How To Pray The Rosary

The Rosary is a devotional prayer to the Virgin Mary, who is the mother of Jesus Christ. Many people neglect to honour her, but Jesus wishes for us to seek His mother. She deserves our devotion for this reason. She gave birth to Jesus, raised Him, and then watched at the foot of the cross when He died. Jesus gave His mother to us while He was suffering on that very cross.

For this prayer, you need a Rosary, which is a string of beads with a crucifix. A short string of five beads is attached to the crucifix, which is joined to a circular string of beads consisting of five sets of one large bead and ten smaller beads, known as "decades." Each decade is recited in honor of a mystery of the life of our Lord and His Blessed Mother, beginning with the Annunciation of the Incarnation and ending with Mary's triumphal Coronation in heaven. There are four sets of mysteries: the five Joyful Mysteries, the five Sorrowful Mysteries, the five Glorious Mysteries, and the five Luminous Mysteries. Although the entire Rosary consists of twenty decades, it is customary to recite five decades at a time, while meditating on one set of mysteries.

To say the rosary, make the Sign of The Cross. Take the crucifix of the rosary and pray the Apostles' Creed. Move to the first large bead and pray the Our Father. For the three small beads, say one Hail Mary per bead, followed by the Glory Be To The Father.

For the next large bead, announce and meditate on the first mystery, then say the Our Father. Move to the circular section of the rosary and say a Hail Mary for each of the ten small beads, followed by the Glory Be To The Father and the Fatima Decade prayer (the prayer that Our Lady asked the Fatima children to add after each decade). This completes one decade of the rosary. Proceed to the next mystery (the next large bead) and repeat the process until five decades of the rosary have been said. Conclude with the Hail, Holy Queen prayer.