A short tutorial on praying the Blessed Rosary

There are probably as many ways to recite the Rosary as there are people who recite it. The main thing to remember is that the Rosary is TWO parts! The first part is the vocal recitation of the prayers; the second part is the internal meditation on the mysteries. Some say the Rosary has a body (vocal prayers) and a soul (internal meditation).

An actual set of beads is not necessary to say the Rosary, but they do simplify the counting. In a pinch you can count on your fingers! The Rosary is divided up into groups of one Our Father and ten Hail Marys, each group is called a decade. There are three groups of five decades in a full Rosary but customarily only one group is prayed at a time (which is why most rosaries have just five groups of beads, you can go around three times to say the complete Rosary). Each of the three groups is assigned a set of gospel mysteries: The Joyful, Sorrowful, or Glorious. Each set contains five individual mysteries to meditate on, one for each decade.

Generally the Rosary (capital R for the prayer, little r for the set of beads) is prayed in this way:

At the crucifix make the Sign of the Cross and recite the Apostle's Creed, On the first large bead recite the Our Father, on the following three small beads recite a Hail Mary for each (they are for Hope, Love, and Charity). On the space before the next large bead recite the Glory Be (many people also add the Fatima Prayer after each Glory Be).

On the Large bead announce the first mystery, then recite the Our Father. Move to the first group of ten small beads and recite a Hail Mary on each while continuing to meditate on the first mystery. On the space before the next large bead recite the Glory Be (and the Fatima Prayer). Then on the large bead announce the next mystery and recite the Our Father move to the next decade. Do this until you have meditated on all five mysteries (or all fifteen if you circle the garden three times).

Recite the Hail Holy Queen, then the Prayer After the Rosary. Many people also like to ad the prayer to St Michael the Archangel at the end as well. If praying in a group adding the Litany of Our Lady to the end is also appropriate.

There are variations on this method, but they all follow the same basic form. Some notable exceptions are the Franciscan Crown of Mary, which consists of seven decades for the Seven Joys of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and I have a book for a Scriptural Rosary with seven sets of mysteries, one for each day of the week.