The Rosary

[GWright]

So, I have decided to pray the rosary daily

I was never taught about the rosary when I was a kid, but I have gradually taken an interest in it. I learned about it online and via a little prayer card I have.

For a long time, I had a set of Benedict XVI rosary beads ,which my mum had bought me in Rome. Although I wasnt practicising when she got me them, they were always important to me because they were from her. I am now pleased to be putting them to their chief intended use, and even took them to Rome for the blessing of religious items at the Papal General Audience (it was still Benedict XVI then - fitting, as its his name and image on the central joining bead, on my set).

I was always put off the rosasry, as (selfishly) I thought it would take ages (!), but it actually doesnt take long at all. My only experience of it was when I was about 12 and my gran died - people came to her flat to say the rosary, and I felt it took forever (!), but I was only a kid then. I dont even know if I knew it was the rosary they were doing, at the time.

I just needed some advice on:

1. can you dedicate your rosary for some intention, (I heard of a guy who did this for the conversion of his wife), is that normal? Can a rosary have multiple intentions, or should there really just be one?
2. same question, about individual decades (or is there no point to that, is it better just to dedicate the whole thing)?
3. If one chose to enroll in something like this:

rosary-center.org/ (the rosary confraternity)

Do the conditions/obligations there over-ride any ability to have your own rosary intentions?

1. What is a “chaplet”? Does this refer to a single decade of the rosary on a key-chain?
2. Your opinion on the later luminous mysteries, which were not part of the rosary originally? Do you include these? I think I am going to stick with just the original mysteries, as instituted by Our Lady.

(the rosary link I posted above says the Vatican has never clarified if the “new” mysteries are obligatory, or if omitting them means the rosary is still valid, or not - this is not a good situation, imo. The link says you can do it either way and its equally valid).

Thanks for any advice!

PS - can anyone recommend a small / travel rosary (chaplet?) that one could discreetly use in the car or public transport or whatever?

 

[larsont7]

1. Yes, you can offer your Rosary for special intentions (one or many).
2. Yes, you can offer specific decades for a particular intention. I wouldn’t say one way is “better” than the other, but if you’ve got 5 intentions, then one per decade would work well.
3. Confraternities are a good incentive to keep your promise to pray the Rosary daily. Each confraternity has its own requirements, and I can’t speak of the one you have listed. I am enrolled in the brown Scapular, and I was given a duty to pray a daily Rosary as part of my enrollment, but it’s ultimately up to you how you want to direct your devotions.
4. The Chaplet usually refers to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy given to Sister (St.) Faustina by Our Lord. One uses a Rosary (the set of beads) to pray the Chaplet. This is a separate devotion than the Rosary, but a good one nonetheless.
5. You will get varying opinions on this one. For me, no, I only pray the mysteries that Our Lady gave to St. Dominic. There are probably several threads debating the issue on whether to pray the Luminous Mysteries or not, but I will not delve into that.

As for what kinds of Rosaries to purchase, there are many different choices. I prefer standard Rosaries, but they do make smaller ones as well. They make single decade Rosaries if you want something even smaller than a small full Rosary. They also make Rosary rings, which are nice when you don’t have your hands free.

Congrats on starting one of the greatest devotions handed down to us!

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesu. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

 

[maryjk]

1. The Chaplet usually refers to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy given to Sister (St.) Faustina by Our Lord. One uses a Rosary (the set of beads) to pray the Chaplet. This is a separate devotion than the Rosary, but a good one nonetheless.

There are many, many different Chaplets. Sacred Heart, Holy Face, Precious Blood, Seven Sorrows, St Michael, St Raphael, St Anne, St Joseph, many for Our Lady, just to name a few.

So, I don’t know if I agree that it usually refers to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

 

[Lasting_faith]

Ain’t much to add, except for the fact that a Catholic prays one Rosary every day. It gives more then it takes. I also have a special Rosary. A priest from our Church bought it for me when he was in Israel.

 

[HelenRose]

I have often used the Rosary Beads to list the names of those whom I want to pray for. There are 50 beads and that does not always bring my attention to those who are in need of God’s Grace and Mary’s love. From now on, rather than saying “I will pray the Rosary for you.”, I will say to those in need, “You are a rose on my Rosary” .

I love the Rosary. I believe that not only praying the Rosary brings gifts to those whom I pray for but it brings their needs closer to my heart.

 

[johnthebaptist1]

I,am glad to here that you are saying the Rosary,Our Lady made fifthween promises to those who recite the Rosary daily. Also, I use a reg Rosary while in the car,just hold in you hand,and mediated while saying it.Sometimes when I ,am waiting for someone at the Mall, I,ll sit and say the Rosary. may Our Lady protect you always.

 

[Love4All]

So, I have decided to pray the rosary daily

I was never taught about the rosary when I was a kid, but I have gradually taken an interest in it. I learned about it online and via a little prayer card I have.

For a long time, I had a set of Benedict XVI rosary beads ,which my mum had bought me in Rome. Although I wasnt practicising when she got me them, they were always important to me because they were from her. I am now pleased to be putting them to their chief intended use, and even took them to Rome for the blessing of religious items at the Papal General Audience (it was still Benedict XVI then - fitting, as its his name and image on the central joining bead, on my set).

I was always put off the rosasry, as (selfishly) I thought it would take ages (!), but it actually doesnt take long at all. My only experience of it was when I was about 12 and my gran died - people came to her flat to say the rosary, and I felt it took forever (!), but I was only a kid then. I dont even know if I knew it was the rosary they were doing, at the time.

I just needed some advice on:

1. can you dedicate your rosary for some intention, (I heard of a guy who did this for the conversion of his wife), is that normal? Can a rosary have multiple intentions, or should there really just be one?
2. same question, about individual decades (or is there no point to that, is it better just to dedicate the whole thing)?
3. If one chose to enroll in something like this:

rosary-center.org/ (the rosary confraternity)

Do the conditions/obligations there over-ride any ability to have your own rosary intentions?

1. What is a “chaplet”? Does this refer to a single decade of the rosary on a key-chain?
2. Your opinion on the later luminous mysteries, which were not part of the rosary originally? Do you include these? I think I am going to stick with just the original mysteries, as instituted by Our Lady.

(the rosary link I posted above says the Vatican has never clarified if the “new” mysteries are obligatory, or if omitting them means the rosary is still valid, or not - this is not a good situation, imo. The link says you can do it either way and its equally valid).

Thanks for any advice!

PS - can anyone recommend a small / travel rosary (chaplet?) that one could discreetly use in the car or public transport or whatever?

Add this prayer, that now goes together with the rosary:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=643426

Penitential Rosary Crusade

For the conversion from sin of the Archdiocese of Boston:

From sins of pride of its members, from sins of lust of its members, from sins of envy of its members, from sins of anger of its members, from sins of greed of its members, from sins of gluttony of its members, from sins of sloth of its members.

Help us, Blessed Mother, to pray your Rosary to you, now, and until all our sins we no longer commit, against your Divine Son. Help us, Our Lady of Fatima, in your spreading of your Rosary of penance for sin, throughout our Archdiocese of Boston and throughout God’s entire World on Earth. Help us enter penance now with permanence, through our perpetual recitation of your Rosary. And begin now, Blessed Mother, to increase the efficacy of the rosaries we pray to you for the conversion from sins of all of us here in the Archdiocese of Boston. And spread that efficacy of your Rosary throughout Dioceses and Archdioceses in God’s entire World on Earth, until finally it extends to all nations and lands.

Fulfill your promise to us now, Blessed Mother, that someday you would bring your Divine Son’s Graces of conversion from sin to God’s entire World on Earth through your Rosary and Scapular. Begin now, Blessed Mother, to bring the Archdiocese of Boston into its conversion from sins, to bring us into conversion from our sins, and to bring us into penance to your Divine Son because of our sins against Him. Bring to us God’s Graces of Perseverance, in praying your Rosary more and more now, in remorse and contrition for our sins.

Help us, Refuge of Sinners, to pray rosary after rosary after rosary, with remorse and contrition for our sins against the Infinite Goodness of Our Lord, your Divine Son. Help us, Blessed Mother, to reject all of our sins now, with finality, through rosary after rosary after rosary.

Amen

The name of any Archdiocese or Diocese in the entire world can be substituted for “Boston” in the above Penitential Rosary Crusade Prayer.

 

[maryjk]

Ain’t much to add, except for the fact that a Catholic prays one Rosary every day. It gives more then it takes. I also have a special Rosary. A priest from our Church bought it for me when he was in Israel.

Some Catholics pray the rosary, some don’t.

 

[maryjk]

Add this prayer, that now goes together with the rosary

There are many prayers that can be added to the rosary. Many.

The best thing to do? Figure out which, if any, that you want to add.

 

[otjm]

1. Your opinion on the later luminous mysteries, which were not part of the rosary originally? Do you include these? I think I am going to stick with just the original mysteries, as instituted by Our Lady.

What we know as the rosary appears to have started not as Ave Marias but rather as Pater Nosters. As to Mary giving the Mysteries, they appear to have been fairly well settled byt the 1500’s, which was well after St Dominic’s death in 1221. Legend has it that he received the rosary from a vision of Mary; but the earliest accounts of his life do not mention it, the Dominican constitutions do not link him with it and contemporaneous portraits do not include it as a symbol to identify the saint. Previous to the mysteries being settled in the 1500s there were various practices including linking the decades (which also took time to develop) with psalm phrases, and phrases covering the life of Jesus and of Mary.

It is the best beloved and most widely known devotional private prayer, and is not regulated by the Church. Thus it is pointless to make any references to the Vatican making the Luminous Mysteries obligatory or not obligatory, as nothing about the rosary is obligatory.

So, Our Lady did not institute the rosary, did not institute the 15 Mysteries, and most likely would be honored that the Luminous Mysteries were added (by a Pope who dearly loved her, I might add). To say she would not be honored would be to say that there is something rigid about the rosary, and to try to make it into something it never was.

