What is the Rosary?

5 min

Awaiting theological review

What you will understand today

What the Rosary is, how to pray it, and why it is a prayer about Jesus.

In simple words

The Rosary is a prayer that walks through the life of Jesus with Mary. While the lips repeat simple prayers — the Our Father, ten Hail Marys and the Glory Be — the mind and heart dwell on an event in the Gospel, called a mystery.

There are four groups of five mysteries: Joyful (Jesus' birth and childhood), Luminous (his public life), Sorrowful (his Passion) and Glorious (his Resurrection and what followed). A full set of five takes about twenty minutes; even one decade is a real prayer.

The beads are only a help to count, so that you can let go of counting and pray. The Church calls the Rosary a summary of the whole Gospel, because its centre is Christ.

Key Bible passage

The first Joyful Mystery: the angel announces the birth of Jesus — words echoed in every Hail Mary.

³¹Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. ³²He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. ³³And of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Luke 1:31–33 · Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

The four sets of mysteries

Joyful
Annunciation to finding in the Temple
Luminous
Baptism to the Eucharist
Sorrowful
Gethsemane to the Cross
Glorious
Resurrection to Mary crowned

Go deeper

The Rosary grew in the Middle Ages, partly as a prayer for people who could not read the 150 psalms of the monks' daily office: 150 Hail Marys became a kind of psalter of the people. Tradition links it with Saint Dominic; historians see a gradual development over several centuries.

The Hail Mary itself is mostly Scripture: the angel's greeting and Elizabeth's words (Luke 1:28, 42), followed by a request that Mary pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

The Catechism places the Rosary among the forms of meditation: using thought, imagination and desire to enter the mysteries of Christ. Many people pray it walking, travelling or before sleep.

Questions people ask

Do I have to pray all five decades?

No. One decade, prayed with attention, is a complete prayer. The usual practice is five decades, one set of mysteries, often with the Joyful on Monday and Saturday, the Sorrowful on Tuesday and Friday, the Glorious on Wednesday and Sunday and the Luminous on Thursday.

Is the Rosary only for Catholics?

Anyone can pray it. Its words come largely from the Gospels and its subject is the life of Jesus; some Christians of other Churches pray it too.

What if my mind wanders?

It will. Gently come back to the mystery, as you would come back to a conversation. The Catechism says distractions show us what we are attached to, and turning back to God is itself prayer.

Did you know?

Historical context

In 2002 Pope John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries — from the Baptism of Jesus to the institution of the Eucharist — to the fifteen traditional mysteries, so that the Rosary would also include Jesus' public life.

Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 19(awaiting verification)

A common misconception

The Rosary is mindless repetition.

In fact

The repetition is like a background rhythm: it quiets the mind so that the heart can contemplate Jesus. Meditation, not the number of words, is the point.

A question to take with you

Which moment of Jesus' life would you most like to stay with in prayer?

One small thing for today

Pray one decade today: an Our Father, ten Hail Marys and a Glory Be, thinking of the Annunciation.