Did You Know? Each Tuesday morning at 9:05am, the rosary is prayed in the chapel at Pax Christi.  Come and join others in this timeless prayer.

A Brief History of the Rosary

A variety of stories have been attached to the origination of the rosary.The Catholic Encyclopedia (vol. 13, p. 184–189) recounts that in the early centuries of the Church, monks would recite the Psalms as part of their rule of life. Since learning the Psalms was necessarily restricted to those who could read, a simpler prayer tradition was needed for the illiterate brothers. The Lord’s Prayer was adopted for this purpose; the brothers would recite 150 Our Fathers to correspond to the number of Psalms.

Small stones were used originally to count the prayers. Later, beads were strung as prayer counters. In the early part of the second millennium, with the rise of widespread medieval devotion to the Blessed Mother, the Hail Mary developed and gained popularity and was inserted into the prayer tradition. (See The New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 12, pp. 667–670).

During the twelfth century the praying of the Hail Mary spread in the West. Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary was, until the seventh century, the antiphon of the offertory of the fourth Sunday of Advent, a Sunday with particular Marian significance. At that time the Hail Mary ended with "blessed is the fruit of thy womb." The name Jesus and the second part—"Holy Mary, Mother of God . . ."—were introduced around 1483.

Catholics have prayed and loved the rosary for centuries. The beads that mark the rosary are prayed in sets of ten called a decade.  Ten Hail Marys are prayed, and is framed with an Our Father at the beginning of the decade, and a Glory to the Father at the end of the decade. While praying these decades, the mystery of the life of Jesus and Mary are reflected on.