Ending the rosary

[omegapd]

Hi All,

I’m curious about this prayer that (sometimes) ends the rosary:

Let us pray. 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.

On many different websites, etc. this prayer is omitted and the rosary ends with the Hail Holy Queen. What is the history of this prayer? Was it added much later? For many years, I never said this prayer at the end of the rosary.

Just wondering and looking for opinions. God Bless!

 

[Slaney]

You can end the Rosary when your finished praying it, don’t know when it
was life or death to get hung up about it…

 

[asia53]

Hi All,

I’m curious about this prayer that (sometimes) ends the rosary:

Let us pray. 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.

On many different websites, etc. this prayer is omitted and the rosary ends with the Hail Holy Queen. What is the history of this prayer? Was it added much later? For many years, I never said this prayer at the end of the rosary.

Just wondering and looking for opinions. God Bless!

At my parish, I lead the Rosary before 11 AM, Sunday Mass. The man, who lead the Rosary before me, never prayed the above prayer. So when I took over for him, I didn’t pray the prayer either.

I’ve had several older parishioners (late 60’s and upwards) ask me to pray it. They told me, you’re supposed to pray it each time to finish the Rosary.

I asked Father. He said, this is a very old practice, the older people (when they were children) were taught to pray it to end the Rosary. He thought, their parents, or Religious instructors taught them. He asked me to honor their request.

I don’t know the history. I do know, this prayer ends the Rosary, when you are praying a 54-day Novena, but that’s all I know. I hope someone else knows.

 

[tradcathconvert]

While we are on the subject, I have a question too. This traditional ending seems to also be the collect for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary in the EF. Which came first? Did someone decide to end the rosary with the collect for the Feast? O, second question. Is this prayer used at all in a Mass in the OF?

Here is the collect in Latin and English:

DEUS, cujus Unigenitus, per vitam,
mortem et resurrectiónem suam nobis
salútis ætérnæ præmia comparávit:
concéde, quæsumus; ut, hæc
mystéria sacratíssimo beátæ Maríæ
Vírginis Rosário recoléntes, et imitémur
quod cóntinent, et quod promíttunt,
assequámur. Per eúmdem
Dóminum nostrum.

O God, Whose only-begotten Son, by His
life, death, and resurrection hath purchased
for us the rewards of eternal life:
grant, we beseech Thee, that, meditating
on 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 our Lord.

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

At my parish, I lead the Rosary before 11 AM, Sunday Mass. The man, who lead the Rosary before me, never prayed the above prayer. So when I took over for him, I didn’t pray the prayer either.

I’ve had several older parishioners (late 60’s and upwards) ask me to pray it. They told me, you’re supposed to pray it each time to finish the Rosary.

I asked Father. He said, this is a very old practice, the older people (when they were children) were taught to pray it to end the Rosary. He thought, their parents, or Religious instructors taught them. He asked me to honor their request.

I don’t know the history. I do know, this prayer ends the Rosary, when you are praying a 54-day Novena, but that’s all I know. I hope someone else knows.

The only place I’ve ever seen it written down in the instructions on how to pray the Rosary is in my Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Holy Hour booklet.

 

[maggiemoo]

I believe that the Legion of Mary uses it to end the rosary. It is printed in their Tessera.

 

[midori]

I generally encounter

Let us pray. O GOD, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection…

when praying the rosary in a public setting. For whatever reason, it seems to be the default setting.

Growing up, when praying the rosary as a family, and now praying it individually, I always closed with the Hail Holy Queen.

Of course, the Hail Holy Queen is just the English translation of the classic Latin prayer, “Salve Regina”. It goes:

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevæ,
ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos
misericordes oculos ad nos converte;
et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

Although there are multiple attributes for its composition/stories about its origin (St. Bernard, the Crusades, etc), it’s consistently dated to the 11th c. (the 1000’s).

 

[gh4]

I end each of my rosaries with:

Hail Holy Queen…
Oh God, whose only begotten son…
May the Divine assistance be always with us and may the Souls…
One Our father, one Hail Mary and one Glory be for the protection and intentions of the Pope
and lastly I do one St. Michael the Archangel…

 

[omegapd]

Thanks for the replies, all.