The Well-Forgotten Old?

1. Context

In 2002, John Paul II proposed adding the “Mysteries of Light” to the Rosary:

“I believe, however, that to bring out fully the Christological depth of the Rosary it would be suitable to make an addition to the traditional pattern which, while left to the freedom of individuals and communities, could broaden it to include the mysteries of Christ’s public ministry between his Baptism and his Passion.”

Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 19

As we can see, this is a pious recommendation without any binding force. Thus, one may freely choose whether to include the Luminous Mysteries or not.

2. Conflict

Nevertheless, this has introduced a certain discord into the Church’s practice. Most parishes of the ordinary rite pray the Luminous Mysteries, while traditional circles almost always reject them.

What arguments can be given pro et contra? Which of these two approaches is better, or is there a possible golden mean between them?

Let us examine this.

3. The Roots of the Rosary

We shall begin with its history.

The Rosary (lat. Rosarium, “a garland of roses”) is a prayer recited on beads and addressed to the Virgin Mary. It took shape around the thirteenth century and has endured to the present day, undergoing many transformations along the way.

The origins of the Rosary can be traced back to the pious practice of “compensating the Psalter.” In the first millennium, monks were often obliged to recite the entire Psalter every single day – all one hundred and fifty psalms.

This was a heavy burden; moreover, not everyone was literate. Thus, over time, the prayer rule was mitigated. At first, it became permissible to read 150 Our Fathers in place of the psalms, and later 150 Ave Marias. This can already be considered a proto-Rosary.

Meanwhile, the obligation of reciting the Psalter gradually crystallized into the Liturgy of the Hours, in which the psalms are carefully distributed over the course of the week.

4. The Middle Ages

The development of the Rosary into a concrete form of prayer is usually associated with St. Dominic. It is always emphasized that the Rosary greatly helped the first Dominicans in their understanding and preaching of the Gospel.

What exactly is the connection between prayer beads and Scripture? This becomes much clearer if we recall that in the past the Ave Maria prayer looked slightly different.

It had no second part “Saint Mary, Mother of God…”, and ended with “…the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus.” People simply recited two scriptural laudations addressed to the Blessed Virgin: one from the Angel Gabriel (Lk 1:28) and another from Elisabeth (Lk 1:42), without adding anything of their own.

The innovation of St. Dominic may have consisted in adding, after the name “Jesus”, a short clause recounting an episode from the Gospel. We can see how this might have looked in the so-called Sarum Rosary. It proceeds as follows:

Аve Maria… fructus ventris tuae, Jesus,

Quem in civitate Bethlehem

laetando genuisti:

neque dolorem aliquem

gignendo pertulisti.

That is: “Hail Mary… the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus, whom thou didst bear in Bethlehem with joy, and without suffering any pain in giving birth.”

Such a versified addition concludes each Ave Maria, differing every time.

The Sarum Rosary has five decades of Ave Maria in total – that is, fifty unique verses. The theme of the first decade roughly corresponds to the Joyful mysteries. The second decade and half of the third correspond to the earthly deeds of Christ, i.e., the Luminous mysteries. The remaining half of the third, and the fourth one, correspond to the Sorrowful mysteries. Finally, the fifth decade corresponds to the Glorious mysteries.

5. The Novelty

The Sarum Rosary is not a direct predecessor of the modern one, but it can show how people prayed at that time. If we prudently suppose that the form of the first Dominicans’ Rosary was close to the Sarum one, it becomes evident why it helped them so greatly with preaching, and why they became so closely associated with the Rosary that it even became a regular part of their religious habit.

Books were rare and expensive in those days, and literacy was far from universal. The enriched Rosary thus became an effective mnemonic technique: it allowed one to memorize the key events of the Gospel in an accessible form, then go out into the world and recount them to the laity. At the same time, it fully preserved its contemplative and prayerful character.

For the sake of academic precision, it must be noted that the direct involvement of St. Dominic in the origin of the Rosary is not definitively confirmed by historians. However, this does not affect the conclusions we have drawn.

6. Subsequently

In the sixteenth century, the Rosary underwent another change. The second part was added to the Ave Maria, while the clauses gradually shrank to their modern form: “…Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem.” Some parishes pray with such clauses, some do not.

The advent of printing also played its part: the mnemonic function of the Rosary became less necessary.

The fourth and fifth Glorious Mysteries were originally devoted to the Coming of Christ in glory and the Last Judgement, but St. Pius V replaced them with the Marian mysteries we know today (the bull Consueverunt Romani Pontifices, 1569).

7. Conclusion

As we can see, the Rosary has constantly shifted in form and emphasis. At first, it functioned as a permissive substitution for the Psalter. Later, it became a clever technique that combined prayer, meditation, and the memorization of the Gospel into a single practice.

Today, the Rosary largely serves as a purely meditative practice, at least when performed communally. In all honesty, most people would agree that in most parishes, whether conservative or liberal, the Rosary is recited in a manner that allows little room for meditation on Scripture, or for reflection in general. There is simply no time allotted for that.

Instead, the Rosary is used as a means to switch the mind from an ordinary rhythm into a sacred one through the repetition of the Ave Maria.

This is why it is often prayed before Mass.

Now that we have gained a deeper understanding of the nature and history of the Rosary, we can parse the arguments for and against the inclusion of the Luminous Mysteries.

Read about this in the second part.