How To Pray the Rosary

The 4 Mys­ter­ies of the Rosary
 Joy­ful Mys­ter­ies (prayed on Mon­days and Sat­ur­days)
 Lumi­nous Mys­ter­ies (prayed on Thurs­days)
 Sor­row­ful Mys­ter­ies (prayed on Tues­days and Fri­days)
 Glo­ri­ous Mys­ter­ies (prayed on Wednes­days and Sun­days)

How To Pray the Rosary

OPENING PRAYERS
(1) Make the Sign of the Cross while say­ing: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spir­it. Amen. Make your inten­tions.

(2) While hold­ing on to the cru­ci­fix, say the “Apos­tles’ Creed”:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Cre­ator of heav­en and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was con­ceived by the Holy Spir­it, born of the Vir­gin Mary, suf­fered under Pon­tius Pilate, was cru­ci­fied, died and was buried. He descend­ed to the dead. On the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascend­ed into heav­en, and is seat­ed at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence, He shall come to judge the liv­ing and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spir­it, the Holy Catholic Church, the com­mu­nion of Saints, the for­give­ness of sins, the res­ur­rec­tion of the body, and life ever­last­ing. Amen.

(3) Say the “Our Father”:
Our Father, Who art in heav­en, hal­lowed be Thy name; Thy king­dom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heav­en. 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. Amen.

(4) Say “Hail Mary” (3 times):
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Moth­er of God, pray for us sin­ners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

(5) Say the “Glo­ry Be”
Glo­ry be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spir­it. As it was in the begin­ning, is now, and ever shall be, world with­out end. Amen.
(6) Announce the First Mys­tery; then say “Our Father.”

(7) Say 10 “Hail Marys” (called a decade) on each of the small beads, while med­i­tat­ing on the mys­tery:

(8) Say the  “Glo­ry Be to the Father.”

(9) After each decade say the fol­low­ing prayer request­ed by the Blessed Vir­gin Mary at Fati­ma:
Fati­ma Prayers
“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 your mer­cy.”

(10) Announce the Sec­ond Mys­tery. Then say Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glo­ry Be and O My Jesus.

(11) Announce the Third Mys­tery. Then say Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glo­ry Be and O My Jesus.

(12) Announce the Fourth Mys­tery. Then say Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glo­ry Be and O My Jesus.

(13) Announce the Fifth Mys­tery. Then say Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glo­ry Be and O My Jesus.

Con­clud­ing Prayers
Hail, Holy Queen
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 sighs, mourn­ing and weep­ing in this val­ley of tears; turn, then, most gra­cious Advo­cate, thine eyes of mer­cy towards us, and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O lov­ing, O sweet Vir­gin Mary!
Pray for us, O Holy Moth­er of God, that we may be made wor­thy of the promis­es of Christ.
Let us Pray!
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 the 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.

St. Michael Prayer
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of Bat­tle; Be our safe­guard against the wicked­ness and snares of the Dev­il. May God rebuke Him, we humbly pray, and do Thou, O Prince of the Heav­en­ly Host, by the pow­er of God, cast into Hell, Satan and all the oth­er evil spir­its, who prowl through the world, seek­ing the ruin of souls. Amen.

Our Lady of Fati­ma Prayers
The Par­don Prayer:
O my God, I believe, I adore, I trust, and I love Thee. I ask par­don for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not trust, and do not love Thee.

The Angel’s Prayer:
Most Holy Trin­i­ty, Father, Son, and Holy Spir­it, I adore Thee pro­found­ly. I offer Thee the most pre­cious Body, Blood, Soul and Divin­i­ty of Jesus Christ, present in all the taber­na­cles of the world, in repa­ra­tion for the out­rages, sac­ri­leges, and indif­fer­ence by which He is offend­ed. And through the infi­nite mer­its of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immac­u­late Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the con­ver­sion of poor sin­ners.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mer­cy on us.

Immac­u­late Heart of Mary, pray for us.

Optional Concluding Prayers
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Amen. (3 times)

Note: Some­times, you may expe­ri­ence many dis­trac­tions that may pre­vent you from say­ing the rosary. When this hap­pens, pray for grace to over­come it. The rosary is the great­est weapon against evil and the ene­my will do every­thing pos­si­ble to make sure that you do not say the rosary, so it can con­tin­ue to mess up our lives. But, you must per­se­vere. One thing to do is to say the St. Michael Prayer (see below) before start­ing the rosary.

           Image Source: Cam­pus Catholics