rosary [rose garden], prayer of Roman Catholics, in which beads are used as counters. The term, applied also to the beads, is extended to Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist prayers that use beads. The traditional Catholic rosary is a series of 15 meditations on events (mysteries) in the lives of Jesus and Mary. The joyful mysteries are (Luke 1–2) the Annunciation, the Visitation, the birth of Jesus, His presentation at the Temple, and the finding of the child Jesus among the doctors. The sorrowful mysteries are (Mat. 26–27) the agony of Jesus in the garden, His scourging, the crowning with thorns, the carrying of the Cross, and the Crucifixion. The glorious mysteries are the Resurrection (Luke 24), the Ascension (Acts 1.1—11), the descent of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2), the assumption of the Virgin, and her coronation as Queen of Heaven. In 2002, Pope John Paul II proposed the addition of five "mysteries of light" drawn from Jesus' public life: his baptism in the Jordan, his self-manifestation at the wedding at Cana, his proclamation of the kingdom of God, the Transfiguration, and his institution of the Eucharist.

As one dwells on a mystery in thought one recites prayers—the Lord's Prayer (or Our Father; Paternoster) once, Hail Mary (Ave Maria) 10 times, and Glory Be to the Father (Gloria Patri) once. Count is kept by slipping beads through the fingers; the beads have no other significance. The usual string—formerly called the chaplet—has five sets of 10 beads (decades); between the decades a single bead is set apart, for the Glory of one mystery and the Our Father of the next. There is a pendant with crucifix and beads for introductory prayers.

The rosary is often said in common, but it remains an individual prayer. Its popularity is often ascribed to the combination of simplicity of method with solidity of subject matter. In one form or another it has been in use some 600 years. There is a feast of the rosary, Oct. 7, on the anniversary of the victory of the Christians over the Turks at the battle of Lepanto . According to tradition, St. Dominic received the rosary from the Virgin Mary in a vision.

Bibliography: See F. B. Thornton, This Is the Rosary (1961).

Rosary. In Christianity, a Catholic devotion which consists in reciting fifteen ‘decades’ (groups of ten) of Hail Marys (Ave Maria), each decade preceded by the Lord's Prayer and followed by the Gloria Patri. A string of variously numbered (e.g. 55 or 165 ‘beads’, Med. Eng., beda, ‘prayer’) are used to count the individual prayers. Each decade represents one of the ‘fifteen mysteries’ (five ‘joyful’, five ‘sorrowful’, five ‘glorious’), each an event in the life of Jesus or his mother.

Prayer beads are also used in other religions (e.g. Hinduism and Buddhism: see MĀLĀ; Jap. Buddhism: see NENJU), and are referred to in English as ‘rosaries’. Thus, many Sikhs use a rosary (mālā) to assist meditation. See also NĀM SIMARAN. In Islam, the subḥa (Arab., sabbaḥa, ‘praise God’, cf. subḥān Allāh, ‘Glory to God!’) is the Muslim string of prayer beads, in three groups, divided by two larger beads (imām), with a larger piece serving as a handle. By different reckonings, the total is always 100—Allāh + his Ninety-nine Beautiful Names. See NĀFILA.

rosary (in the Roman Catholic Church) a form of devotion in which five (or fifteen) decades of Hail Marys are repeated (a decade is a set of ten), each decade preceded by an Our Father and followed by a Glory Be; a string of beads for keeping count in such a devotion or in the devotions of some other religions, in Roman Catholic use 55 or 165 in number.

The word comes (in late Middle English, in the sense ‘rose garden’) from Latin rosarium rose-garden, from rosa ‘rose’. In the 16th century (from which this meaning dates) the word was also used as the title of a book of devotion.

ro·sa·ry / ˈrōzərē/ • n. (pl. -ries) (in the Roman Catholic Church) a form of devotion in which five (or fifteen) decades of Hail Marys are repeated, each decade preceded by an Our Father and followed by a Glory Be: the congregation said the rosary. ∎  a string of beads for keeping count in such a devotion or in the devotions of some other religions, in Roman Catholic use 55 or 165 in number. ∎  a book containing such a devotion.

rosary. A form of prayer in which 15 decades of Hail Marys are recited, each decade being preceded by the Lord's Prayer and followed by the Gloria Patri; the prayers are counted on a string of beads or sometimes on a ring. Each decade is accompanied by meditation on one of a sequence of Mysteries (q.v.). Usually only five decades or less are recited at a time.

rosary base coin current in England in the 13th century XIV; rose-garden XV; set of devotions, spec. that of the B.V.M. (‘Our Lady's psalter’), set of beads for its recitation. — L. rosārium rose-garden, AL. rosārius (coin), sb. uses of n. and m. of adj. f. rosa ROSE; see -ARY.

Rosary

a bed of roses; a string of beads; a chaplet, garland or collection of poems or quotations.

