The Rosary

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When reciting the Rosary for someone, when and what do you say to ensure that you have done so? For example, if I recite the rosary, say five decades, for my fiancee, do I say something before, during or after? And, what do I say?

Also, when reciting the rosary alone, is it proper to read the mysteries as well, aloud? Thanks for the help.

God Bless

Jon
 
Prayer before the Rosary
Queen of the Holy Rosary, you have deigned to come to Fatima to reveal to the three shepherd children the treasures of grace hidden in the Rosary. Inspire my heart with a sincere love of this devotion, in order that by meditating on the Mysteries of our Redemption which are recalled in it, I may be enriched with its fruits and obtain peace for the world, the conversion of sinners and of Russia, and the favor which I ask of you in this Rosary. (Here mention your request.) I ask it for the greater glory of God, for your own honor, and for the good of souls, especially for my own. Amen. (source)
 
This is beautiful, but confusing. Why are these prayers different from the ones I am aware of? I am a new Catholic, having been confirmed this Easter, and am looking for guidance on this matter. I’m particularly curious about the “Prayer before the Rosary”, the “Fatima prayer”, “The prayer to Saint Michael” and the “Memorare”. Are these standard traditional prayers for the Rosary, or are they additions of a kind? Is there any set and certain method? Thanks again. Beautiful resource Todd. Thank you.

God Bless

Jon
 
Pope Pius XII added that we may say the Fatima Prayer. As far as I know, the Prayer to St. Michael is not part of the Rosary. We do pray that prayer to the St. Michael chaplet. I’ve never heard of the Prayer before the rosary that Todd listed. It is a beautiful prayer though. Anyway, I’ve listed a source for the rosary by EWTN.

ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/rosary/how_to.htm

I’ve always stated my intention before the rosary.
 
Yes, the webpage in the link was a little confusing but it was one of the few sites that had the Prayer Before the Rosary…

The Prayer Before the Rosary is an additional prayer customarily said before the rosary.

The Fatima Prayer is an additional prayer customarily said during the rosary at the end of each decade after the Glory Be.

The others are additional prayers customarily said after the rosary.

More info on How to Pray the Rosary.

Because you are saying the rosary privately, you might consider personalizing it a bit by adding a short prayer at the end of each decade, such as “Jesus, protect and save my fiancee.” You might also consider personalizing each Hail Mary by modifying the second part of it, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, especially my fiancee, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
 
JonW said:
When reciting the Rosary for someone, when and what do you say to ensure that you have done so? For example, if I recite the rosary, say five decades, for my fiancee, do I say something before, during or after? And, what do I say?

Also, when reciting the rosary alone, is it proper to read the mysteries as well, aloud? Thanks for the help.

God Bless

Jon
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Hi JonW,
When praying the rosary alone and in private, you may pray it aloud or silently (saying the prayers in your mind). If you are praying out loud, it would be typical to say the mystery aloud also. If you are praying silently, then the mystery would also be “said” silently.

It is typical to give the intention for which you are praying, prior to starting the rosary. (But, if you forget, add it whenever you think of it.)
For example: “Jesus, I want to offer this rosary up for my fiance.”
Then start the rosary - “I believe in God the…”

People have different ways of offering their intentions. Sometimes the intention is changed with each decade. For example, a parent with children might say at the start of a decade - “Lord, I offer this decade up for my son Steven, that he will …”
Next decade - Lord, I offer this decade up for my husband, …"

Occasionally, when I am offering a rosary for someone, I will insert that person’s name into the Hail Mary. Eg. “Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for Steven, now and at the hour of his death.”
or, “pray for us sinners, especially Steven, now and at the hour of our death.”

All of the above applies if you are saying the rosary privately.
If you are praying it with a group, you would make your intention silently, unless they invite people to state intentions.

Welcome to the Catholic faith.
God bless you,
Nita
 
Thank you so much Lee, Todd, and Nita! Your posts were all very helpful. I really love that Fatima prayer, and now I know how to offer up the Rosary. This is, of course, priceless info.

I guess the next question is: what’s a chaplet? I know there is the prayer Divine Chaplet, or something like that. Any info would be great. Bless you folks.

