How to Pray the Holy Rosary

What it actually is

The Rosary is 150 Hail Marys, arranged into fifteen groups of ten (decades), each decade paired with one scene from the life of Christ and Our Lady to hold in mind while you pray it — the mystery. A full Rosary is five decades; praying all fifteen mysteries takes three sittings across the traditional weekly cycle below, not one sitting.

A set of twenty mysteries, adding five "Luminous Mysteries," was proposed by Pope John Paul II in 2002. It is a later, optional addition — the fifteen mysteries below are the traditional form, prayed for centuries before that, and remain the standard in traditional practice.

How to pray one decade

• Announce the mystery ("The first joyful mystery: the Annunciation").
• One Our Father.
• Ten Hail Marys.
• One Glory Be.
• Many add the Fatima Prayer here, from the 1917 apparitions: "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are in most need of Thy mercy."

Beginning and ending

Begin on the crucifix with the Sign of the Cross and the Apostles' Creed, then one Our Father, three Hail Marys (traditionally for an increase of faith, hope, and charity), and one Glory Be — then start the first decade.

After the fifth decade, the Rosary closes with the Hail Holy Queen: "Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen."

The Joyful Mysteries — traditionally Monday and Thursday

• The Annunciation
• The Visitation
• The Nativity
• The Presentation in the Temple
• The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple

The Sorrowful Mysteries — traditionally Tuesday and Friday

• The Agony in the Garden
• The Scourging at the Pillar
• The Crowning with Thorns
• The Carrying of the Cross
• The Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord

The Glorious Mysteries — traditionally Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday

• The Resurrection
• The Ascension
• The Descent of the Holy Ghost
• The Assumption of Our Lady
• The Coronation of Our Lady