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The purpose of the Rosary is to help keep in memory certain principal events or mysteries in the history of our salvation, and to thank and praise God for them. There are twenty mysteries reflected upon in the Rosary, and these are divided into the five JOYFUL MYSTERIES, the five LUMINOUS MYSTERIES, the five SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, and the five GLORIOUS MYSTERIES.

In recent times the Mother of God has appeared in various parts of the world and asked for the recitation of the Rosary, the prayer she gave to the world centuries ago. It is her favorite prayer for it is essentially a meditation on the life of her Divine Son. The Rosary is a combination of vocal prayer (the Our Fathers & Hail Marys) and of mental prayer, namely, reflection on important events in the life of Christ and His Mother.

When one refers to the Rosary, it is usually understood to mean five decades, or one fourth of the entire Rosary. While many Catholics pray five decades of the Rosary each day, there is a considerable number who pray the twenty decades daily.

Those who pray the Rosary regularly would do well to be enrolled in the Confraternity to gain extra spiritual benefits for each Rosary they pray.

Some frequently asked questions are how to Pray the Rosary, difficulties that some experience, and why these particular mysteries? For more information about the Rosary and its history, some additional reading may be found in The Secret of the Rosary (part 1), by St. Louis De Montfort, and in the Rosary Confraternity Newsletter The Light and Life, Vol 49 No 5 - Sep - Oct '96 - In Defense of a Tradition (The Rosary).