What is the Holy Rosary and what are its four sets of mysteries?
The Holy Rosary is a biblical, meditative prayer tracing the life, ministry, passion, and glory of Jesus Christ through the eyes of His Mother. It consists of reciting decades of Hail Marys preceded by the Our Father and followed by the Glory Be, while contemplating twenty sacred mysteries: the Joyful Mysteries (incarnation and childhood), the Luminous Mysteries (public ministry instituted by Pope John Paul II), the Sorrowful Mysteries (passion and death), and the Glorious Mysteries (resurrection and eternal life).
Sources
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 971
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2678
- Luke 1:28
Awaiting review by the chaplaincy. Written in our own words; the Church's own texts are the authority.