Search in Or try

EscClose ↑↓Move

The Rosary

How-to

The Rosary is a short round of prayers said five times over, while you hold one scene from the life of Jesus and Mary in mind. The beads only count for you, so that your attention can stay on the scene. Fingers do as well.

  1. Begin

    Make the sign of the cross, and say the opening prayer printed below.

  2. Say five decades

    A decade is one mystery and the prayers that follow it. Read the first mystery, stop long enough to picture it, then say:

    Then move to the next mystery and do the same, until all five are done. Each of the ten Hail Marys is one bead. You may add one more short prayer at the end of each decade.

  3. Finish

    Say the Hail Holy Queen and the prayer after it, printed at the foot of this page. Many people add the The Litany of Loreto or another prayer to Our Lady afterwards.

Opening prayer

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

O God come to my aid;

O Lord, make haste to help me.

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 Joyful Mysteries (recited Monday and Saturday)
  • The Mysteries of Light (recited Thursday)
  • The Sorrowful Mysteries (recited Tuesday and Friday)
  • The Glorious Mysteries (recited Wednesday and Sunday)

The Sorrowful Mysteries Today

  1. The agony in the Garden.

    "Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, 'Sit here, while I go yonder and pray.' And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.' And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will"'. Mt 26:36-39

  2. The scourging at the pillar.

    "Pilate released Barabbas to them, but after he had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified". Mt 27,26

  3. The crowning with thorns.

    "Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe upon him, and plaiting a crown of thorns they put it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him they mocked him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!"'. Mt 27:27-29

  4. The carrying of the cross.

    "And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull)". Mk 15:21-22

  5. The crucifixion.

    "And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do' ... It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this he breathed his last". Lk 23:33-46

Prayer concluding the Rosary

Hail, Holy Queen, etc. as above

The versicle — the line the one leading the prayer says or sings alone. The assembly answers it with the response that follows. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.

The response — the line the assembly says or sings together, answering the versicle before it. 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 on these mysteries

of 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.

See also