Our Lady

The Rosary

The foremost prayer to the Virgin in the Western Church is the Rosary, in which a sequence o f prayers, called

a "decade," is recited while meditating on an event in the life o f Christ. Each decade is made up o f one

Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and a Glory Be, and there are five decades in each Rosary. The counting o f

these prayers is facilitated by the use o f beads; the word bead comes from the Old Saxon word bede, meaning "prayer. "

The events o f Christ's life are called mysteries, which are grouped into similar themes. So a complete Rosary

might be spent meditating on sorrowful events in Christ's life, or joyful events. Following are the different groups

o f events, or mysteries, and the days on which they are to be remembered, according to the revisions of Pope John Paul II.

The Joyful Mysteries:

(1) The Annunciation,

(2) The Visitation,

(3) The Nativity of Our Lord,

(4) The Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple,

(5) The Finding of Our Lord in the Temple.

Prayed on Mondays and Saturdays.

The Sorrowful Mysteries:

(1) The Agony in the Garden,

(2) The Scourging at the Pillar,

(3) The Crowning with Thorns,

(4) Christ Carries the Cross,

(5) Christ Dies on the Cross.

Prayed on Tuesdays and Fridays.

The Glorious Mysteries:

(1) The Resurrection,

(2) The Ascension,

(3) The Descent of the Holy Spirit,

(4) The Assumption of Our Lady,

(5) The Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven.

Prayed on Wednesdays and Sundays.

The Luminous Mysteries:

(1) The Baptism of Our Lord,

(2) The Wedding Feast at Cana,

(3) The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God,

(4) The Transfiguration,

(5) The Last Supper.

Prayed on Thursdays.

Dominicans are required to recite five decades o f the Rosary every day. They begin the Rosary in a way that differs

slightly from the traditional, eliminating the introductory prayers of the Apostles' Creed, Our Father, and three Hail Marys,

and substituting the following introduction:

V Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

R. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

V O Lord, open my lips.

R. And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

V O God, come to my assistance.

R. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be...

The first mystery begins at this point. The rest of the Rosary is the same as above.

Taken from Praying with the Dominicans, by John Vidmar, OP