Which Rosary Mysteries to Pray Each Day
Updated: Oct 23
The Rosary is built around twenty mysteries from the lives of Jesus and Mary, grouped into four sets of five: the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries. Most people pray one set (five decades) at a time, so the Church has a customary pattern that assigns a set to each day of the week. That way, over the course of a week, you walk through the whole Gospel with Our Lady.
The current pattern was set out by St. John Paul II in 2002, when he added the Luminous Mysteries. It is a custom, not a rule, so you are always free to choose the mysteries that fit your needs. Below is the weekly schedule, the older traditional arrangement, and the closing prayer of the Rosary.
The Weekly Schedule
Monday: Joyful Mysteries Tuesday: Sorrowful Mysteries Wednesday: Glorious Mysteries Thursday: Luminous Mysteries Friday: Sorrowful Mysteries Saturday: Joyful Mysteries Sunday: Glorious Mysteries
Before 2002 the traditional pattern was Joyful on Monday and Thursday, Sorrowful on Tuesday and Friday, and Glorious on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Many families still keep a seasonal custom as well: the Joyful Mysteries on the Sundays of Advent and Christmastide and the Sorrowful Mysteries on the Sundays of Lent. For the individual mysteries, see our pages on the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries and How to Pray the Rosary.
The Prayer
Let us pray. O God, whose only-begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life: grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sources: Weekly schedule per Rosarium Virginis Mariae (2002) and earlier custom; closing prayer is the traditional collect of the Feast of the Holy Rosary, public domain.
See also: The Holy Rosary, How to Pray the Rosary, Fatima Decade Prayer, and Hail Holy Queen.
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