In the Roman Catholic religion, the Rosary is one of the most beautiful and sacred prayers.  The Rosary is a devotion to God through a devotion to Mary.  The Rosary consists of a series of prayers.  The Rosary offers hope even though there are pains and sorrows in the world.     

The Rosary is the recitation of five decades of the Our Father, ten Hail Mary's, and a Glory Be.   

The person mediates on the saving mysteries of our Lord's life and the Blessed Mother.  The mysteries include: Joyful mystery, Glorious mystery, Sorrowful mystery, and Luminous mystery.

The Rosary beads are used to keep track of prayers being recited.

The Rosary reminds us of what Jesus lived through and did for us. By praying the Rosary, people obtain a deeper appreciation of these events in His life.

The origin of the Rosary is not clear. During the earliest days of the Church, Catholics used prayer beads and the repetitive prayers. There is evidence that beads were used to assist prayers in the Middle Ages.

During the fifteenth century, the Rosary structure formed.  Fifty Hail Mary's were recited and were linked with verses of psalms.  The prayer was called rosarim meaning rose garden.  Later, the name became the Rosary.

Saint Dominick is the person that designed the structure of the Rosary.  He was moved by a vision of our Blessed Mother.  The Rosary became popular in the 1500's. There were many wars, and people turned to the Rosary for comfort. On October 7, 1572, Pope St. Pius V established the Feast of the Holy Rosary.

The Rosary prayer brings human solidarity. It reflects the intent of Mary and Jesus.  This prayer can be said by anyone in the world.

The world is surrounded by tensions and war.  The Rosary can help, and is necessary that prayers for peace be raised to God through out the world.

A History

The origins of the rosary are "sketchy" at best. The use of "prayer beads" and the repeated recitation of prayers to aid in meditation stem from the earliest days of the Church and has roots in pre-Christian times.  Evidence exists from the Middle Ages that strings of beads were used to count Our Fathers and Hail Marys.  Actually, these strings of beads became known as "Paternosters," the Latin for "Our Father."

The structure of the rosary gradually evolved between the 12th and 15th centuries.  Eventually 50 Hail Marys were recited and linked with verses of psalms or other phrases evoking the lives of Jesus and Mary.  During this time, this prayer form became known as the rosarium ("rose garden"), actually a common term to designate a collection of similar material, such as an anthology of stories on the same subject or theme.  During the 16th century, the structure of the five-decade rosary based on the three sets of mysteries prevailed.

Tradition does hold that St. Dominic (d. 1221) devised the rosary as we know it. Moved by a vision of our Blessed Mother, he preached the use of the rosary in his missionary work among the Albigensians, who had denied the mystery of Christ.  Some scholars take exception to St. Dominic's role in forming the rosary.  The earliest accounts of his life do not mention it, the Dominican constitutions do not link him with it and contemporaneous portraits do not include it as a symbol to identify the saint.

In 1922, Dom Louis Cougaud stated, "The various elements which enter into the composition of that Catholic devotion commonly called the rosary are the product of a long and gradual development which began before St. Dominic's time, which continued without his having any share in it, and which only attained its final shape several centuries after his death."  However, other scholars would rebut that St. Dominic not so much "invented" the rosary as he preached its use to convert sinners and those who had strayed from the faith.  Moreover, at least a dozen popes have mentioned St. Dominic's connection with the rosary, sanctioning his role as at least a "pious belief."

The rosary gained greater popularity in the 1500s, when Moslem Turks were ravaging Eastern Europe.  Recall that in 1453, Constantinople had fallen to the Moslems, leaving the Balkans and Hungary open to conquest.  With Moslems raiding even the coast of Italy, the control of the Mediterranean was now at stake.

In 1571, Pope Pius V organized a fleet under the command of Don Juan of Austria the half-brother of King Philip II of Spain.  While preparations were underway, the Holy Father asked all of the faithful to say the rosary and implore our Blessed Mother's prayers, under the title Our Lady of Victory, that our Lord would grant victory to the Christians.  Although the Moslem fleet outnumbered that of the Christians in both vessels and sailors, the forces were ready to meet in battle.  The Christian flagship flew a blue banner depicting Christ crucified.  On October 7, 1571, the Moslems were defeated at the Battle of Lepanto.  The following year, Pope St. Pius V established the Feast of the Holy Rosary on October 7, where the faithful would not only remember this victory, but also give thanks to the Lord for all of His benefits and remember the powerful intercession of our Blessed Mother.

The fact that our Church continues to include the Feast of the Holy Rosary on the liturgical calendar testifies to the importance and goodness of this form of prayer. Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, "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, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the rosary is beyond description."

