Dozens of Catholics and other practicing Christians pray the rosary throughout the year, and many give rosaries to family and friends for Christmas and other special occasions.
What exactly is the rosary and how do the faithful use its beads?
“The rosary is a combination of vocal prayer (the Lord’s Prayer and Hail Mary) and mental prayer, that is, a reflection on important events in the life of Christ and His Mother,” according to the website of the Rosary Center & Confraternity, a ministry of the Dominicans of the Province of the Holy Name of Jesus, in Portland, Oregon.
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The founder of the Dominican Order, Saint Dominic, helped popularize the rosary in the 13th century, the website also notes.
history of the rosary
“Saint Dominic was distressed by the lack of success in his preaching to counter the heresy, and in his desperation he turned to the Mother of God for help,” notes the Rosary Center.
This heresy “erroneously taught that all material things, including the human body itself, were fundamentally evil,” according to Catholic.org.
Rosaries help a person maintain their place in prayer, says the Rosary Center. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
“She appeared to him (according to tradition) and told him to use his Psalter, together with his preaching of the mysteries of our salvation, as an instrument to combat the great heresy of his time.”
The rosary and rosary beads have since become associated with the Dominican Order, and today’s Dominican friars and sisters wear a set of rosaries as part of their habits.
The meditative aspects of the rosary help immerse the person in prayer.
A current rosary set includes 50 smaller beads divided into groups of 10 by one larger bead, along with a pendant consisting of a cross and five additional smaller beads, the website explains.
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“When one refers to the rosary,” referring to the prayer itself, which is sometimes capitalized, “it is generally understood to mean five decades, or a quarter of the entire rosary,” the site says.
The entire recitation of the rosary involves 20 decades, each of which meditates on a different supernatural mystery associated with the life, death, resurrection, and earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.
A nun from the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa holds a rosary during a prayer vigil in preparation for the canonization of Mother Teresa in St. John’s Basilica in Latheran at the Vatican in 2016. (Associated Press/Gregorio Borgia)
Each decade of the rosary involves praying 10 Hail Mary prayers while meditating on a mystery, the Rosary Center website says.
Due to the length of the prayer, worshipers may choose to use rosaries to track their place.
A Hail Mary is prayed on each of the smaller beads and an Our Father (also known as “The Lord’s Prayer”) on the larger one.
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The five “Joyful Mysteries” concerning the birth and early life of Jesus are traditionally prayed on Mondays and Saturdays, while the five “Sorrowful Mysteries” concerning the crucifixion of Jesus are traditionally prayed on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The five “Glorious Mysteries” related to the resurrection of Christ are traditionally prayed on Wednesdays and Sundays, and the five “Luminous Mysteries” are prayed on Thursdays, according to the website.
Recent additions to the rosary
Initially, praying the rosary contained only 15 mysteries: the Joyful, the Sorrowful and the Glorious, according to Father Christopher M. Zelonis, pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Lehighton, Pennsylvania, told Fox News Digital not long ago. .
Praying the original 15 mysteries involved reciting 150 Hail Mary prayers, a number that corresponds to the number of psalms in the Book of Psalms.
“St. John Paul II’s letter ‘Rosarium Virginis Mariae’ of the year 2000 added the Mysteries of Light (‘Luminous’) to the 15 traditional mysteries,” he said.
“When one refers to the rosary,” referring to prayer, “it is generally understood to mean five decades, or a quarter of the entire rosary,” says the Rosary Center in Portland, Oregon. (iStock)
Praying the original 15 mysteries involved reciting 150 Hail Mary prayers, a number that corresponds to the number of psalms in the Book of Psalms.
“I always understood (the rosary) as a ‘homemade version’ of the Psalter of 150 psalms that the monks recited daily,” Zelonis said.
“The repetition of the Hail Mary serves as a backdrop for our personal meditation on the various aspects of Jesus’ life, seeking the unique perspective of his mother,” he continued.
The “Fatima prayer” has its origins in an apparition of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, in 1917.
Zelonis said he likes to use a scripture rosary, which contains a passage to meditate on while praying. These can be found both in print and online, he said.
The meditative aspects of the rosary help immerse the person in prayer, Zelonis said. This is in comparison to the “prefabricated prayers” that are also part of the church tradition.
The rosary, said one Rhode Island worshipper, is “a wonderful meditation, a way to concentrate, to get closer to Jesus.” (Associated Press)
Prewritten prayers “are best complemented by our own meditation, through which God can give some depth to our understanding and love for Jesus and Mary,” he said.
“We can place ourselves in the biblical scene or imagine it as if we were watching a movie.”
Another addition to the traditional prayer of the rosary is the inclusion of the optional “Fatima prayer” after each decade. The “Fatima prayer” originates from an apparition of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, according to the Rosary Center website.
Historical connections
October is known as the month of the rosary thanks in part to St. Pius V, a 16th-century pope, said Father William G. Most in his book “Mary in Our Life.”
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“St. Pius V attributed the great defeat of the Turkish fleet on the first Sunday of October 1571 to the fact that at the same time the rosary confraternities in Rome and elsewhere were holding their processions,” Most said.
“Asking Mary for help seems like a perfectly logical move.”
Saint Pius V later ordered the commemoration of the rosary to mark that day, and a feast day was later added to the church calendar.
Today, October 7 is known as the “Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary” and is marked by public prayers and processions.
A woman holds a rosary as she prays during a Catholic mass. (AP2011)
Christians of other denominations have found that praying the rosary has enriched their spiritual lives.
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“I grew up in the Protestant tradition and I still practice as such,” Christian worshiper Peter Norris, 43, told Fox News Digital.
“I recently started praying the rosary.”
Norris attends a nondenominational church in Rhode Island.
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The rosary, Norris said, is “a wonderful meditation, a way to concentrate, to get closer to Jesus.”
“Asking Mary for help seems like a perfectly logical move,” he also said.
“Maybe the rosary can unite the world.”
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