Jon
 
JonW said:
This is beautiful, but confusing. Why are these prayers different from the ones I am aware of? I am a new Catholic, having been confirmed this Easter, and am looking for guidance on this matter. I’m particularly curious about the “Prayer before the Rosary”, the “Fatima prayer”, “The prayer to Saint Michael” and the “Memorare”. Are these standard traditional prayers for the Rosary, or are they additions of a kind? Is there any set and certain method? Thanks again. Beautiful resource Todd. Thank you.

God Bless

Jon
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The Rosary is a private devotion and not a public liturgical prayer. As such it isn’t really set in stone and there is at a lot of wiggle room as to what prayers you may say before, during and after the standard Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory Bes etc.

The Creed and the Hail Holy Queen, on the one hand, are standard parts of the Rosary. The ‘Fatima Prayer’ is very very commonly said, but not required, whereas the Memorare and Prayer to St Michael are a bit less common
 
JonW said:
Thank you so much Lee, Todd, and Nita! Your posts were all very helpful. I really love that Fatima prayer, and now I know how to offer up the Rosary. This is, of course, priceless info.

I guess the next question is: what’s a chaplet? I know there is the prayer Divine Chaplet, or something like that. Any info would be great. Bless you folks.

Jon
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Here is a site that explains about the Divine Mercy Chaplet:

ewtn.com/Devotionals/mercy/dmmap.htm

It is said on Rosary beads and is one of my favorite devotions. If I wake up in the middle of the night I just reach for my Rosary beads and say a chaplet. I have a CD in my car of the Mercy Chaplet also. I pray for many family members and intentions this way.
 
JonW said:
This is beautiful, but confusing. Why are these prayers different from the ones I am aware of? I am a new Catholic, having been confirmed this Easter, and am looking for guidance on this matter. I’m particularly curious about the “Prayer before the Rosary”, the “Fatima prayer”, “The prayer to Saint Michael” and the “Memorare”. Are these standard traditional prayers for the Rosary, or are they additions of a kind? Is there any set and certain method? Thanks again. Beautiful resource Todd. Thank you.

God Bless

Jon
Click to expand...
In True Devotion to Mary**, Louis de Montfort has the following prayer at the beginning of the rosary:
I unite with all the saints in Heaven, with all the just on earth and with all the faithful here present. I unite with You, O my Jesus, in order to praise worthily Your holy Mother and to praise You in her and through her. I renounce all the distractions I may have during this Rosary, which I wish to say with modesty, attention and devotion, just as if it were to be the last of my life.
We offer You, O most Holy Trinity, this Creed in honor of all the mysteries of our Faith; this Our Father** and these three Hail Marys in honor of the unity of Your Essence and the Trinity of Your Persons. We ask of You a lively faith, a firm hope, and an ardent charity. Amen.

The Fatima Prayer is said at the end of the Glory Be** that ends each decade.
I grew up with the concluding prayer being an Act of Contrition. The more common concluding prayer is the Hail Holy Queen. followed by “Oh God, whose only begotten Son by his life, death, and resurrection has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant we beseech You, that by 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 Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Many people pray other prayers after the rosary including The Prayer to St. Michael and the Memorare.
To answer one of your original questions, yes, I do pray aloud when I am by myself. I definitely say the Mystery aloud and read scripture verses when I have them available.
At the beginning of each rosary I consecrate each member of my family (by name) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
 
I would like to share to everyone what happened to me last year. Perhaps, you may realize how important praying to the Blessed Mother (and Her Rosary) is to me.

I was born and lived in a province since childhood, but after getting a job in Manila, Philippines (9 years ago), I started living a sinful life. If I had died earlier, I would surely have plunged into the burning sulfur of hell without any doubt or question.

I sinned and sinned, and didn’t even bother to pray, stayed away from God, forgot God, worked myself to death, focused on my career, increased my knowledge by going to a graduate school and increased my wealth and worldy possessions.

However, our Lord God had mercy on my soul and started calling me back, thru the Blessed Mother Mary:

1st Call: Two years ago, my college friend died. He was my classmate, same age as mine (32), with the same promising career as a chemical engineer. He and his career is gone now, at a very young age. I was shocked and felt fear. What if it was I who died?

Effect : I only felt fear, but did nothing to repent.

2nd Call: Last year, I received an email from my college friend that our dearest and most intelligent professor died at the age of 40+. He and his intelligence is gone now, also at a very young age.

Effect : My fear increased, but did not repent.