"Knock On Wood" 

Often we use the phrase, "Knock on wood" - and proceed to do just that:  knock on a table or a door or whatever wood is handy.

Most do not know that the origin of the phrase and practice comes from the rosary. Rosaries in the old days were made of oak wood and were fingered in time of distress or trouble. Thus, holding on to or rubbing the wooden rosary or its wooden crucifix when danger was near became a common way for Christians to deal with hardships and difficulties. The practice  slipped into common use as "Knock on wood."

A Greater- 1600 Year History

When Saint Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, visiting the Holy Land and seeking the True Cross upon which Jesus was crucified, found the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, the Cross was venerated by all the faithful in many public processions.

Many faithful would come to touch the Holy Cross for blessing and healing. It was customary to touch the Wood of Life three times (as a confession of faith in the Holy Trinity). This act of touching the True Cross became the earliest recorded histories of "knocking on wood."

This history, alas, has nothing to do with the Rosary since the Rosary is a much later innovation. Whenever the Holy Cross was put forth for public veneration, touching it, or as English translations render it "knocking," became common liturgical practice. Once the Holy Cross was transferred to Constantinople and placed in the Great Church of the Holy Wisdom (aka Saint Sophia), Christians continued this piety by touching or knocking on any cross or crucifix (wood was the medium of the day) for blessings and healings.

This ancient tradition has been with us for over 1,600 years and has been a pious tradition to this day where people tend to touch anything made of wood ... but all interpretations of this behavior point back directly to Jerusalem in the 4th century AD and the True Cross. No doubt, wooden prayer beads may have become a customary item for similar veneration, but historically much later.

Another History and Explanation

The Rosary has been a major influence in Roman Catholic thought for over 500 years while paving the way for a greater understanding of the mystery of Christ celebrated within family prayer.

The Rosary is the tradition-distilled essence of Christian devotion in which vocal and mental prayer unite the whole person in effective and purposeful meditation on the central mysteries of Christian belief.  The Rosary thus joins the human race to God through Mary whom God chose from all time for the specific purposes of mother and intercessor.

The historical development of the Rosary begins with the desert fathers and their need to find a system to ease their laborious and repetitive prayer life. It is generally agreed by scholars that a system for counting repetitive prayers began with the Hindus some nine centuries before Christ.  Prayer counters such as rocks, sticks or notches in wood were employed to ensure that the proper number of prayers were recited.  Over time, counters and psalms were united into a "three groups of fifty" format (Na tri coicat) so that "fifties" could be used for personal and/or penitential prayer.

The fifteenth century provided the development period for the many facets of today's Rosary.  During this period the Dominican influence with the Rosary grew and was fostered through both fact and legend.  Although the Dominicans were not the sole originators of the Rosary, their influence in the growth, devotion and spread of this prayer cannot be denied. It would not be inaccurate to call them the principal promoters and defenders of the Rosary through history.

The fifteenth century saw the Rosary begin its development into the familiar prayer form we know today.  The Our Father came intact from the Gospel of Matthew.  The Hail Mary developed from the scriptural greetings of Gabriel and Elizabeth to Mary in Luke's Gospel, plus a popular exhortation in use by the laity of that period.  The Glory Be was used as a common doxology from the earliest of Christian times when praying the psalms.  The Salve Regina, a later addition to the Rosary, states all relevant medieval themes about the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Its affiliation with the Rosary came about through popular practice although its precise origin within the devotion is not known.  The Apostles' Creed along with the rosary pendant were also later developments, being added to the Rosary only in the early seventeenth century.

The voices of those who have promoted the Rosary have continued to speak. Probably the most significant comment which has come forward is the emphasis on the family as the principal body around which the Rosary can be most effectively utilized.  Pope Pius XII spoke of the use of the Rosary in the family setting.  The Pope's words were in keeping with the trend initiated in 1942 by Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, who became internationally known as "The Rosary Priest."  Through his Family Theater productions and international rosary crusades, the Rosary and family prayer became common practices in the typical Roman Catholic household.  Father Peyton's expression, "The family that prays together stays together," became a rallying cry for many of the faithful.

Popes John XXIII and Paul VI introduced new teachings on the Rosary while continuing the teachings of their predecessors.  For Pope John, the Rosary was the universal prayer for all the redeemed.  Additionally, he taught that the mysteries of the Rosary must have a three-fold purpose: mystical contemplation, intimate reflection and pious intention.  Both popes continued to foster the family rosary through writings and support of Father Peyton's Rosary crusade.  The views of the pontiffs show that rosary recitation and teaching continues to be important in our contemporary prayer devotion.