EL CENTRO — Eddie Madueño — the rosary-maker extraordinaire known as @rosaryguy on Instagram — began praying the rosary a decade ago.
Madueño’s tactile way of spreading the Gospel of Christ is through a rosary-making devotion he started about five years ago. He makes customized, large-beaded paracord rosaries, which he gives to friends and those he wants to help develop a devotion of praying the rosary themselves.
As of mid-July, Madueño had made 1,172 rosaries, each customized for the person he gives them to.
They have traveled the world in the hands of those who have received them, not just across Imperial and San Diego counties but also globally, including to Catholic pilgrim sites.
Madueño is a member of Our Lady of the Valley Parish. His powerful rosary journey began in October 2016, when his then-fellow officer, Robert Sawyer, gave him one when he was the chief of the El Centro Police Department.
“He knew I was Catholic and prayed the rosary, so he gave me one. It was the first time I ever saw a paracord rosary,” Madueño said. “I had always been looking for a more manly-looking rosary.”
Something in the rosary gift planted a seed in Madueño’s heart, harkening back to his childhood memories of his family’s deep devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The gift inspired him to pray the rosary more often. Meanwhile, his wife, Margie, began to develop a devotion to the rosary herself. (Together, they lead youth faith formation at Our Lady of the Valley.)
By December 2016, the now retired police chief felt an urging, while waiting in a confession line, to teach people to pray the rosary.
After research and more prayer, he began to make the paracord rosaries in April 2018.
His rosary-making process involves spraying holy water in his “Rosary Room” at his home. As he puts together beads with cord, medals and St. Benedict crucifixes, he listens to Christian music and prays for the person he is making the rosary for.
“I don’t sell them,” he said, adding that he creates them for the joy of giving and to spread the prayer of the rosary as a devotion. “I like to have them blessed and then give them to people.”
The “Rosary Guy” rosaries have traveled with faithful across the diocese, with the Knights of Columbus; Cursillistas; priests like EWTN’s Fathers Mitch Pacwa, Wade Menezes and John Riccardo, as well as Father Donald Calloway and others.
Madueño hit his 500th rosary when he presented one to Father Larry Richards in October 2019 when he was in El Centro to speak at the St. John Paul II Catholic Radio station’s annual benefit dinner.
In April 2024, he made his 1,000th one for his wife, which she took to France and soaked in the healing water pools at the grotto of the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes.
His own devotion to the rosary has blossomed, continuing to give others hope today in the Jubilee Year of Hope, he said.
What gives him hope?
“I see a renewed interest in our faith. I see increased numbers of people attending Mass and numerous young people in our faith formation programs.”
Madueño has taught “Rosary 101” classes to adults through Our Lady of the Valley, only taking a small hiatus to co-direct faith formation at the parish. He has also hosted the “Live Fire Rosary” online every Monday, where he and other local Catholics unite to pray the rosary via Facebook Live on the St. JP2 Catholic Radio page.
Madueño leads his parish’s Annual Rosary Rally celebration, held for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary at St. Mary Church in El Centro every October (prayed in English and Spanish).
“I think a lot of people are intimidated by the rosary,” Madueño said. “Maybe they think it’s too hard or is too long. I thought, ‘If I can give them the basics, maybe they will be encouraged to pray it.’”
He said that praying the rosary consistently “brings you this peace … I can’t even begin to describe it. You have to experience it for yourself.”
Opportunities
The Live Fire Rosary is shown on the St. JP2 Catholic Radio Facebook page every Monday at 7:30 p.m.
Our Lady of the Valley’s annual Rosary Rally will be held at the St. Mary Parish Center, on Tuesday, Oct. 7, from 5 to 8 p.m., with the bilingual, Scriptural rosary being prayed publicly at 6 p.m.