Anyone saying the rosary is free to say all or part; to use one set of Mysteries or another; to rotate through them as they wish. The objective is to meditate on the Gospel accounts as set out; and there is nothing to stop one from including other Gospel accounts.

 

[GWright]

it is pointless to make any references to the Vatican making the Luminous Mysteries obligatory or not obligatory, as nothing about the rosary is obligatory.

Hi there,

I disagree with you above - for example,the rosary confraternity has the requirement that members say a complete rosary per week. Therefore, the rosary is a defineable and set activity.

For example, a piece of the rosary isnt “the rosary”, rather its a fragment of the rosary.

The dominicans own US website states that it “still awaits” any notice from the Vatican as to whether the people praying the rosary - which is a defineable and set task, remember - should include the “new” mysteries, or not.

It says people can do it either way - so by the Dominicans own admission, a state of confusion exists which is neither necessary nor desireable.
"Dominicans:

Since the Holy Father has recently added the five luminous mysteries, we encourage members of the Confraternity to include that extra weekly Rosary. However, we have as yet received no official statement regarding this matter. Those who recite only the fifteen traditional mysteries will continue to share in the benefits of the Confraternity until some official source declares the contrary.

rosary-center.org/nroscon.htm

So, Our Lady did not institute the rosary

That is in direct contravention of the tradition (history) of the Church.

It was only in the year 1214, however, that the Church received the Rosary in its present form and according to the method we use today. It was given to the Church by St. Dominic, who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners.

theholyrosary.org/rosaryhistory

Are you suggesting the Church has stepped back from this tradition / belief? Through which statement?

most likely would be honored that the Luminous Mysteries were added (by a Pope who dearly loved her, I might add).

I am sure Pope JP2 dearly loved God too - does that then mean he can add bits to the Our Father? I dont think it does.

Also - why would Our Lady be honoured by anything to do with the Rosary, if it were not She who instituted it, any more than any other devotion or prayer to Her?

To say she would not be honored would be to say that there is something rigid about the rosary, and to try to make it into something it never was.

But the rosary is rigid, here are the obligations of the confraternity laid out. All members have to do the same thing, in the same way.
"Dominicans:

**OBLIGATIONS **

Each member strives to pray fifteen mysteries of the Rosary each week (this does not bind under sin), and must have his/her name inscribed in the register of the Confraternity. There are no meetings, no dues.

Since the Holy Father has recently added the five luminous mysteries, it would seem that members of the Confraternity should strive to include that extra weekly Rosary. However, we have as yet received no official statement regarding this matter. Those who recite only the fifteen traditional mysteries will continue to share in the benefits of the Confraternity until some official source declares the contrary.

The rosary is a set and defineable task, if anyone wants to pray the roasy, they must complete this set and defined task. Doing anything else doesnt count as the rosary (because its not the rosary).

The only bit of confusion is the additional “new” mysteries, as stated before.

Anyone saying the rosary is free to say all or part; to use one set of Mysteries or another; to rotate through them as they wish.

No argument here, though we are supposed to use certain mysteries on certain days.

The objective is to meditate on the Gospel accounts as set out; and there is nothing to stop one from including other Gospel accounts.

Yes there is - because making changes to the set and well defined activity called “the rosary” would mean it is not the rosary anymore.

Cheers
GW

 

[GWright]

Thank you to everyone who replied to this thread, I found your help inspiring and useful - thanks a lot!

 

[otjm]

Hi there,

I disagree with you above - for example,the rosary confraternity has the requirement that members say a complete rosary per week. Therefore, the rosary is a defineable and set activity.

The rosary fraternity is not binding on anyone, as belonging to it is completely voluntary. There is nothing about the Rosary that Rome dictates.

For example, a piece of the rosary isnt “the rosary”, rather its a fragment of the rosary.

And your point is?

The dominicans own US website states that it “still awaits” any notice from the Vatican as to whether the people praying the rosary - which is a defineable and set task, remember - should include the “new” mysteries, or not.

Well, there may be a long wait then. Pope John Paul 2 suggested the mysteries; he did not make them mandatory - just as no other Pope I am aware of made any part of the rosary mandatory.

It says people can do it either way - so by the Dominicans own admission, a state of confusion exists which is neither necessary nor desirable.

I have a hard time wrapping my mind around any confusion. Because the rosary is not necessary in and of itself - it is a purely private devotion - then the mysteries are not necessary. Through the centuries there have been many variations. None of them are illicit or illegal. There is a generally accepted format which includes the 15 mysteries; adding five more is simply a blessing, and not more. The rosary should lead us to contemplate the life of Our Lord and of Mary; and for the life of me I cannot understand why some people get so upset that someone, saying the rosary, might contemplate some other part of Our Lord’s life. The rosary is not magic; it is prayer. It leads us in conversation with Mary, our mother, and God the Father and Christ. It should lead us to contemplate them. The Luminous Mysteries are not required by the Church, and neither are the other three sets.

If someone wants to belong to the rosary confraternity, that should be a good and worth thing. If the rosary confraternity wants to say that one cannot say the Luminous Mysteries, they cannot bind morally.