La Peninsula

As Holy Week begins, we are reminded that if anyone is known for capturing beauty in symbols, it’s Catholics. While the start of Holy Week sees shrouded statues and imagery in churches throughout the world, encouraging the faithful to focus on spirituality rather than visuals, Catholicism is synonymous with her art. Think La Pieta at St. Peter’s, The Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel, Gothic architecture at Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral. 

Among these devotees of Catholic art is Ghirelli, the family-run, made in Italy jewelry and rosary makers. 

But rosary beads are not symbols, as Alessandro and Cinzia Ghirelli ensure in every collection, every rosalet, necklace, sculpture, and crucifix. The husband-and-wife team’s story began in what seemed like an insurmountable tragedy. While engaged, Alessandro, Cinzia, and his father suffered a severe car accident that injured Cinzia and took his father’s life. Left to run his father’s vegetable distribution company, Alessandro and Cinzia moved forward in grief. 

Soon after, yet another tragedy struck, this time one that rocked all of Europe: the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. Radioactive dust rained as far as Italy, thick enough to choke Alessandro’s crops, destroy the business, and abandon the newly married couple with nearly half a million dollars in debt and loss. 

Who could overcome these insurmountable odds? Seemingly no mortal being. Seeing no way out, Alessandro and Cinzia fell to their knees in prayer, clinging to the Blessed Virgin through her rosary in their hands. 

As he prayed, little did Alessandro know that he held his future in his two hands. Literally. What were beads clutched in desperation transformed Alessandro’s heart with an unavoidable purpose: he had to devote his life to the very Lady of the Rosary herself, starting by honoring her with not just rosary beads, but the most beautiful, unique, and inimitable rosary beads the world has ever seen…glorifying Our Lady with the beauty that befits her name. 

While the road to Ghirelli was paved with obstacles and hardships, like every cross Catholics are called to carry, Alessandro and Cinzia consecrated themselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They had no answers, other than to give everything to the Blessed Virgin. Everything. Their lives, their futures, their business. 

And look at the results. 

Today, Ghirelli is synonymous with honoring God through beauty, as the Vatican and her basilicas have done for centuries. Hand-sketched, tailor-made rosaries. Collections designed for Mysteries of the Rosary, Holy Saints Rosaries, and Precious Stones Rosaries are just a smattering of design devotions to choose from. Materials range from gold, silver, and vintage, as well as rose gold, crystal, gemstone, and even Murano glass. Pavé gold with diamond studs or matte black Rosalet^® bracelets are a respectful way to wear a rosary on your wrist; these material-customizable, engraving-ready Rosalets provide an easy-to-transport rosary for when you travel. Materials range from sterling silver and gold-plated sterling silver to fully pavé gold with Zircon pavé. 

Collaborations include Hallow^® with Ghirelli, rosaries with their own built-in QR code to connect prayer to the wildly popular Hallow prayer app, the world’s number one Catholic prayer app. There is also the Ghirelli^® for the Vatican collection and an ongoing partnership with Jonathan Roumie, star of the global hit TV show, “The Chosen,” who plays Jesus and is a devout Catholic in real life. 

What does Ghirelli teach us? That when we truly surrender, drop to our knees and say Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything, we may not have answers, but we have hope. We have protection. And in the end, even when Christ sounds silent, we know resurrection is at hand. 

Here is to a fruitful Holy Week.