The Rosary

The Rosary looks, from the outside, like a string of beads and a lot of repetition. From the inside it is something else: a way of walking slowly through the life of Jesus, from his conception to his glory, in the company of his mother. The repeated prayers are the rhythm; the mysteries are the substance. The Catechism names the Rosary, alongside lectio divina, as a classic form of Christian meditation (CCC 2708).

What the Rosary is

The Rosary is made up of decades: an Our Father, ten Hail Marys and a Glory Be, prayed while thinking about one event in the life of Christ or of Mary, called a mystery. A full Rosary of five decades takes about twenty minutes. In the Middle Ages, the Catechism notes, the Rosary grew up in the West as a popular substitute for the Liturgy of the Hours (CCC 2678). The traditional explanation is that where monks prayed the 150 Psalms, ordinary people who could not read could pray 150 Hail Marys.

Most of its words come from Scripture. The Hail Mary opens with the angel's greeting to Mary and Elizabeth's words to her (Luke 1:28, 42):

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.

How to pray it, step by step

1. Holding the crucifix, make the Sign of the Cross and pray the Apostles' Creed.

2. On the first bead, pray the Our Father.

3. On the next three beads, pray three Hail Marys, traditionally for an increase of faith, hope and charity.

4. Pray the Glory Be:

   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.

5. Announce the first mystery ("The first Joyful Mystery: the Annunciation"). If you like, read a verse or two of the Gospel passage.

6. On the large bead, pray the Our Father; on the ten small beads, ten Hail Marys, keeping the mystery before your mind; then the Glory Be. Many people add a short prayer here, such as the Fatima prayer, "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins".

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the second to fifth mysteries.

8. Finish with the Hail, Holy Queen (Salve Regina), a short closing prayer, and the Sign of the Cross.

If you lose count or your mind wanders, do not worry. Come back to the mystery. The beads are there so that you need not count.

The twenty mysteries

There are four sets of five mysteries. For centuries there were three sets; in 2002, St John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries (the "mysteries of light", from Christ's public ministry) in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae.

The Joyful Mysteries (Monday and Saturday)

1. The Annunciation (Luke 1:26–38)
2. The Visitation (Luke 1:39–56)
3. The Nativity (Luke 2:1–20)
4. The Presentation in the Temple (Luke 2:22–38)
5. The Finding of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41–52)

The Luminous Mysteries (Thursday)

1. The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan (Matthew 3:13–17)
2. The Wedding at Cana (John 2:1–11)
3. The Proclamation of the Kingdom and the call to conversion (Mark 1:14–15)
4. The Transfiguration (Luke 9:28–36)
5. The Institution of the Eucharist (Luke 22:14–20)

The Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesday and Friday)

1. The Agony in the Garden (Luke 22:39–46)
2. The Scourging at the Pillar (John 19:1)
3. The Crowning with Thorns (Matthew 27:27–31)
4. The Carrying of the Cross (John 19:16–17)
5. The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (Luke 23:33–46)

The Glorious Mysteries (Wednesday and Sunday)

1. The Resurrection (Mark 16:1–8)
2. The Ascension (Acts 1:6–11)
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4)
4. The Assumption of Mary into heaven
5. The Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth

The last two are not narrated in Scripture; they are part of the Church's faith about Mary, who shares fully in her Son's resurrection (CCC 966). The days are a custom, not a rule. Many people pray the Joyful Mysteries on Sundays in Advent and Christmas, and the Sorrowful Mysteries on Sundays in Lent.

Is the Rosary worship of Mary?

No. Catholics worship God alone. The honour given to Mary is real and, the Church says, belongs within Christian prayer, but it differs in kind from the adoration given to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (CCC 971). The Catechism calls the Rosary an epitome of the whole Gospel, because its subject is Christ.

Look at the Hail Mary itself. Its first half praises God for what he has done in Mary and blesses "the fruit of thy womb, Jesus"; his name is at its centre. Its second half asks Mary to pray for us, as we might ask any friend to pray for us (CCC 2676–2677). Mary always points away from herself to her Son. When we pray with her, we are learning to look at him with her eyes (CCC 2674–2675, 2679).

How to begin

You do not need to pray five decades at once. Start with one decade a day, perhaps in the car or on a walk. Pick the mystery for the day and, before you begin, read its Gospel passage. Let one image from it stay with you through the ten Hail Marys. If you have no beads, your ten fingers will do.

Going deeper

• Mary, Mother of God: who Mary is in Catholic faith.
• Lectio divina: the same habit of slow attention, with a Gospel passage.
• The Our Father: the prayer that begins each decade.
• In the Catechism: CCC 2673–2682, on praying in communion with the Mother of God; and CCC 963–975 on Mary's place in the Church.