How to Pray the Rosary in Latin
Latin is the universal language of the Church. The world considers it a “dead language” because it is not the vernacular of any country or people. Yet, its adoption during the early centuries of the Church was in large part due to its common usage in the Roman Empire. Saint Jerome’s translation of the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate) was the first common-tongue translation that gave wide access to Sacred Scripture across language barriers. Over the years, Latin has remained the primary language for liturgical texts within the Church and for authoritative Church documents and pronouncements. All this taken together means that Latin, while not in common, everyday use in our current time, remains a language that unifies the faithful from all parts of the world.
Download Printable Latin Rosary Instructions
Steps in Praying the Rosary

1.   Begin by making the Signum Crucis (Sign of the Cross) while holding the crucifix. Pray the Symbolum Apostolorum (Apostles’ Creed).

 

2.   Pray a Pater Noster (Our Father).

 

3.   Pray an Ave Maria (Hail Mary) on each of the three beads, asking for an increase in the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Love (Charity).

 

4.   Pray The Doxology (Glory Be).

 

5.   Announce or call to mind the first Mystery* to meditate upon and pray a Pater Noster.

 

6.   Pray one Ave Maria on each of the ten beads (decade).

 

7.   Finish the decade by praying The Doxology and the Oratio Fatima (Fatima Prayer).

 

8.   Repeat steps 5-7 for the next four decades, meditating on the remaining Mysteries.

 

9.   Holding the center piece, pray the Salve Regína (Hail, Holy Queen) and the concluding Rosary prayer. Finish by making the Signum Crucis.

* There are four principal sets of Mysteries – the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious – that make up the Rosary. It is customary to pray the Joyful Mysteries on Monday and Saturday, the Luminous Mysteries on Thursday, the Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesday and Friday, and the Glorious Mysteries on Sunday and Wednesday. However, a particular set of Mysteries may be prayed any day of the week, particularly if an important feast day or important event falls on a certain day.

Rosary Prayers

Signum Crucis (The Sign of the Cross)

Say, “In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.”

 

Note: As you say, “Patris,” touch your forehead with your right hand. As you say, “Fílii,” touch the center of your chest. As you say, “Spíritus,” touch your left shoulder. As you say, “Sancti,” touch your right shoulder.

Symbolum Apostolorum (Apostles' Creed)

Credo in Deum, Patrem omnipoténtem,
Creatórem cæli et terræ.
Et in Iesum Christum, Fílium eius únicum,
Dóminum nostrum:
qui concéptus est de Spíritu Sancto,
natus ex María Vírgine,
passus sub Póntio Piláto,
crucifíxus, mórtuus, et sepúltus;
descéndit ad ínferos;
tértia die resurréxit a mórtuis;
ascéndit ad cælos;
sedet ad déxteram Dei Patris omnipoténtis;
inde ventúrus est iudicáre vivos et mórtuos.
Credo in Spíritum Sanctum,
sanctam Ecclésiam Cathólicam,
Sanctórum communiónem,
remissiónem peccatórum, carnis resurrectiónem,
vitam ætérnam. Amen.

Pater Noster (Our Father)

Pater noster, qui es in cælis:
sanctificétur nomen tuum;
advéniat regnum tuum; fiat volúntas tua,

sicut in cælo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidiánum
da nobis hódie; et dimítte
nobis débita nostra, sicut et
nos dimíttimus debitóribus
nostris; et ne nos indúcas in
tentatiónem; sed líbera nos a malo. Amen.

Ave Maria (Hail Mary)

Ave, Maria, grátia plena,
Dóminus tecum;
benedícta tu in muliéribus,
et benedíctus fructus
ventris tui, Iesus.
Sancta María, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatóribus,
nunc et in hora
mortis nostræ. Amen.

The Doxology (Glory Be)

Glória Patri,
et Fílio,
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio
et nunc, et semper
et in sæcula sæculórum.
Amen.

Oratio Fatima (Fatima Prayer)

O Iésu mi, ignósce nóbis, libera nos ab ígne inférni, ad caélum tráhe ómnes ánimas, praesáertim máxime indigéntes.

Salve Regína (Hail, Holy Queen)

Salve, Regína, mater misericórdiæ;
vita, dulcédo, et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamámus, éxsules fílii Evæ.
Ad te suspirámus, geméntes et flentes
in hac lacrimárum valle.
Eia ergo, advocáta nostra,
illos tuos misericórdes óculos
ad nos convérte.
Et Iesum, benedíctum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsílium osténde.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo María.
V. Ora pro nobis sancta Dei Génetrix.
R. Ut digni efficiámur promissiónibus Christi.

Concluding Prayer

Orémus:

Déus, cújus Unigénitus per vítam, mórtem et resurrectiónem súam nóbis salútis ætérnæ præmia comparávit: concéde, quæsumus: ut hæc mystéria sacratíssimo beátæ Maríæ Vírginis Rosário recoléntes, et imitémur quod cóntinent, et quod promíttunt, assequámur. Per eúndem Chrístum Dóminum nóstrum. Amen.

Rosary Mysteries
Nativity Scene, Adoration of the Magi

1.   Annunciation

2.   Visitation

3.   Nativity (Birth of Jesus)

4.   Presentation

5.   Finding Jesus in the Temple

Biblical scene

1.   Baptism of Jesus

2.   Wedding Feast at Cana

3.   Proclamation of the Kingdom

4.   Transfiguration

5.   Institution of the Eucharist

1.   Agony in the Garden

2.   Scourging at the Pillar

3.   Crowning with Thorns

4.   Carrying of the Cross

5.   Crucifixion and Death

Resurrection 1

1.   Resurrection

2.   Ascension

3.   Descent of the Holy Spirit

4.   Assumption of Mary

5.   Coronation of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth

  • The mind is infinitely variable in its language, but the heart is not. The heart of a man, in the face of the woman he loves, is too poor to translate the infinity of his affection into a different word. So the heart takes one expression, ‘I love you,’ and in saying it over and over again, it never repeats. That is what we do when we say the rosary - we are saying to God, the Trinity, to the Incarnate Savior, to the Blessed Mother: ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.

    - Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

  • As the magnifying glass catches and unites the scattered rays of the sun, so the rosary brings together the otherwise dissipated thoughts of life in the sickroom into the white and burning heat of Divine Love.

    - Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

  • The rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, where eyes close upon the shadow of this world and open on the substance of the next.

    - Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

  • For a Christian, vocal prayer must spring from the heart, so that while the Rosary is said, the mind can enter into contemplation of each one of the mysteries.

    - Saint Josemaria Escriva

  • Behold, if we desire to rise even to Mary's knowledge and loving of Jesus, we must whisper 'Hail Mary,' and repeating it, meditate upon these mysteries in union with her.

    - Saint Maximilian Kolbe

  • In addition to the Lord's Prayer and the Angelic Salutation the essence of the Rosary is contemplating the mysteries of the life of Christ the Lord and the most holy Mother of God.

    - Saint Maximilian Kolbe

  • We should meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary, applying them to the circumstances of our own lives.

    - Saint Anthony Mary Claret