Charlie Guy, creator of the Rosary Wheel. Photos: Rosary Wheel. When Charlie Guy first began to pray the rosary aloud in his van, it was spontaneous. He didn’t set out in search of a new business idea, nor to become known online. He was, as he put it, simply heading off to do a delivery for his confectionary distribution business. When somewhere along the road, it came to him.
“I got into my van one morning. I wasn’t planning it. I was going to do a delivery of sweets,” the Armagh businessman told The Irish Catholic. “All of a sudden I started to pray the Rosary, and I couldn’t count it. The more I did it, the louder I got. I kept praying and praying. I was nearly screaming at the top of my head. I was crying.”
By the time he reached Newcastle, Co. Down, he pulled up and asked himself: “What happened to me here?”
“I could have been doing eight Hail Marys, I could have been doing ten, I could have been doing 15. I just couldn’t stop,” he said. “I looked at my steering wheel and I thought, you know something, the Rosary is round, the same shape as a steering wheel. If I had the Rosary onto my steering wheel, I could have kept count.”
Calling
That moment eventually became the Rosary Wheel, a tactile devotional aid designed to fit around a steering wheel to act as a physical prompt to prayer for drivers. What began as a personal response to an unexpected spiritual moment has become in Mr Guy’s words “a mission rather than a product”.
“I have a confectionery company. That’s my business. I’ve had it for 30 years,” he said. “This isn’t really me. This is not what I do. But people keep saying to me, ‘No, this is what you’re meant to do. You’ve been given this path.’ So that’s sort of the way it has been.”
The first spark, he said, came through social media. Mr Guy had originally joined TikTok casually, posting videos here and there, “moaning about everyday things.” But over time, Catholic videos began appearing in his feed, including young converts and people speaking openly about the faith.
“There was one girl in particular, Anna Manali from Florida, I kept watching her,” he said. “She kept talking about her faith and it was going into the head.” Soon afterwards came the van journey and the sudden, overwhelming impulse to pray.
He ordered 1000 before Christmas, thinking maybe he’d over done it but to his surprise, ‘They sold out within a couple of weeks. It was absolutely incredible’”
After sketching the idea for the wheel, he showed it to a friend involved in design and product development. “I thought he was going to laugh at it,” he said. “And he says to me, ‘No, I think this is probably the best idea you’ve ever had.’”
When the first prototype arrived, he attached it to the steering wheel and spoke about it on TikTok. The video blew up, receiving tens of thousands of views, with people asking where they could buy one. He ordered 1000 before Christmas, thinking maybe he’d over done it but to his surprise, “They sold out within a couple of weeks. It was absolutely incredible.”
Value
In terms of the appeal of the Rosary Wheel, Mr Guy believes its value is in being a physical reminder of prayer in the middle of daily life. “What that wheel is to me, it’s not just the Rosary on the steering wheel. I consider that my conscience on the wheel,” he said. “When I have that in my hand, it reminds me of who I am, what I am, and where I’m going.”
“You can do it in a traffic jam. You can do it on the M50, because you’ve plenty of time to do it on the M50. You could do it sitting in the car park, waiting for your wife to come out of the shopping centre. Or you could just say a few prayers. It’s just there to remind you of who you are and where you are.”
“People are in their car every day. There’s probably not a day goes by where somebody’s not sitting in the car,” he said. “For me, I do all my thinking in the car, because that’s where I am on my own. You’ve got that thinking time and that time to reflect.”
The product has also become part of his own return to a deeper practice of the faith. Mr Guy was raised Catholic in Armagh, and his life has been marked by the sacraments there: Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation and marriage. Yet before this experience, he said he had not been to Confession in around 30 years.
I’m not afraid. I’m not hiding Rosary beads in my heart. I have them on my steering wheel and I’m proud of that”
“The following week, because of that, I just went to Confession. Now I try to go as often as I can. I bought myself a Miraculous Medal that next week as well,” he said. “I sort of started taking more pride in the faith, looking at it and concentrating on it.”
During Lent, he went to Mass every day, something he had never done before. What surprised him was that it did not remain a burden.
“It became easy. I was looking forward to going to Mass. It didn’t become a chore,” he said. “To me, I’m no longer a bystander. I’m now partaking.”
He believes he is not alone in that experience. From what he sees online and in churches, many people are becoming less embarrassed about Catholic faith and more willing to live it publicly.
“I think there are so many people coming back and grasping their faith again and not being embarrassed about it anymore,” he said. “I’m not afraid. I’m not hiding Rosary beads in my heart. I have them on my steering wheel and I’m proud of that. I’m not here to defend it, I’m here to live it.”
Personal
Yet amid the sales and online interest, one story has stayed with him above all others. A man messaged him on TikTok after seeing one of his videos.
“He said to me, ‘Thank you very much. I was going to kill myself tonight. I had been on Google looking up how to tie a knot for a noose to hang myself. And because of your TikTok on the Rosary Wheel, I decided not to.’”
The message stunned him. Mr Guy stayed in contact with the man, whose marriage had broken down and who was living in severe distress.
“I felt responsible for him,” he said. “I kept in touch with him, trying to build his confidence up. I ended up getting him back into his business. He sort of got himself back into a better position, and he’s back out of that dark place.”
He speaks often of meeting people whose faith seems much deeper than his own, people who have encouraged him to keep going”
For Mr Guy, that encounter changed the meaning of the project. “That has been the most incredible thing that has happened to date,” he said. “That man told me talking about the Rosary potentially saved his life.”
It has also humbled him. He speaks often of meeting people whose faith seems much deeper than his own, people who have encouraged him to keep going.
“I feel as if I’m not even worthy to be in their company in terms of the faith they have,” he said. “I’m just a normal man. But if this Rosary Wheel can help people, that will be my legacy. For all the unholiness of my life, this could be the thing that I’ve left, a legacy, and something to be proud of.”
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