What is the rosary?

A prayer you can hold

A rosary is a loop of beads with a cross. Fifty-nine beads in all: five groups of ten — the decades — each set off by a single larger bead, and a short pendant leading in (a cross, one bead, three beads, one bead). A centerpiece joins the loop. You hold it, and it holds your place, so your hands can pray while your mind stays free.

One Hail Mary at a time

At the cross you begin. On the single beads you pray the Our Father; on each of the ten beads of a decade, a Hail Mary — while you rest on one scene from the Gospel. A Glory Be closes each decade. It is simple on purpose: the words carry you, and the repetition quiets the heart.

The mysteries

Each decade is prayed with a mystery in mind — a moment from the life of Jesus and his mother. There are four sets of five: joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious, one set for each day of the week. Across a week you pray through the whole Gospel.

A crown of roses

The word “rosary” means a garland of roses — a crown offered to Mary. Each Hail Mary is a rose; the whole prayer, a wreath laid at her feet.

Pray it today — the mysteries of the day are ready.