3rd Call: In August of last year, my very rich boss suddenly died of cancer at the age of 49. Her money and enormous wealth did not save her.

Effect : This time I was really struck hard, started to pray a little and started reflecting on my life, but did not repent.

4th Call: Last year again, I was bed ridden for a week due to kidney problem. The pain I had, felt like I was gonna die. I started praying hard to God, to forgive me for my transgressions. But after few weeks of being healed, I went back to my sinful life.

5th and Final Call: One week after celebrating the 75th birthday of my mother last year, she became very ill. She was brought to the hospital and was struggling between life and death. The hospital bills have drained all my savings, and left me with loans. After two months of struggle, and with no more resources to fight for her life, she died before Christmas, and so we had the most sorrowful Christmas ever.

This recent events moved me to change my life. It made me realize many things:
  1. First, our life is very short, and death which seems to be far away is really approaching to each one of us.
  2. Second, What is professional career for, if God takes away my life right now.
  3. Third, Worldy intelligence will be blotted out once the Lord God called us back.
  4. Fourth, Money and Wealth cannot save us from death, once the Lord has retrieved the life He gave us.
  5. Fifth, not to invoke the Lord God to anger, for His hands are mighty and powerful.
  6. Lastly, that I should be thankful to the Lord and the Blessed Mother in bringing me back to grace.
But, the temptation is very strong. It seems like a magnet pulling me down. And the Wretched One does not want me to lead a better life. So, I realized going back to grace is a gift from Heaven. But remaining in grace is another hard thing to accomplish.

So what I did is I prayed the 15 mysteries of the Holy Rosary everyday. I told the Blessed Mother sincerely that I will pray Her 15 mysteries everyday, in return for the favor of protecting me and not abandoning me especially in times of trouble. And she did, now I am completely changed. The Blessed Mother showered bountiful graces upon me which I do not deserve. And everytime I look back at my past, I felt sorrow for having mislead my life for so long and for having hurt God with my sins.

The spiritual battle is still ON and the temptations are still lurking around. But I guess it will never end while I am alive. But the most important thing is I have the Blessed Mother by my side now thru the Holy Rosary. I also have Jesus by my side, thru the Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy Chaplet (which gives me so much peace) and the Holy Eucharist (which is the food of my soul).

And we have all the angels and saints by our side who desires as much to save our souls.

Now, these are the reasons why I am praying the Rosary, and why I am urging others to do so also.
 
JonW said:
When reciting the Rosary for someone, when and what do you say to ensure that you have done so? For example, if I recite the rosary, say five decades, for my fiancee, do I say something before, during or after? And, what do I say?

Also, when reciting the rosary alone, is it proper to read the mysteries as well, aloud? Thanks for the help.

God Bless

Jon
Click to expand...
A simple prayer you make up is fine. it is best to recite aloud the mysteries because it helps them to “stick” in your mind when you physically say them , and so it also helps for meditation.
Don’t stress too much about prayer- there’s virtually no way to mess it up
 
I was given a Rosary by my husband as a gift, it hasn’t been blessed and I haven’t started my classes, I’m only reading everything the faith formation leader has given me, visiting here and saying the prayers that are in my prayer book. Can I use a the Rosary that I have even though it hasn’t been blessed? Can I asked about it being blessed before I am a full practicing catholic? Can I even pray the Rosary? There is just so much to learn.
 
franjos said:
Now, these are the reasons why I am praying the Rosary, and why I am urging others to do so also.
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Thank you for sharing your story.
I just want to mention that now there are 20 mysteries instead of 15. I personally pray all the 20 mysteries daily. By adding the Luminous Mystery, it makes the meditation of Jesus’ life more complete. You may want to consider adding the newest one.

God bless!
 
Misty5054 said:
I was given a Rosary by my husband as a gift, it hasn’t been blessed and I haven’t started my classes, I’m only reading everything the faith formation leader has given me, visiting here and saying the prayers that are in my prayer book. Can I use a the Rosary that I have even though it hasn’t been blessed? Can I asked about it being blessed before I am a full practicing catholic? Can I even pray the Rosary? There is just so much to learn.
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There is no reason to wait before starting to recite the rosary or to have the rosary blessed. You do not even need to have the rosary blessed before beginning.
Newsweek even had an artivle a couple of years ago about non-Catholics discovering the beauty of the rosary.
 
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