Further reading

Saint Louis de Montfort — “The Secret of the Rosary”

Written in the early 1700s by the great Marian preacher Louis de Montfort (d. 1716), it sets out what the rosary is, its history and meaning, and a way of praying it well. Public domain, and easy to find.

Pope John Paul II — “Rosarium Virginis Mariae” (2002)

The apostolic letter in which John Paul II gave the rosary its Luminous Mysteries and proclaimed a Year of the Rosary. The clearest recent word of the Church on why, and how, to pray it.

Pope Leo XIII — the rosary encyclicals

The “Rosary Pope” wrote a whole series of letters on the rosary, beginning with Supremi Apostolatus Officio (1883). Together they gave October to the rosary and set it near the heart of the Church’s prayer.

Each of these has shaped the rosary we pray. But the surest way to know it is still to pray it.