How to Pray the Rosary in Latin and English

The Holy Rosary in Latin and English

with Meditative Illustrations and Scriptural References

Introduction

No better method known is as wonderful a way to effectively meditate on the virtues of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Mother Mary, as the recitation of the Holy Rosary. Within it's prayers and meditations, one can meditate upon Our Lord, His Holy Life, Death and Passion and at the same time, honor His Blessed and Holy Mother, Mary. Know that each prayer, said with attention and faith is like unto a beautiful rose placed at the feet of Our Blessed Mother, Mary. The Holy Rosary is a powerful weapon against any temptations or assaults of the enemy, seen and unseen, and has never been proven to fail.

It's purpose is threefold in it's nature: to honor Our Lord and His Blessed Mother, to keep us strengthened in Holy Faith, and to keep us mindful of the Holy Virtues that every Catholic should practice at all times. One need not be Catholic in order to practice this devotion. It is an effective means of prayer and meditation that is amazingly relaxing and reduces stress, while offering our prayers to Our Lord and Holy Mother, respectively.

I hope this site will offer a simple, yet effective tool in the further promotion of the recitation of the Holy Rosary. In addition, I pray that it will offer an introduction for those who wish to better understand the origin and scriptual basis of this most revered of Catholic devotions, and I offer my blessings to those who would benifit spiritually, as well as educationally, from the included information here. Further use of the various links from which it originated, will in turn hopefully prompt one to further detailed study and understanding of the Most Holy Rosary, other Roman Catholic devotional practices, and the Holy Roman Catholic Church Herself, which is the True Mystical Body of Christ, outside of which, there is no salvation. It is my hope that such an act of scholarship and sound research may dispel errors some hold as "truths" about the Roman Catholic Church.

The traditional prayers are presented here in Latin and English and I have included a link where it is available in 17 languages.

A full series of beautiful traditional style illustrations are provided at the bottom of this page to help aid one in the contemplation of the holy mysteries. These will prove useful in the aid of effective visualization and contemplation of each Holy Rosary Mysteries. Web page illustrations are from the Missal Romanum.

All content in this site is gathered from various web sources and credit is given where possible. I apologize for any omissions of credit or the possible inclusion of sites that may contradict the true teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, that may have escaped my academic attention. Please E-mail me (located at the Rosary Prayer Intentions page) and I will immediately correct the error. Additionally, it should be understood that this is not an "official" site approved by the Holy See. Please refer to ecclesiastically approved documents if any content may seem to be in error or contradicts the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

Dominus Vobiscum,

Jerald Franklin Archer, Ash Wednesday, 2009

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What is the Holy Rosary?

The rosary probably began as a practice by the laity to imitate the monastic Divine Office (Breviary or Liturgy of the Hours), during the course of which the monks daily prayed the 150 Psalms. The laity, many of whom could not read, substituted 50, or even 150, Ave Marias (Hail Marys) for the Psalms. This prayer, at least the first half of it so directly biblically, seems to date from as early as the 2nd century, as ancient graffiti at Christian sites has suggested. Sometimes a cord with knots on it was used to keep an accurate count of the Aves.

The first clear historical reference to the rosary, however, is from the life of St. Dominic (died in 1221), the founder of the Order of Preachers or Dominicans. He preached a form of the rosary in France at the time that the Albigensian heresy was devastating the Faith there. Tradition has it that the Blessed Mother herself asked for the practice as an antidote for heresy and sin.

One of Dominic's future disciples, Alain de Roche, began to establish Rosary Confraternities to promote the praying of the rosary. The form of the rosary we have today is believed to date from his time. Over the centuries the saints and popes have highly recommended the rosary, the greatest prayer in the Church after the Mass and Liturgy of the Hours. Not surprisingly, it's most active promoters have been Dominicans.

Rosary means a crown of roses, a spiritual bouquet given to the Blessed Mother. It is sometimes called the Dominican Rosary, to distinguish it from other rosary-like prayers (e.g. the Franciscan Rosary of the Seven Joys or Franciscan Crown, the Servite Rosary of the Seven Sorrows). It is also, in a general sense, a form of chaplet or corona (crown), of which there are many varieties in the Church. Finally, in English it has been called "Our Lady's Psalter" or "the beads." This last derives from an Old English word for prayers (bede) and to request (biddan or bid).
The rosary has been called the preparation for contemplation and the prayer of saints. While the hands and lips are occupied with the prayers (it can and should be prayed silently when necessary so as not to disturb others), the mind meditates on the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption represented by the decades. Meditation is the form of prayer by which the one who prays uses the mind and imagination to consider a truth and uses the will to love it and form resolutions to live it. In this way the heart, mind, and soul of the Christian is formed according to the Gospel examples of the Savior and His First Disciple, His Mother. In God's own time, when this purification of the heart, mind, and soul has advanced sufficiently the Lord may give the grace of contemplative prayer, that special divine insight into the truth which human effort cannot achieve on its own.
Why pray the Rosary today? Certainly, to grow in holiness and in one's prayer life. The following are a few others reasons why the rosary should be prayed often, even daily:

 "Among all the devotions approved by the Church none has been so favored by so many miracles as the devotion of the Most Holy Rosary" (Pope Pius IX).
 "Say the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world" (Our Lady of Fátima).
 "There is no surer means of calling down God's blessings upon the family . . . than the daily recitation of the Rosary" (Pope Pius XII).
 "We do not hesitate to affirm again publicly that we put great confidence in the Holy Rosary for the healing of evils of our times" (Pope Pius XII).
 "No one can live continually in sin and continue to say the Rosary: either they will give up sin or they will give up the Rosary" (Bishop Hugh Doyle).
 "The Rosary is a magnificent and universal prayer for the needs of the Church, the nations and the entire world" (Pope John XXIII).
 "The Rosary is the compendium of the entire Gospel" (Pope Paul VI quoting Pope Pius XII).
 "Meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary . . . can be an excellent preparation for the celebration of those same mysteries in the liturgical actions [i.e. the Mass] and can also become a continuing echo thereof" (Pope Paul VI).
 "My impression is that the Rosary is of the greatest value not only according to the words of Our Lady at Fátima, but according to the effects of the Rosary one sees throughout history. My impression is that Our Lady wanted to give ordinary people, who might not know how to pray, this simple method of getting closer to God" (Sister Lucia, one of the seers of Fátima).
 "How beautiful is the family that recites the Rosary every evening" (Pope John Paul II).
 Pope John Paul II has called the Rosary his "favorite prayer," after the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours.
 St. Louis de Montfort warns us against both the ignorant and scholars who regard the Rosary as something of little importance..."the Rosary is a priceless treasure inspired by God."
(from www.ewtn.com )

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for more Offical Information on

the Most Holy Rosary

read the

Catechism of the Catholic Church

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm

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The Secret of the Rosary

(Complete Online Version)

by St. Louis de Montfort
A MONTFORT PUBLICATION,
New York
Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, 1954

A Highly Recommended Reading

http://www.montfort.org.uk/Writings/Rosary.html