Methods of praying the rosary

Five methods of praying the rosary are presented within the works of Saint Louis de Montfort, a French Roman Catholic priest and writer of the early 18th century. Montfort was an early proponent of Mariology, and much of his work is devoted to the subjects of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the rosary. While the rosary contains a fixed set of prayers recited with the use of beads, Montfort proposed a number of methods to pray the rosary with more thorough devotion. Two of the methods are described in his book The Secret of the Rosary, in the fiftieth rose (chapter):

"In order to facilitate the exercise of the holy Rosary, here are several methods to recite it holily, with the meditation of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries of Jesus and Mary. You stop at that which is most to your liking: you can form yourself another particular method, as several saintly persons have done."

Three additional methods (i.e., five in total) are listed in the book God Alone, based on the collected writings of St. Louis.

The general approach

St. Louis's first method does not change the Our Father or Hail Mary prayers within the rosary, but interleaves additional petitions or meditations as the rosary is being prayed. For instance, in the first method, St. Louis provides specific additional prayers at the beginning of each decade: he requests detachment from material items, as follows:

"We offer Thee, O Child Jesus, this third decade in honor of Thy Blessed Nativity, and we ask of Thee through this mystery and through the intercession of Thy Blessed Mother, detachment from the things of this world, love of poverty and love of the poor."

Moreover, he adds a specific prayer after each decade. The following prayers are for the joyous mysteries:

• Grace of the mystery of the Incarnation, come down into my soul and make it truly humble.

• Grace of the mystery of the Visitation, come down into my soul and make it truly charitable.

• Grace of the mystery of the Nativity, come down into my soul and make me truly poor in spirit.

• Grace of the mystery of the Purification, come down into my soul and make it really wise and really pure.

• Grace of the mystery of the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, come down into my soul and truly convert me.

Similar, but distinct, petitions are provided for the sorrowful and glorious mysteries.

The Five Methods

St. Louis Montfort's The Secret of the Rosary has the first and second methods. The first method is described above. In the second method a word or two is added to each Hail Mary of the decade. The third method combined elements of the first and second, and was made for the use of the Daughters of Wisdom. The fourth method incorporates a small reflection for each bead, usually associated with the mystery of the decade. The fifth method focuses its reflections on the rosary itself: its power, history, and prayers; in what manner it ought to be said (slowly and calmly, etc.); and objections towards praying the rosary to beware of, such as, "One can be saved without praying the rosary."

Offering of the Decades

Say the "Come Holy Spirit" and then make this offering of the Rosary:

I unite with all the saints in heaven and with all the just on earth; I unite with you, my Jesus, to praise your holy Mother worthily and to praise you in her and by her. I renounce all the distractions that may come to me while I am saying this Rosary. O Blessed Virgin Mary, we offer you this creed to honour the faith you had upon earth and to ask you to permit us to share in that same faith. O Lord, we offer you this Our Father to adore you in your oneness and to acknowledge you as the first cause and the last end of all things. Most Holy Trinity, we offer you these three Hail Marys to thank you for all the graces which you have given to Mary and which you have given to us through her intercession.

	Joyful Mysteries
First decade	We offer you, Lord Jesus, this first decade in honour of your Incarnation. Through this mystery and the intercession of your holy Mother we ask for humility of heart.
Second decade	We offer you, Lord Jesus, this second decade in honour of the Visitation of your holy Mother to her cousin Saint Elizabeth. Through this mystery and the intercession of Mary we ask for a perfect love of our neighbour.
Third decade	We offer you, Child Jesus, this third decade in honour of your holy Birth. Through this mystery and the intercession of your blessed Mother we ask for detachment from the things of this world, love of poverty and love of the poor.
Fourth decade	We offer you, O Lord Jesus, this fourth decade in honour of your presentation in the temple by the hands of Mary. Through this mystery and the intercession of your blessed Mother we ask for the gift of wisdom and purity of heart and body.
Fifth decade	We offer you, Lord Jesus, this fifth decade to honour Mary's finding you in the temple among the learned men after she had lost you. Through this mystery and the intercession of your blessed Mother we ask you to convert us and all sinners, heretics, schismatics and pagans.

	Sorrowful Mysteries
Sixth decade	We offer you, Lord Jesus, this sixth decade in honour of your intense agony in the garden of Olives. Through this mystery and the intercession of your holy Mother we ask for perfect sorrow for our sins and perfect conformity to your holy will.
Seventh decade	We offer you, Lord Jesus, this seventh decade in honour of your cruel Scourging. Through this mystery and the intercession of your holy Mother we ask for the grace to mortify our senses.
Eighth decade	We offer you, Lord Jesus, this eighth decade in honour of being crowned with Thorns. Through this mystery and the intercession of your holy Mother we ask for a deep contempt of the world.
Ninth decade	We offer you, Lord Jesus, this ninth decade in honour of your carrying the Cross. Through this mystery and the intercession of your holy Mother we ask for great patience in carrying our cross after you all the days of our life.
Tenth decade	We offer you, Lord Jesus, this tenth decade in honour of your Crucifixion on Mount Calvary. Through this mystery and the intercession of your holy Mother we ask for a great horror of sin, a love for the Cross and the grace of a holy death for us and for those who are now in their last agony.

	Glorious Mysteries
Eleventh decade	We offer you, Lord Jesus, this eleventh decade in honour of your triumphant Resurrection. Through this mystery and through the intercession of your holy Mother we ask for a lively faith.
Twelfth decade	We offer you, Lord Jesus, this twelfth decade in honour of your glorious Ascension. Through this mystery and the intercession of your holy Mother we ask for a firm hope and a great longing for heaven.
Thirteenth decade	We offer you, O Holy Spirit, this thirteenth decade in honour of the mystery of Pentecost. Through this mystery and the intercession of Mary, your most holy spouse, we ask for your holy wisdom that we may know, taste and practice your truth and share it with everyone
Fourteenth decade	We offer you, Lord Jesus, this fourteenth decade in honour of the Immaculate Conception of your holy Mother and her assumption into heaven body and soul. Through these two mysteries and her intercession we ask for the gift of true devotion to her in order to live a good life and have a happy death.
Fifteenth decade	We offer you, Lord Jesus, this fifteenth and last decade in honour of the Crowning in glory of your holy Mother in heaven. Through this mystery and her intercession we ask for perseverance and an increase in virtue up to the moment of our death and thereafter the eternal crown that is prepared for us. We ask for the same grace for all the just and all our benefactors.

External links

• Methods for Saying the Rosary  
• A combined method (has between-the-decade prayers and uses the fourth method of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort)