How do I pray the Rosary?

The Rosary is a Gospel prayer: while the lips repeat the Hail Mary, the mind walks with Christ through twenty mysteries of His life. St. John Paul II called it "a compendium of the Gospel" (Rosarium Virginis Mariae 1).

The structure

1. Sign of the Cross, then the Apostles' Creed on the crucifix.
2. Our Father on the first large bead.
3. Three Hail Marys on the small beads (for faith, hope, and charity), then a Glory Be.
4. Five decades. For each: announce the mystery, pray one Our Father (large bead), ten Hail Marys (small beads), one Glory Be, and the Fatima Prayer ("O my Jesus, forgive us our sins...").
5. Hail, Holy Queen at the end, then the closing prayer and the Sign of the Cross.

The mysteries by day

• Joyful (Monday, Saturday): Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Presentation, Finding in the Temple.
• Sorrowful (Tuesday, Friday): Agony, Scourging, Crowning with Thorns, Carrying the Cross, Crucifixion.
• Glorious (Wednesday, Sunday): Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost, Assumption, Coronation.
• Luminous (Thursday): Baptism, Cana, Proclamation of the Kingdom, Transfiguration, Eucharist.

Tips. Don't strain to feel something. The repetition is the point; it quiets the mind so the mystery can be contemplated. If you get distracted, gently return. A single decade well prayed is better than five rushed. Our guided Rosary walks you bead by bead with the Scripture for each mystery.