In a video he posted to his 11 million followers on X (formerly Twitter), actor and influencer Russell Brand prayed the Rosary. The video, which had reached about 1.5 million people as of the time this artcie was written, showed that Brand is moving toward Christianity and away from his former Buddhist faith, if somewhat haltingly.
In the video, Brand said, “For our meditation today, we’re going to do something a little bit different. We’re going to chant the Holy Rosary.” He added, “Now I don’t know all the prayers, but today we’ll be looking at the chant itself.” He then recited the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be while reading it.
Adding the background of what the Rosary is and from where members of the Roman Catholic faith draw their Scriptural support for it, LifeSiteNews described the prayers and Biblical passages from which they are drawn, saying:
The Holy Rosary is a Catholic devotion given by Mary, the Mother of Christ, to St. Dominic in 1214 during an apparition.
The Rosary consists of praying fives “decades” of 10 Hail Marys separated by five Our Fathers and five Glory Bes. Many Catholics also pray the prayer given to the children by Our Lady of Fatima following each Glory Be. Those who pray the Rosary meditate on different events in the life of Christ during each decade. Those events are categorized as the Joyful Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the Glorious Mysteries of Christ. Pope John Paul II added the five Luminous Mysterious in 2002.
The Church points to James 5:16 (“Pray one for another that you may be saved”) and to the example of Mary successfully asking Jesus to perform a miracle at the wedding feast in Cana (John 2:1-11) as proof of Her intercessory power with Christ. It also recalls that in the Book of the Apocalypse 4:8 angels are described as continually praising God “night and day,” which the Rosary’s structure reflects.
Watch Brand here:
This isn’t the first time Brand has indicated that he is moving toward Christianity. Speaking about wearing a cross in January, he said, “The reason I wear a cross is because Christianity, and in particular, the figure of Christ, it seems to me, [is] inevitably becoming more important as I become more familiar with suffering, purpose, self, and not self.”
Similarly, in March, Brand announced, “I have to live a disciplined life. I pray the Rosary every single day.” Shortly beforehand, in February, Brand explained how a visit to church helped him start thinking more about the Christian faith, saying, “It’s fascinating. When I read this story … I started to feel the reality of Christ, and the reality of Christ’s love.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video