What exactly is the significance of the Rosary and how did the practice start?

Answer 1

Catholic Answer

from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980

Rosary. A devotional prayer, mental and vocal, honoring the blessed Mother of God. It is said on a string of beads made up of five sets each of one large and ten smaller beads, called decades. On the large beads, the Pater Noster is said; on the small ones, the Hail Mary. The usual devotion is the fifteen decades, on the joyous, sorrowful, or glorious aspects of Our Lord and Our Lady's life. [Note: Pope John Paul II added another five decades, called the Luminous] It is the most popular of all non-liturgical Catholic devotions and has been highly recommended by many popes. This is the standard Rosary. There are other Rosaries also approved by the Church, notably of the Holy Trinity, Seven Dolors, Precious Blood, St. Bridget, St. Joseph, and the Rosary of the Lord.

from OSV's Encyclopedia of Catholic History - Revised, by Matthew Bunson, D.Min, c 1995, 2004 by Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., Huntington, Indiana

According to tradition, the Rosary was first made popular by St. Dominic (1170-1221), who sought the aid of Our Lady during travails and bloodshed of the Albigensian Crusade in southern France. As reported in the stories told in honor of the Feast of the Holy Rosary (October 7), [St.] Dominic was commanded to preach the Rosary among the heretics. The saint was thereafter its most ardent promoter, his special status noted by several popes, including Leo XIII, who, in an encyclical, Laetitae santae ("Commending Devotion to the Rosary"), on September 8, 1893, recognized as historical fact the role of the Dominicans in establishing the Rosary.

Instructions.

How to pray the rosary: First of all, one of the most important things that we must do as Christians is to pray, and beginning prayer is meditation. Realize that Christian meditation has absolutely nothing in common with Eastern meditation. That are completely different things and that fact that they are called by the same word is an unfortunate happenstance. Christian meditation is recalling and thinking about the truths of the faith. Meditation using Sacred Scripture (The Bible) is called Lectio Divinia.

The rosary is a series of prayers based on the Bible - the Our Father, and the Hail Mary (the Angelic Salutation from the Gospel of Luke). But the vocal prayer is like the background music, if you will, to the meditation of the mysteries of the faith, which is the heart of the rosary.

The rosary meditations are:

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Joyful (Monday and Saturday)

Annunciation of angel Gabriel to Mary

Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth

Nativity of our Blessed Savior

Presentation in the Temple

Finding in the Temple

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Luminous (Thursday)

Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan

Self manifestation of Jesus at the Miracle of Cana

Proclamation of the Kingdom of God

The Transfiguration on the Mount

The Institution of the Blessed Eucharist

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Sorrowful (Tuesday and Friday)

The Agony in the Garden

The Scouring at the Pillar

The Crowning with Thorns

The Carrying of the Cross

The Crucifixion

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Glorious (Wednesday and Sunday)

The Resurrection

The Ascension

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

The Assumption of the B.V.M.

The Crowning of the B.V.M. as Queen of Heaven and Earth.

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So we are praying by meditating on the mysteries of our Redemption. And this form of prayer was very ancient, but the form that we currently use was given by Our Blessed Mother to St. Dominic (who was founder of the Dominicans). As Catholics, we walk in our Savior's footsteps, and one of the ways in which we imitate Him is in His love and devotion to His mother.

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So the rosary is important to us, as Catholic Christians, as fulfilling our Blessed Lord's command to pray always, as meditation on the events of His life, as a form of prayer that was given to us at the express wish of Our Blessed Mother, and as one of the forms of prayer, above most others that leads many saints to intimate union with God.

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Below is the form that I made up for my students in Sunday school (in the instructions below there is L for leader and R for response, that is if you have two or more people praying the rosary together; obviously, if you are saying it alone, you will be saying all the prayers):

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen CRUCIFIX

L. I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of Heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.

He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit

and born of the Virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into Hell. On the third day He rose again.

He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

R. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church,

the Communion of the Saints, the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen

Our Father (for the Pope). Three Hail Mary's ( for increase of Faith, Hope, Charity) Glory be.

All. O my Jesus, forgive us our sins,

save us from the fires of Hell.

Lead all souls to Heaven,

especially those who have most need of Thy mercy. Amen

For each decade:

L. Our Father, who art in heaven, BIG BEAD

Hallowed be Thy Name,

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,

On Earth as it is in Heaven

R. Give us this day, our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us,

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

L. Hail Mary, full of grace, SMALL BEADS - 10 TIMES

The Lord is with thee,

Blessed are thou amongst women,

And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

R. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

L. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. CHAIN

R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

L. O my Jesus...

R. forgive us our sins,

save us from the fires of Hell.

Lead all souls to Heaven,

especially those who have most need of Thy mercy. Amen

Final prayers:

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! Our life,

our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we

cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do

we send up our sights, mourning and weeping

in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most

gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward

us; and after this our exile show unto us the

blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement,

O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!

L. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,

R. that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.

All: O God, whose only-begotten Son, by His life,

death, and Resurrection, has purchased for us

the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech

Thee, that 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.