Pray the Rosary with the
Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

Have you already looked at the Rosary beads?
It is a chain, a gentle chain, that links us to God, our Father, and to others, our brothers in Christ.
This filial and fraternal chain converges towards a cross because it is Christ who opens up and leads the way to prayer.
“ To recite the Rosary, is to contemplate with Mary, the face of Christ” wrote John-Paul II in the Letter of the Rosary, 16th October, 2002.
Let us pray the Rosary in the spiritual atmosphere of the Chapel, together with the faithful and the pilgrims who are gathered there every day at 4 o’clock pm.

History of the Rosary

The origins
From the early days of the Church, Mary is united to her son Jesus in the love of Christians and the prayer of the faithful.
From the 3rd century people began to turn to Mary using the words of the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation: Ave gratia plena.
From the 9th century the anthem of the offertory of the 4th Sunday of Advent, Elizabeth’s greeting at the Visitation, was joined to it. Only the name of Mary was added to the text. This was the only version of the Hail Mary until the end of the 15th century.
From the 12th century devotion to Mary became very important in the western world. This anthem to Mary became a popular prayer which people loved to repeat, as at the same time in the East one repeated the name of Jesus in what was known as the prayer of the heart.
In the monasteries it gradually replaced the “Our Father” which the brothers repeated while the monks sang the psalms in Latin.
Small knotted cords then beads, perhaps influenced indirectly by the Muslims they had seen while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land or on the Crusades were used to count the “Our Father”, then later the “Hail Mary”.
In the 13th century the great mystic St Gertrude added the name of Jesus to the Hail Mary.
In the 14th century they loved to crown the statues of the Virgin Mary with little hats made of flowers, or with garlands of roses, like those won by young girls on feast days. It was because of this that the little cords of knots or beads were named rosaries. Each Hail Mary is like a rose offered to Mary.

Dominique le Chartreux founder of the Rosary

In the 15th century in Prussia, the Prior of the Chartreux of Trèves advised a novice to say 50 Hail Marys a day while meditating on the life of Jesus. The young Dominique then wrote 50 short meditations or "clausules" not only in Latin but also in German. The prior was delighted with these meditations and sent them to the various monasteries of his Order. Then Dominique drew up a series of 3 times 50 clausules, in parallel with the 150 psalms.
Little by little, in order to help memorize them, the Hail Marys were divided into 15 decades, each one introduced by an Our Father. The number of meditations was thus reduced from 150 to 15. The Rosary was born.
It was Brother Alain de Roche, born in Brittany in 1428 and a member of the Order of the preaching friars (Dominicans), who was responsible for the spread of the devotion to the Rosary. He preached in Flanders, then in Lille, where coming into contact with the Chartreux monasteries, he discovered with enthusiasm the meditations of Dominique of Prussia.
Alain de la Roche became the great apostle of the Rosary. He advocated the creation of the Confraternities of the Rosary which became very successful right down to Italy and the rest of Western Europe.
Curiously, Alain de la Roche attributed the origin of the Rosary to St Dominique, the founder of his Order, who died in 1221! Although there is no historical basis to this legend it has been repeated until recent times.
At the end of the 15th century, the phrase "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners" appeared.

The prayer of the Christian people

During the 16th century, printing began and this allowed illustrated booklets representing the “mysteries” to be distributed.
In 1571, Pope Pius V, a Dominican instituted the Feast of Our Lady to be celebrated on 7th of October each year, in thanksgiving for the victory over the Turks at Lepante. This was looked upon as a miracle obtained through the Rosary, which the Christians of the time had recited at his request.
In 1572 the same Pope recognised officially the 15 mysteries of the Rosary and it became the prayer of Christians.
All through the centuries the names of well-known Christians became associated with it.
In the 18th century, Louis Marie Grignon de Monfort was the great apostle of the Rosary.
In the 19th century, Pauline Jaricot started the living Rosary; at Lourdes, Bernadette Soubirous said the Rosary with the Blessed Virgin; At Pompeii Bartolo Longo opened a sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin of the Rosary; Pope Leo XIII wrote 12 encyclicals consecrated to the Rosary, as a result of which he was called “the Pope of the Rosary”.
In the 20th century, at Fatima, Mary herself said to the 3 children: “I am the Virgin of the Rosary and I have come to ask people to say the Rosary every day, to do penance for their sins and to change their way of life”.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Pope Jean-Paul II declared on the 7 October 2002 a year of the Rosary. He added to the 15 mysteries, joyful, sorrowful, glorious, 5 new ones the Mysteries of Light.
And now... let us pray !

A fruitful approach

On the ocean of life, let Mary be our guiding star! The mysteries of Christ's life which we contemplate with her in the Rosary, are our beacons. Whether our voyage be joyful, luminous, sorrowful or glorious, as the sea reflects the sky, so our days will be coloured spiritually.
A litany prayer
To repeat can be boring... but maybe not if we let ourselves be filled by the mystery of the love which never tires of turning towards a loved one. In Christ, God not only has a divine heart, but also a human heart. "Do you love me?" Jesus asked Peter three times. Three times Peter answered "Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you". The beauty of this repetition, which shows love, is also found in the Rosary.
Let God speak
Even if we know it well, let us think of the passage of the Gospel which introduces the mystery, at the start of each decade, as being said for today and for us all. The Word of God has a particular resonance in the inner silence of our souls.
Using the imagination
The 20 mysteries of the Rosary are like 20 scenes which help us better understand the lives of Jesus and Mary. We can set the scene and let ourselves be carried there in spirit or, by looking at a picture, guide our imagination towards the episode in the life of Jesus and Mary.
Graces to ask for
After contemplating a mystery and listening to our heart, let us ask Jesus, through Mary's intercession, the grace that we need to put the Gospel into practice, throughout the day.

How to pray the Rosary

Among the four series of mysteries, let us choose one to meditate on with the Rosary. The Church recommends a particular order.
At the beginning of the Rosary, we make the Sign of the Cross: this marks the beginning of our contemplation. We then affirm our faith by saying The Creed.
At the first bead, an Our Father: Jesus wants to bring us into the intimacy of His Father. What an honour for us! And by teaching us to say “Father”, he makes us His brothers, and us all, brothers to each other.
At the following three beads we say three Hail Marys: repeating the words of the Angel Gabriel to Mary and Elizabeth’s greeting to the Virgin Mary, we share in their wonderment of God’s masterpiece. In the middle of the prayer, the name of Jesus: our salvation comes only through Him. Finally, we entrust our life and the hour of our death to the intercession of the one who is Mother of God.
Then, a Glory Be: our viewpoint is the mystery of the Trinity!
We then recite the five decades of the Rosary.
For each one, we think first about an event in the life of Jesus and Mary, a “mystery” of the chosen series. Then on the first bead, we say an Our Father, and on the next ten, the Hail Marys, in which we can add a clausule, that is words that illustrate the mystery.
We finish with a Glory Be, and if we wish, the words written on the Miraculous Medal:

"O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee".

Prayers to pray the Rosary

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen

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 was 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. 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.

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.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst 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.

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.

" Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to thee"

The Joyful Mysteries
The Luminous Mysteries
The Sorrowful Mysteries
The Glorious Mysteries

Back to Let us pray!