The history of the Catholic Rosary (and how to pray it)
The Catholic Rosary is a prayer said by Catholics worldwide. It’s a set of beads where people say the Lord’s Prayer and Hail Mary prayer several times, focusing on parts of the Holy Bible on particular days.
It sounds quite a chore? Actually, it’s not. A great way to start is to find a little church near you, and pop along when they say it. A bit like a Gregorian chant, it’s a nice rhythm and you end up feeling very relaxed and comforted, even if at first you don’t know the words to chant along with!
Let’s look at what the Rosary is, how it’s chanted and what the benefits are. Along with a little history lesson (interesting one, promise!)
The Rosary begins with:
The Lord’s Prayer (never says the word ‘me’)
Everyone knows the Lord’s Prayer. But what is it, and what are the benefits of reciting it? In these days of ‘manifesting everything you want’, it’s a simple prayer that basically acknowledges a love for God, asks for forgiveness, then forgives others, and leaves everything to God’s Will.
Located both in the Gospels of Matthew (the longer version) and Luke, Jesus taught the prayer to be a blueprint for life – three requests focusing on God’s glory, the addressing the ‘human world’.
The closing line ‘For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, Amen’ was added later – it’s not found in the oldest surviving manuscripts of both Gospels.
It’s a lot simpler than writing hundreds of affirmations!
Our Father who art in heaven,
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.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Amen
What’s interesting if you look at the Lord’s Prayer, is that a prayer to help all others, not just yourself. This is quite different to today’s self-obsessive’ working on myself’ mentality’ that we often hear about.
You cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer and even once say ‘I’
You cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer and even once say ‘My’
Nor can you pray the Lord’s Prayer and not pray for one another,
And when you ask for daily bread, you must include your brother.
For others are included.. in each and every plea,
From the beginning to the end of it, it does not once say ‘Me’.
Poem found in a mailing from Omaha Home for Boys
The Hail Mary Prayer & Rosary
Hail Mary is the traditional prayer of the Catholic faith, also used by some Orthodox religions. Named on the opening Latin words from the Gospel of Luke, people have been praying this in its present form, since the 16th century:
Hail Mary,
Full of grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst 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 prayer is basically a praise to the mother of God, and a popular devotional practice. Some people pray the Rosary each day, and says it brings them more peace than any meditation practice ever could.
Check out local Catholic churches, as many have Rosary services. You don’t have to own beads, just pop along and sit and listen if you don’t know the words by heart. It is strangely comforting to hear others chant the Rosary, a bit like listening to monks singing at Vespers.
Kenrick-Glennon Seminary has four wonderful videos where you can pray the Rosary alongside some priests. It’s very well-done in a lovely relaxing church, and they even chant in Latin at the end!
Stella Maris produces beautiful rosary beads, made from ocean-bound recycled plastic. Collected by communities in the Philippines, each one prevents up to 10kg of plastic (around 500 plastic bottles) from entering the sea.
Pray as You Go offers audio reflective meditations on each of the rosary mysteries. Each of the 20 minute or so meditations includes Scripture and music, to learn more about and pray on:
- The Joyful Mysteries
- The Sorrowful Mysteries
- The Glorious Mysteries
- The Luminous Mysteries
Praying the Rosary in difficult times
Many people in history have prayed the Rosary at difficult times, and it seems to have a special power. Often during the Irish troubles, soldiers knocking on doors were amazed that local people were not scared, they just kept praying.
And Rwandan Immaculée Ilibagiza not only gives testimonies from others, but of course has her own, when she spent months locked away with other women in a bathroom during the genocide, after her family were massacred. She later met and forgave those involved.
One man who dedicated his life to praying and teaching about the Rosary was Italian saint Bartolo Longo. He was only beautified in 1980. What makes him interesting is that in his ‘previous life’, he had got so involved with the occult that he was a practicing satanist. Until he gave it all up, to follow God and the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.
He is widely credited as being the influence behind creation of the Luminous Mysteries, part of the standard rosary. Showing that anyone can become a saint, no matter what their past! He called the Rosary a ‘sweet chain that units us to God, a bond of love that is a safe port in our universal shipwreck’.
