Devotions

Our Lady of the Rosary

How to Celebrate the Feast Near you

The Church’s day for the Rosary, and the reason October is the month of the Rosary.

October 7 is a Wednesday this year, the day for the Glorious Mysteries.

How to Celebrate the Feast

On October 7, 1571, a Christian fleet defeated the Ottoman navy at Lepanto, off the coast of Greece, while, as Pope Leo XIII later recalled, Christians at home prayed the Rosary for the fleet. Pope St. Pius V set a feast of Our Lady of Victories on the anniversary, and Pope Gregory XIII renamed it the feast of the Holy Rosary. In 1883 Pope Leo XIII asked that the whole month of October be given to the Rosary. In 2002 St. John Paul II added the five Luminous Mysteries.

1. Celebrate Mass for the memorial. Find Mass timesYou can go to Mass on any saint’s feast or memorial, and on a weekday that usually means a short daily Mass. The prayers of that Mass honor the saint of the day.
2. Pray the Rosary. How to pray it, with the mysteries for each day
3. Pray it every day in October, the month the Church gives to the Rosary.
4. Pray it with others. Gather your family, or join a public rosary. Rosaries near youFive decades prayed together as a family or a group, or in a church, carry a plenary indulgence (see below).

How to Pray the Rosary

1. On the crucifix, make the Sign of the Cross and pray the Apostles’ Creed.
2. On the first large bead, pray the Our Father.
3. On the next three beads, pray three Hail Marys, traditionally for faith, hope and charity, then the Glory Be.
4. For each of the five decades, name the mystery, pray the Our Father on the large bead, ten Hail Marys on the small beads while thinking about the mystery, then the Glory Be. Many add the Fatima Prayer.
5. To close, pray the Hail, Holy Queen and the closing prayer, and make the Sign of the Cross.

No beads? Count the Hail Marys on your fingers.

The mysteries, by day

Joyful Mysteries (Monday and Saturday): the Annunciation; the Visitation; the Nativity; the Presentation in the Temple; the Finding of Jesus in the Temple.

Luminous Mysteries (Thursday): the Baptism in the Jordan; the Wedding at Cana; the Proclamation of the Kingdom, with the call to conversion; the Transfiguration; the Institution of the Eucharist.

Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesday and Friday): the Agony in the Garden; the Scourging at the Pillar; the Crowning with Thorns; the Carrying of the Cross; the Crucifixion.

Glorious Mysteries (Wednesday and Sunday): the Resurrection; the Ascension; the Descent of the Holy Spirit; the Assumption of Mary; the Coronation of Mary.

Days as St. John Paul II suggested in Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 38, where he added the Luminous Mysteries.

The prayers

The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

The Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

The Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The Glory Be

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The Fatima Prayer (many add it after each Glory Be)

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell; lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy.

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.

Closing prayer

O God, whose only begotten Son, by his life, death and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech thee, that meditating upon these mysteries of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Indulgence

Praying five decades of the Rosary without a break, with meditation on the mysteries, in a church, as a family or with a group gathered to pray carries a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions (confession, Communion, a prayer for the pope’s intentions, and being free of attachment to any sin, even venial); prayed another way, it carries a partial indulgence. If your parish church is named for Our Lady of the Rosary, visiting it on its patronal feast and praying the Our Father and the Creed there also carries a plenary indulgence.

Source: Enchiridion of Indulgences, grants 17 and 33.

Learn more

• Rosarium Virginis Mariae, on the Rosary St. John Paul II, 2002
• Supremi Apostolatus Officio, on the Rosary Pope Leo XIII, 1883
• How to pray the Rosary USCCB