The Holy Rosary

"There is no problem I tell you no matter how difficult it is that we cannot solve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary."

Saint Lucia of Fatima

"Let us run to [our Blessed Mother], and, as little children, cast ourselves into her arms with a perfect confidence."

Saint Francis de Sales

How to Pray the Holy Rosary

The Rosary is a Scripture-based prayer. It begins with the Apostles' Creed, which summarizes the great mysteries of the Catholic faith. 

The Our Father, which introduces each mystery, is from the Gospels. The first part of the Hail Mary is the angel's words announcing Christ's birth and Elizabeth's greeting to Mary. St. Pius V officially added the second part of the Hail Mary. 

The Mysteries of the Rosary center on the events of Christ's life. There are four sets of Mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and,  added by Saint John Paul II in 2002,  the Luminous. (Source: USCCB)

Captions of the Mysteries from Rosarium Virginis Mariae taken from the website of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The Joyful Mysteries

Prayed on Mondays, Saturdays, and Sundays during the Christmas Season

To meditate upon the “joyful” mysteries, then, is to enter into the ultimate causes and the deepest meaning of Christian joy. It is to focus on the realism of the mystery of the Incarnation and on the obscure foreshadowing of the mystery of the saving Passion. Mary leads us to discover the secret of Christian joy, reminding us that Christianity is, first and foremost, euangelion, “good news”, which has as its heart and its whole content the person of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, the one Savior of the world.

St. John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, No. 20

The Luminous Mysteries

Prayed on Thursdays

In these mysteries, apart from the miracle at Cana, the presence of Mary remains in the background. The Gospels make only the briefest reference to her occasional presence at one moment or other during the preaching of Jesus (cf. Mk 3:31-5; Jn 2:12), and they give no indication that she was present at the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist. Yet the role she assumed at Cana in some way accompanies Christ throughout his ministry. The revelation made directly by the Father at the Baptism in the Jordan and echoed by John the Baptist is placed upon Mary’s lips at Cana, and it becomes the great maternal counsel which Mary addresses to the Church of every age: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). This counsel is a fitting introduction to the words and signs of Christ’s public ministry and it forms the Marian foundation of all the “mysteries of light.”

St. John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, No. 21

The Sorrowful Mysteries

Prayed on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays during the Lenten Season

Ecce homo: the meaning, origin and fulfilment of man is to be found in Christ, the God who humbles himself out of love “even unto death, death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). The sorrowful mysteries help the believer to relive the death of Jesus, to stand at the foot of the Cross beside Mary, to enter with her into the depths of God’s love for man and to experience all its life-giving power.

St. John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, No. 22

The Glorious Mysteries 

Prayed on Wednesdays and Sundays

The glorious mysteries thus lead the faithful to greater hope for the eschatological goal towards which they journey as members of the pilgrim People of God in history. This can only impel them to bear courageous witness to that “good news” which gives meaning to their entire existence.

St. John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, No. 23