third time, becoming at the age of 67 the oldest woman to be photographed for the magazine. In the Playboy interview, Seymour revealed that she briefly quit acting after being sexually harassed by an unnamed film producer in the early 1970s.

Writing and fashion career
In the 1980s, Seymour began a parallel career as a writer of self-help and inspirational books, including Jane Seymour's Guide to Romantic Living (1986), Two at a Time: Having Twins (2002), Remarkable Changes (2003) and Among Angels (2010). She also co-wrote several children's books, with her then husband James Keach, for the This One 'N That One series.

In 1985, Seymour appeared at Fashion Aid, a one time fashion show fundraiser held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. An event organised by Bob Geldof to raise funds for the ongoing Ethiopian famine caused by the policies of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, the finale of the show saw her partake in a mock wedding with Freddie Mercury. Seymour wore a white lace wedding dress that was designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel – who had previously created Princess Diana's wedding gown.

In 2008, Seymour replaced Selina Scott as the new face of fashion label CC (formerly known as Country Casuals) under the Austin Reed banner of retailers.

Likewise in 2008, Seymour teamed up with and designed the "Open Heart Collection" for Kay Jewelers, which promoted it with the advice, "Keep your heart open and love will always find its way in." Beginning that year, she saw to it that she would always be wearing one of the collection's necklaces whenever seen in public while not in character for any of her acting performances. In the same year, Seymour also wrote and published the books Open Hearts: If Your Heart Is Open, love Will Always Find Its Way In and Open Hearts Family.

A 2.08-carat cushion-cut fancy vivid blue diamond in an 18-karat rose-gold-plated platinum setting was named "The Jane Seymour" in her honour by World of Diamonds Group, which had mined it in Russia, cut and set it. The ring was presented to Seymour in April 2016 in Singapore while she was there to star in The Vortex.

Honors

 * 1999: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
 * 2000: New Years Honours List. "For services to acting and entertainment".
 * 2000: OBE Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Civil Division)
 * 2010: Ellis Island Medal of Honor

title: Jane Seymour (actress)