Examples : rosary of fragrant flowers, 1533; of kisses, 1616; of poems; of prayers, 1649; of quotations; of roses; of faithful souls, 1533; of good works, 1667.

rosary Form of meditational prayer that contemplates the life of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary within the Catholic and Orthodox churches. A rosary is also the string of beads on which a count may be kept of the number of prayers said.

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Fosbury •strawberry • Salisbury •crowberry, snowberry •chokeberry •Rosebery, Shrewsbury •blueberry, dewberry •Dewsbury • Bloomsbury • gooseberry •blubbery, rubbery, shrubbery •Sudbury • mulberry • huckleberry •Bunbury • husbandry • loganberry •Canterbury • Glastonbury •Burberry, turbary •hatchery • archery •lechery, treachery •stitchery, witchery •debauchery • butchery • camaraderie •cindery, tindery •industry • dromedary • lapidary •spidery • bindery • doddery •quandary • powdery • boundary •bouldery • embroidery •prudery, rudery •do-goodery • shuddery • thundery •prebendary • legendary • secondary •amphorae • wafery •midwifery, periphery •infantry • housewifery • spoofery •puffery • sulphury (US sulfury) •Calgary •beggary, Gregory •vagary •piggery, priggery, whiggery •brigandry • bigotry • allegory •vinegary • category • subcategory •hoggery, toggery •pettifoggery • demagoguery •roguery • sugary •buggery, skulduggery, snuggery, thuggery •Hungary • humbuggery •ironmongery • lingerie • treasury •usury • menagerie • pageantry •Marjorie • kedgeree • gingery •imagery • orangery • savagery •forgery • soldiery • drudgery •perjury, surgery •microsurgery •hackery, quackery, Thackeray, Zachary •mountebankery • knick-knackery •gimcrackery • peccary • grotesquerie •bakery, fakery, jacquerie •chickaree, chicory, hickory, Terpsichore, trickery •whiskery • apothecary •crockery, mockery, rockery •falconry • jiggery-pokery •cookery, crookery, rookery •brusquerie •puckery, succory •cuckoldry •calorie, gallery, Malory, salary, Valerie •saddlery • balladry • gallantry •kilocalorie • diablerie • chandlery •harlotry • celery • pedlary •exemplary •helotry, zealotry •nailery, raillery •Tuileries •ancillary, artillery, capillary, codicillary, distillery, fibrillary, fritillary, Hilary, maxillary, pillory •mamillary • tutelary • corollary •bardolatry, hagiolatry, iconolatry, idolatry •cajolery, drollery •foolery, tomfoolery •constabulary, vocabulary •scapulary • capitulary • formulary 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pulsatory, purificatory, reificatory, revelatory, rotatory •natatory • elucidatory • castigatory •mitigatory • justificatory •imprecatory • equivocatory •flagellatory • execratory • innovatory •eatery, excretory •glittery, jittery, skittery, twittery •benedictory, contradictory, maledictory, valedictory, victory •printery, splintery •consistory, history, mystery •presbytery •inhibitory, prohibitory •hereditary • auditory • budgetary •military, paramilitary •solitary • cemetery • limitary •vomitory • dormitory • fumitory •interplanetary, planetary, sanitary •primogenitary • dignitary •admonitory, monitory •unitary • monetary • territory •secretary • undersecretary •plebiscitary • repository • baptistery •transitory •depositary, depository, expository, suppository •niterie •Godwottery, lottery, pottery, tottery •bottomry • watery • psaltery •coterie, notary, protonotary, rotary, votary •upholstery •bijouterie, charcuterie, circumlocutory •persecutory • statutory • salutary •executory 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•amatory, declamatory, defamatory, exclamatory, inflammatory, proclamatory •crematory • segmentary •lachrymatory •commentary, promontory •informatory, reformatory •momentary •affirmatory, confirmatory •explanatory • damnatory •condemnatory •cosignatory, signatory •combinatory •discriminatory, eliminatory, incriminatory, recriminatory •comminatory • exterminatory •hallucinatory • procrastinatory •monastery • repertory •emancipatory • anticipatory •exculpatory, inculpatory •declaratory, preparatory •respiratory • perspiratory •vibratory •migratory, transmigratory •exploratory, laboratory, oratory •inauguratory • adjuratory •corroboratory • reverberatory •refrigeratory • compensatory •desultory • dysentery •exhortatory, hortatory •salutatory • gustatory • lavatory •inventory •conservatory, observatory •improvisatory •accusatory, excusatory •lathery •feathery, heathery, leathery •dithery, slithery •carvery •reverie, severy •Avery, bravery, knavery, quavery, Savery, savory, savoury, slavery, wavery •thievery •livery, quivery, shivery •silvery •ivory, salivary •ovary •discovery, recovery •servery • equerry • reliquary •antiquary • cassowary • stipendiary •colliery • pecuniary • chinoiserie •misery • wizardry • citizenry •advisory, provisory, revisory, supervisory •causerie, rosary