The order of prayers
On the crucifix — make the Sign of the Cross and pray the Apostles’ Creed.
On the first bead — the Our Father.
On the next three beads — a Hail Mary on each, for faith, hope and charity.
On the following bead — the Glory Be.
Announce the first mystery, then pray the Our Father.
On each of the ten beads of the decade — a Hail Mary, while meditating on that mystery.
At the end of the decade — the Glory Be, and then, if you wish, the O My Jesus given below.
Announce the next mystery, pray the Our Father, and repeat through the remaining four decades.
At the end — the Hail, Holy Queen and its versicle, then the Final Prayer below, then the Sign of the Cross.
The mysteries
The days below are the arrangement Pope St. John Paul II proposed, and the one the Rosary Center prints. The Luminous mysteries are optional: whoever prays only the fifteen traditional mysteries is praying the Rosary in full.
The Joyful Mysteries — Monday and Saturday
The Annunciation
The Visitation
The Nativity
The Presentation in the Temple
The Finding in the Temple
The Sorrowful Mysteries — Tuesday and Friday
The Agony in the Garden
The Scourging at the Pillar
The Crowning with Thorns
The Carrying of the Cross
The Crucifixion
The Glorious Mysteries — Wednesday and Sunday
The Resurrection
The Ascension
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Luminous Mysteries — Thursday, optional
The Baptism of Jesus
The Wedding of Cana
The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God and the call to conversion
The Transfiguration
The Institution of the Eucharist
Two exceptions to the days: the Joyful mysteries may be prayed on the Sundays of Advent and Christmas, and the Sorrowful mysteries on the Sundays of Lent.
The two prayers belonging to the Rosary alone
Everything else the Rosary is made of — the Creed, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, the Hail, Holy Queen — has its own page in this collection, linked at the foot of this one. These two are prayed in a Rosary and almost nowhere else, so they are given here in full.
O My Jesus
The short prayer Our Lady asked for at Fatima in 1917. It is added after the Glory Be at the close of each decade — a custom rather than part of the Rosary strictly speaking, which is why the order above calls it optional. Four lines, and two of them are about somebody other than yourself.
O my Jesus, forgive us of our sins.
Save us from the fires of hell.
Lead all souls into heaven,
especially those in most need of thy mercy.
Amen.
The Final Prayer
Said at the very end, after the Hail, Holy Queen. It asks for the thing the whole devotion is for: to imitate what the mysteries contain and obtain what they promise. The versicle comes first.
V.Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R.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 upon 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.
The Dominican manner
Older than the form above and identical to it except at the start, where the opening verses of the Liturgy of the Hours stand in place of the Creed. The Rosary was once called the layperson’s breviary, and this is why.
Make the Sign of the Cross.
V.Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
R.Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
V.O Lord, open my lips.
R.And my mouth shall declare Your praise.
V.O God, come to my assistance.
R.O Lord, make haste to help me.
The Glory Be. Alleluia.
Then the five decades exactly as above, each with its Glory Be and the O My Jesus.
At the end — the Hail, Holy Queen and its versicle, then the Final Prayer, and then:
V.May the Divine Assistance remain always with us.
R.And may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Make the Sign of the Cross.