Were the Original 4th and 5th Glorious Mysteries Changed in the 20th Century?

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At Mass a few months ago, the priest said that the 4th and 5th Glorious Mysteries (Assumption and Coronation of Mary) replaced the original 4th and 5th Glorious Mysteries — I think sometime in the 20th Century, but I’m not remembering clearly.

I have tried to confirm this but have been unable to find out anything, so I was hoping someone here could weigh in and let me know if this is true.

Were the original 4th and 5th Glorious Mysteries changed? When and Why

Thanks
 
Watching. I am a convert from 15 years ago, but I have never heard of anything but the 4th and 5th mysteries that we know.

D
 
I read someplace many years ago (probably 30+ years) that the current 4th and 5th mysteries were combined at one point into the 4th mystery. The 5th mystery in that version of the Rosary was the Last Judgment.

No idea where I read that.

Has anyone else heard of that version of the Glorious Mysteries?
 
Yeah, it’s discussed in Richard Toretto’s “A Divine Mercy Resource” as well as other places. In the late 1400s the Dominican Rosary had the Glorious mysteries as you say, with the Assumption and Coronation combined into the Fourth Mystery and the Last Judgment as the Fifth Mystery. However, in the late 1500s Pope Pius V standardized the Glorious Mysteries into the set we have today, and they stayed the same ever since.

books.google.com

A Divine Mercy Resource

For over twenty years, the author has researched and toured the country, giving talks, retreats, and seminars on Divine Mercy. Most of these have been given at the request of, or for, the John Paul II Institute of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, or the Life Foundation Ministries in...
books.google.com
 
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Thanks to all who replied…I’m remembering the Last Judgment one now…
 
While I’ve read that the Assumption is in the earliest documented sets of mysteries and seems to be one of the most consistently included (except in the Vita Christi versions, which were more strictly focused on Christ’s life), I believe Bl. Alan de Rupe popularized a set that had the Glorification of Christ and Final Judgment in lieu of the Assumption and Coronation. That may be what the priest was talking about when he said the 4th and 5th were changed. In any event, as you note the currently standard set of Glorious mysteries have been settled since way before the 20th century.

As an aside, I have long considered going with the Assumption/Coronation and Final Judgment combo for some time as it makes a lot of sense to me and I think mediating on the Final Judgment is a fruitful thing. But I haven’t yet…
 
Yes, I’ve read that there were various variations on the mysteries before Pope Pius V’s standardization.

Additionally, as we’ve discussed before on the forum, in the Joyful Mysteries it was traditional in some areas to have the Circumcision rather than the Presentation as the Fourth Joyful Mystery until fairly recently. I had an old book as a child that probably dated from the 1940s and it had the Circumcision as the Fourth Joyful Mystery.
 
DaveBj said:
Thanks, Bearself. I have learned my one new thing for the day, and I can now go back to bed 😃
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Hopefully, once you learn a new thing, it doesn’t push out an old thing from your memory 🥴
 
Regards the “Glorification of Christ” I wonder if that was incorporated into the new Luminous 'Transfiguration"?

Were there proposals to add something like the Luminous mysteries floating around prior to St JP2? In terms of relevance to us, I liked the Luminous more than the 5th Glorious Mystery, but I suppose we don’t see everything clearly now. That’s why they call them mysteries.
 
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Since it is a private devotion - yet one with extremely powerful spiritual properties and effects - we need not ever pray a single one. It is not one of the 5 precepts of the faith.

Having said that, we normally offer the mysteries on the day in which they are traditionally offered. One retains the freedom to offer whichever set of mysteries whenever they prefer.

Example: a co-worker was in hospice, dying of cancer. We prayed her last Rosary together. But, we offered the Glorious Mysteries on a Thursday, as they begin with the resurrection - a spiritual comfort to a dying person.

She then gave me her Rosary, telling me “We have to pass these on.” Since I did not want her to pass into eternity without a tangible connection to her faith, I gave her my olive wood Jerusalem Rosary, imagining that it would be buried with her.

At the funeral, her daughter gave my Rosary back to me.
 
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That is a lovely story.

As far as never being required to say a Rosary, what if your confessor assigns it as a penance?
 
rangerdillon said:
As far as never being required to say a Rosary, what if your confessor assigns it as a penance?
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Doing stuff you don’t want to do is why they call it “penance”.

Alternatively, you could say, “Excuse me, Father, but I really don’t like saying the Rosary. Can you assign me something else instead?” Some priests will be nice and give you something else and some priests will tell you no, say a Rosary and that’s final.
 
Genesis315 said:
As an aside, I have long considered going with the Assumption/Coronation and Final Judgment combo for some time as it makes a lot of sense to me and I think mediating on the Final Judgment is a fruitful thing.
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This would be helpful for me, as I have a very hard time visualizing the Coronation — not saying it didn’t happen, just that I have to try and create a scene in my mind of Our Lady being crowned queen of heaven.

The rosary is a private devotion, and unless possibly one is seeking an indulgence attached to recitation of the rosary, you can say it any way you like, and meditate upon the mysteries of your choosing.
Tis_Bearself said:
Additionally, as we’ve discussed before on the forum, in the Joyful Mysteries it was traditional in some areas to have the Circumcision rather than the Presentation as the Fourth Joyful Mystery until fairly recently. I had an old book as a child that probably dated from the 1940s and it had the Circumcision as the Fourth Joyful Mystery.
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I always thought the Circumcision and the Presentation were one and the same thing. I find this a particularly fruitful mystery, as I can reflect on Our Lady’s heart being pierced, or I can reflect upon Simeon proclaiming that he can now depart in peace, since he has seen Our Lord. It’s an especially rich mystery.
Tis_Bearself said:
Alternatively, you could say, “Excuse me, Father, but I really don’t like saying the Rosary. Can you assign me something else instead?” Some priests will be nice and give you something else and some priests will tell you no, say a Rosary and that’s final.
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I once asked for an alternative penance, as the one the priest assigned was going to cause me difficulties at home in the midst of my family. The priest absolutely cauterized me! He finally gave me an alternative penance, but he tore me a new one before he finally assigned it. Our relationship had always been a fractious one, and I eventually quit attending his parish on account of it.

I have never asked for an alternative penance since, and that’s been 40 years ago.
 
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