Pray the Rosary

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. 

That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

How to Pray the Rosary

The Rosary is a devotion to the Incarnation of Our Lord and to His Blessed Mother. It is composed of fifteen decades, each decade consisting of the Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and the Glory Be to the Father, and each being recited in honor of some mystery in the life of Our Lord and of His Blessed Mother. During each decade we should call to mind the mystery which it is intended to honor, and pray that we may learn to practice the virtue specially taught us by that mystery.

Begin the Rosary by:

Making the Sign of the Cross and say the Apostles Creed. 

Say the Our Father.

Say three Hail Marys.

Say the Glory Be and then, if you wish, say the Fatima Prayer. 

Announce the First Mystery, then say the Our Father. 

Say ten Hail Marys, while meditating on the Mystery. 

Say the Glory Be, then, if you wish, say the Fatima Prayer. 

Announce the Second Mystery; then say the Our Father. Repeat 6 and 7 and continue with Third, Fourth and Fifth Mysteries in the same manner. 

Say the Hail Holy Queen and the Let Us Pray. Our Rosary group ends the Rosary with Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel, "The Memorare, and the 

Sign of the Cross.

The Sign of the Cross:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Apostles' Creed:

I believe in God, the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified; died, and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

The Our Father:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name: Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread: and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation: but deliver us from evil. Amen.

The Hail Mary:

Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Glory Be to the Father:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

THE MYSTERIES

The Five Joyful Mysteries

Mondays & Saturdays; Sundays of Advent and after Epiphany until Lent

The Annunciation. The Angel Gabriel appears to Mary, announcing She is to be the Mother of God. 

The Visitation. Elizabeth greets Mary: "Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb!" 

The Nativity. The Virgin Mary gives birth to the Redeemer of the World. 

The Presentation. The Blessed Mother presents the Child Jesus in the Temple. 

The Finding in the Temple. The Blessed Mother finds Jesus in the Temple. 

The Five Sorrowful Mysteries

Tuesdays & Friday; Sundays in Lent

The Agony in the Garden. At Gethsemane Jesus prays as He contemplates the sins of the World. 

The Scourging at the Pillar. Jesus is cruelly scourged until His mortified body could bear no more. 

The Crowning with Thorns. A crown of thorns is placed on the head of Jesus. 

The Carrying of the Cross. Jesus carries the heavy cross upon His shoulders to Calvary. 

The Crucifixion. Jesus is nailed to the Cross and dies after three hours of Agony. 

LENTEN INTENTION FOR THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES 

For all those who are suffering:

Suffering persecution for their love of Jesus,

Suffering from depression,

Suffering from pain if illness,

Suffering from the effects of war,

Suffering for want of love and acceptance,

Suffering because they have lost their job,

May they unite their pains and suffering with that of Jesus' and find 

comfort, strength and peace in His arms of love.

The Five Glorious Mysteries

Wednesdays & Sundays after Easter until Advent 

The Resurrection. Jesus rises glorious and immortal, three days after His death. 

The Ascension. Jesus ascends into Heaven forty days after His Resurrection. 

The Coming of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. The Holy Spirit descends upon Mary and the Apostles. 

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. The Blessed Mother is united with her Divine Son in heaven. 

The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin. Mary is Gloriously crowned Queen of Heaven and earth 

The Five Luminous Mysteries 

(Suggested by Pope John Paul II)

Thursdays

The Baptism of Christ in the Jordan River. 

Christ's Self-Manifestation at the Wedding Feast at Cana. 

Christ's Proclamation of the Kingdom of God with His Call to Conversion 

Christ's Transfiguration . 

Christ's Institution of the Eucharist. 

Fatima Prayer:

O my Jesus, forgive our sins; save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are in most need of Thy mercy. Amen.

The Hail, Holy Queen:

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley, of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus; O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let Us Pray:

O God, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries in the most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain, and obtain what they promise: through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel:

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in our day of battle; be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through this world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

The Memorare:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly to you O Virgin of virgins, my mother. To you I come; before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.

History Of The Rosary

The first definite evidence for the promotion of what corresponds to the modern Rosary is found in the second half of the fourteenth century, in the work of Alan de la Roche and his fellow Dominicans, but traditionally this devotion goes back to the time of St Dominic himself or even earlier. 

According to Alan, Dominic had revived the practice of saying the Rosary in response to revelations from the Blessed Virgin while he was engaged in his fight against the Albigensians, as a means of winning them back to the Church.

The Albigensians opposed Church authority, holding a dualistic view of reality with two 'gods,' one in which the spiritual realm had been created by the good deity and matter by the bad. They rejected the Sacraments as well as many basic Christian principles, including the resurrection of the body, and adopted an extremely rigorous view of life which condemned marriage, while they also favored a form of suicide by starvation.

These ideas were considered a clear threat not only by the Church but also by society as a whole, and were condemned by numerous Church Councils. Despite this the movement grew rapidly and missionaries including Dominic were sent to convert them. He had partial success, but a Crusade, in which Dominic took no part, had to be launched against them, and this coupled with the Dominican Inquisition managed to destroy this heresy by the end of the fourteenth century.

Dominic's part in the development of the Rosary has been disputed, but there is no question that there has been a long-standing tradition in the Church which regards this particular form of meditative prayer as the best form of devotion to Mary, and hence ultimately to God, since prayer to Mary is not an end in itself, but leads to Christ.

The rosary has been criticized on the grounds that there is insufficient documentary evidence as to its beginnings, but given the extraordinary degree of later Church approval at the highest level, particularly from the Popes, this criticism is not justified. With only a couple of exceptions all the Popes from the late fifteenth century until now have acclaimed the rosary with its mixture of vocal and mental prayer.

It seems that there is a definite tradition within the Dominican order linking the founder to the propagation of the rosary, and that possibly Dominic may have preached sermons on the basics of the faith and interspersed these with 'Hail Marys', thus initiating the idea of 'meditating' on the mysteries surrounding the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus.

The complete Rosary consists in the recitation of fifteen groups of ten 'decades' of the Marian prayer the 'Hail Mary', each headed by an 'Our Father', while meditating on the principle events surrounding Jesus' life, especially where these have a specific connection with Mary.

The Rosary then consists of 150 Hail Mary's and this indicates its origin probably lay as a counterpart to the 150 psalms which were recited by religious orders as part of the Divine Office. Generally it is said in three groups of fifty Hail Mary's to correspond to the 'Joyful', 'Sorrowful' and 'Glorious' mysteries of Christ's life, death and Resurrection, which were lived in union with Mary his Mother.

In essence the Rosary is a prayerful Scriptural meditation, since the Our Father is Jesus' own prayer given to his disciples when they had asked him how they should pray (Matt 6:9-13). The first part of the Hail Mary is also Scriptural, being a compilation of part of the dialogue between Mary and the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation (Lk 1:28), combined with the exclamation made by Elizabeth during the Visitation (Lk 1:42). In fact the prayer was originally known as the 'Angelic salutation' (greeting), with Elizabeth's greeting only being added generally during the medieval period.

The second part of the Hail Mary, the intercessory prayer to Mary, seems to date from about the eleventh century and was gradually adopted by the Church in general, with the whole prayer being finally fixed in its present form during the sixteenth century.

Sources: Carol, Mariology, Vol. 3; Cross, Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church.