Patrick Baumhover

October 2023

When Patrick Baumhover paid his first visit to fellow parishioner Leo Morman, he had a plan. It was October 2010, and he’d stopped by the elderly man’s house to get an estimate of the work to be done on parish service day. Patrick figured he’d take a look around, make some notes, and be out in five minutes. It didn’t turn out that way. “I sat with Leo for forty minutes that first night,” Patrick says. “I’m not a gabber, but for some reason me and Leo got along.” The two became friends, and Patrick always looked forward to his conversations with Leo. “I’d see him every year, and we’d sit and talk for the longest time.” Patrick couldn’t help noticing the beautiful, handcrafted rosaries that filled Leo’s kitchen, and Leo was happy to talk about them. Over the course of their five-year friendship, the two men spent hours discussing Leo’s hobby—making rosaries out of hard, shiny seeds he grew in his back yard on grassy-looking plants called Job’s Tears. Intrigued, Patrick ordered some Job’s Tears seeds for himself, planted them, and gave Leo the extras. Leo added them to his already sizable inventory.

Within a few years, it became clear that Leo was slowing down. “Maybe you can start making rosaries,” he said, offering Patrick his remaining collection of beads. Patrick accepted them with mixed feelings, unsure about starting a new hobby and reluctant to acknowledge that his friend’s time was growing short.

Leo passed away in 2015, and Patrick continued growing Job’s Tears. His plants surprised him by yielding several hundred seeds the first year and over three thousand the next. Was someone trying to tell him something? He couldn’t let all those beads go to waste. It was time to start making rosaries.

He’d assembled a few already—the first as a gift for his mother—but he needed practice to refine his technique. Following Leo’s example, he selected his beads carefully, aiming for symmetry of color and size. He learned to use quality wires that would hold together over time.

Initially, Patrick’s rosaries went to people he met through Habitat for Humanity. Others went to friends, family, or people who just seemed to need one. “Every time I would make one, I would always think about the person who was going to get it, so I guess in a way I was praying for them as I did it.”

By now Patrick estimates that he’s made close to a hundred rosaries, and anyone who has seen them can attest to their beauty. But don’t expect him to take any credit. “I don’t make them. God does. This is just me finishing Leo’s job.