Rosary beads help Catholics count their prayers. More importantly, Catholics pray the holy Rosary as a means of entreaty to ask God for a special favor, such as helping a loved one recover from an illness, or to thank God for blessings received — a new baby, a new job, a new moon.
Praying the Rosary is a bit complicated, so we've included a Rosary guide that explains how to say the Rosary.
What are the steps to saying the Rosary?
Listen to the article: an audio guide to praying the Rosary
A video guide to praying the Rosary
If you'd like a visual guide for how to pray the Rosary, Catholic organizations and individuals have provided video instruction. For example, in this YouTube video, Fr. Matthew Cashmore, of St. Anselm's Catholic church in London, provides a step-by-step Rosary prayer guide.
Holy beads in history
Before Christianity, Hindus strung beads and used them to help count their prayers. Buddhists, Taoists, and Muslims have also used prayer beads to assist them in their private devotions. Hebrews used to tie 150 knots on a string to represent the 150 Psalms of the Bible.
According to pious Catholic tradition, in the 13th century, Mary, the Mother of God, appeared to St. Dominic de Guzman, gave him a Rosary, and asked that instead of praying the Psalms on the beads or knots, the faithful pray the Hail Mary, the Our Father, and the Glory Be.
refers to ten Hail Marys preceded by the Our Father and ending with a Glory Be. Today, most Catholics use the five-decade Rosary and its set of Rosary prayers.
Meditating on the mysteries
While saying the prayers of the Rosary, Catholics meditate on what are called the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. But saying the mysteries is really no mystery at all, because each so-called mystery refers to a different passage in the life of Christ or Mary, His mother.
Each decade (an Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and a Glory Be) recalls a different mystery. Here they are:
What are the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary?
The Joyful Mysteries are prayed on Mondays and Saturdays, and they remind the faithful of Christ’s birth. Each decade corresponds with a different mystery. Starting with the Annunciation for the first decade, try meditating on these scenes sequentially with each decade that you say (they may also be said during the whole Christmas season):
- The Annunciation (Luke 1:26–38)
- The Visitation (Luke 1:39–56)
- The Nativity (Luke 2:1–21)
- The Presentation (Luke 2:22–38)
- The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41–52)
What are the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary?
Pope St. John Paul II added on the Mysteries of Light, also known as the Luminous Mysteries, in 2002. Pray the Rosary and recall these Mysteries of Light on Thursdays (they may also be said during the season of Advent):
- The Baptism in the River Jordan (Matthew 3:13–17)
- The Wedding Feast at Cana (John 2:1–11)
- The Preaching of the Coming of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14–15)
- The Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1–8)
- The Institution of the Holy Eucharist (Matthew 26:17–29)
What are the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary?
The Sorrowful Mysteries are prayed on Tuesdays and Fridays, and they remind the faithful of His Passion and death (they may also be said during the entire season of Lent, the 40 days before Easter):
- The Agony of Jesus in the Garden (Matthew 26:36–56)
- The Scourging at the Pillar (Matthew 27:26)
- The Crowning with Thorns (Matthew 27:27–31)
- The Carrying of the Cross (Matthew 27:32)
- The Crucifixion (Matthew 27:33–56)
What are the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary?
The Glorious Mysteries are prayed on Wednesdays and Sundays, and they remind the faithful of His Resurrection and the glories of heaven (they may also be said during all of Easter season):
- The Resurrection (John 20:1–29)
- The Ascension (Luke 24:36–53)
- The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1–4)
- The Assumption of Mary, the Mother of God, into heaven
- The Coronation of Mary in heaven
These last two mysteries are inferred by Revelation (Apocalypse) 12:1; Jesus Christ was the source and center of these miraculous events in that He did them to His mother; she did not do them alone. What Christ did for His mom, He will later do for all true believers at the end of time.
Both the divinity and humanity of Jesus are presented in these mysteries. Only God could be born of a virgin, rise from the dead, and ascend into heaven, and yet only a man could be born, get lost, be found, suffer, and die.
Meditating on the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries helps Catholics confirm that Jesus is both divine and human. Contemplating the time when Jesus was crowned with thorns, scourged with whips, and nailed to the cross — meditating on Jesus’s Passion — convinces the prayerful that those sufferings are real, and only a real man could feel such pain and agony.
Yet, reflecting on His Transfiguration, Resurrection, and Ascension reminds believers that only God can transfigure, rise from the dead, and ascend into heaven. By praying the Rosary, the faithful reaffirm that Jesus is true God and true man, one divine person with two natures — divine and human.
How to Say the Divine Mercy Chaplet
The Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet may be prayed at home, in church (as long as it’s not during Mass), alone, or in a group. Our Lord presented the Divine Mercy Chaplet to St. Faustina Kowalska in a vision during the 1930s, but it didn’t gain much fame until the late 20th century.
The Divine Mercy Chaplet is said using Rosary beads, but it doesn’t take as long as a Rosary, because the prayers are shorter. Make the Sign of the Cross and then say the following:
The Rosary is one of several devotions
The Rosary is one of the most popular devotions, which refer to a wide variety of prayers, both long and short, such as the Rosary and novenas, as well as various religious practices that Catholics engage in, such as making a pilgrimage or a retreat.
Devotions are generally less official than the Mass, and many different devotions are available so that individuals can find the ones that suit them and their personal spirituality.
Whether practicing devotions privately at home, in a small group, or in the form of a pilgrimage or retreat, Catholics believe that devotions act like spiritual vitamins to supplement the primary and main form of divine communication — the Mass.
Knowing when and where to pray devotions
Unlike Sacraments, which are formal, sacred celebrations of the whole Church that need to take place on sacred ground, devotions can be done anywhere — in church, at home, or outside.
Sacraments were instituted by Christ, whereas devotions are classified as sacramentals, meaning they were created by the Church. The seven sacraments confer sanctifying grace to the soul, meaning they make it holy. Sacramentals, on the other hand, confer actual grace to the soul, which encourages and enables the person to do good deeds.
Devotions are prayed alone or with others. They’re done outside of the Sacred Liturgy — in other words, not during Mass, except for the Litany of Saints on special occasions. They can, however, be said in any public setting, such as a cemetery or a prayer gathering.
Separating devotions from Mass
Just like some people think that the Second Vatican Council threw out Latin (which it didn’t), some people think that it got rid of or discouraged devotions. Not true. Vatican II didn’t pooh-pooh devotions. What it did say was that the separation between the Sacred Liturgy — the Mass — and all forms of public and private devotion must be clear and distinct. No gray area.
Sure enough, Pope St. Paul VI asserted in his encyclical Marialis Cultus (1974) that Catholics shouldn’t say the Rosary during Mass. But praying the Rosary before Mass as a preparation or after Mass as a thanksgiving is allowed and highly encouraged.
Likewise, the Stations of the Cross, a traditional Lenten devotion, should never be celebrated during adoration of the Holy Eucharist or in the middle of Mass, but it can be said before or after Mass. And adoration of the Holy Eucharist should be separate from Mass to differentiate the two.
Devotions to the Virgin Mary and the saints are also subordinate and auxiliary to the Mass. Of course, plenty of Masses honor the Virgin Mary and the saints. Even though the names of Mary and the saints are mentioned in the Mass, as in the Eucharistic Prayer, they’re still secondary. References to God are primary; Mary and the saints are honored, but God alone is worshipped and adored.