Hail Mary full of grace, Our Lord is with thee. Blessed are 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.

The Rosary - the prayer requested of us

There are those who wonder what a Rosary is and why Catholics say them. For these people we give the humble definition:

The Rosary is a prayer.

For centuries (starting well before any Age of literacy) the life of Christ and His message was meditated on by All Christians through the use of this humble but powerful prayer...

The Rosary

When the Rosary is prayed, we specifically ask the one woman who is closest to Jesus, to pray for us to Him and we offer our own prayers to the Almighty One. For we believe that she is our Mother and our beloved intercessor with He who is God - the one human to carry Him within her body and to care for Him in his earthly needs; the one woman in all history who said "Yes" to the will of God as no other ever has (Luke 1:48); and she was given to all who love Christ by the Lord Himself in the hour of His death...

 "Woman behold your son." Then He said to His disciple, "Behold your mother."  - (John19:26-27)

For 'The Rosary', is the action of saying the prayers and meditations (interiorly or aloud) of this centuries old 'lay litany of prayers' while 'a rosary,', is a set of beads, knots, or ring used for keeping one's place through the prayer. To pray the Rosary one does not even need the beads (although it does make it easier to keep track of ones thoughts as you concentrate on the mysteries of the scriptures). Many over the centuries have used string or rope with knots or even their fingers.

The popular prayer is composed of the twenty Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous mysteries, which offers the opportunity for reflection on the events in the life of Christ and how His mother was called on to cooperate in His saving work.

20 decades (or all 20 of the mysteries), make up a complete Rosary. In general though, most people pray the Rosary as 1 set of mysteries each day. Tradition suggests the following schedule:

• Joyful mysteries are said on Mondays
• Sorrowful mysteries on Tuesdays and Fridays
• Luminous mysteries on Thursdays
• Glorious mysteries on Wednesdays and Saturdays

Each of the mysteries is recommended on Sundays, depending on the Season. 

The prayers that make up the recitation include:

The Apostle's Creed

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The Our Father "Lord's Prayer"

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The Hail Mary

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The Glory Be

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Hail Holy Queen

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The Fatima Prayer (for the conversion & salvation of the world)

We carry books with in-depth information about the Rosary in our Marian Books section

Shop our Rosaries section for rosaries in every imaginable style, material and color