Where did all the [Ordinary] time go?

So, if you haven't noticed, either from the other comments around St. Blog's or the fact that the colors on your liturgical calender change on Wednesday, Lent starts the day after tomorrow. So, I've been casting about for Lenten disciplines, and considering that it's more important to actually do something for Lent rather than to give up something by itself. So, I set out to find an adequately dolorous prayer, perhaps a chaplet of some sort.

And I discovered that chaplets are hard to come by. Oh, not to say that they're impossible to find, but aside from the chaplet of the Divine Mercy (not very dolorous), you're average online Catholic goodies supplier doesn't have a very good chaplet supply (Aquinas and More seeming to be an exception). Obviously they're not as well known or as popular as the Rosary, and they have the disadvantage vis-a-vis the Rosary of not having been given by the Blessed Virgin, but as a pretty POD Catholic devotion, you'd think there would be more demand for chaplets.

Honestly, though, I've never said one. I really don't think there is a set of chaplet beads (other than the Rosary) in my house. And while the Divine Mercy is a popular and widely known devotion, the more dolorous chaplets are much harder to find. (Ebay seems to be the best place online). My question is whether such chaplets have always been rather limited in use (or confined to particular places/disciplines), or whether there's a chaplet famine, in which we're seeing lower than normal chaplet usage?

Oh, and if you're interested in a dolorous chaplet for Lent, you have the Chaplet of the Precious Blood, The Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, and the Chaplet of the Holy Wounds.

Have a penitential Lent!


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