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As an instrument of religious devotion, the rosary acquired renewed importance through its papally decreed association with the battle of Lepanto. The victory over the Turks on that occasion was perceived by Cervantes as the most important event of all times. And yet in Don Quijote, Cervantes presents the rosary bathed in satire, which in one instance went beyond the limits of endurance of the Portuguese Inquisition. In this article I study the seven appearances of the rosary in Don Quijote by placing each in its textual context. I then widen the focus by considering recent critical approaches within Bakhtinian and anthropological parameters. I conclude that the treatment of the rosary in Don Quijote may offer us a clue to the conflict between the new religiosity then being imposed by post-Tridentine Catholicism, and the popular manifestations of devotion prevalent at the time.
