“This is substantial!”

His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan

Archbishop of New York

“I am going to hang this in my car.”

Bishop Frank J. Caggiano

Diocese of Bridgeport, CT

Ashley Skatoff

Artist and Founder | Custom Rosary LLC

Ever since I was a young girl, I have been fascinated with Mother Mary. She called to me.

I have been making rosaries since 2016. I wanted a rosary that felt solid and natural in a difficult time in my life. I began sourcing the stones and crucifixes and learning about beading. As an artist, the design over many years became reductive and simple. I hand select only beautiful, natural stones from around the world. I use only the St Benedict crucifix provided by the Carmelite Monastery of the Sacred Hearts. And, I use small olive wood beads only from Jerusalem.

The first ten or so rosaries for sale, almost 7 years ago, travelled to Italy because I wanted them to visit the Vatican with me. While in Amalfi, Captain Mauricio took us to the Grotto Bianca, “White Grotto”, in Capri; easily visited by boat, but difficult to climb due to a treacherous staircase. The steep, narrow and crumbly stairs climb 70-80 feet above the sea and are believed to have been carved into the rock in Roman times. The cave itself has been formed by geological processes dating back to the Jurassic and Cretaceous eras (millions of years ago). Inside this cave is a statuesque formation of stalactites and stalagmites that appears to be in the likeness of Mother Mary; life size and naturally formed as the water slowly interacted with the stone all around her.

Captain Mauricio advised us to safely enjoy from the boat. However, my husband and youngest son, age 10 at the time, swam to the stairs with my rosaries in hand and climbed to Mother Mary as I watched in awe from the boat with the rest of my family.

In that same year, back home in the woods of Connecticut, I left a rosary inside the base of a tree in memory of a friend when hiking. I checked on it daily and it eventually disappeared. Several weeks passed. A tiny Mother Mary figure suddenly appeared tucked away in the same tree trunk mixing in with leaves and debris; so tiny I almost missed her. She remained in the spot where the rosary had been for a long season and then, one day, I noticed she was no longer there. I began combining the rosary with my walks in the woods and Mary became the earth, the trees, the stream, the wind, the sky. She was everywhere and time stood still in her undeniable and loving presence.

Grotto Bianca | Capri, Italy

Hiking Trail | Connecticut

It is only recently that I see the visual and spiritual connection between the experiences at the Grotto Bianca in Italy and the base of the tree at home.

Largely influenced by the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, I believe my rosaries hold the energy of cosmic matter across all time which is the Holy Spirit: God everywhere, God in everything and God in everyone.

In You. Even in Me.