The twenty mysteries
The Rosary is a meditative prayer. As you say the Hail Marys, your mind is gently turned toward a scene from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ — or from the life of his Mother, who walked with him through it all. These scenes are called mysteries. There are twenty of them, arranged in four sets of five.
The four sets
- The Joyful Mysteries — the Incarnation and the early life of Jesus
- The Sorrowful Mysteries — the Passion and death of Jesus
- The Glorious Mysteries — the Resurrection and what followed
- The Luminous Mysteries — five scenes from the public ministry of Jesus, added in 2002
Which mysteries on which day
- Monday — Joyful
- Tuesday — Sorrowful
- Wednesday — Glorious
- Thursday — Luminous
- Friday — Sorrowful
- Saturday — Joyful
- Sunday — Glorious
You are free to pray any set on any day. The pattern above is the long-standing one, slightly revised in 2002.
The fruits of the mysteries
Each mystery has a traditional fruit — a virtue or grace particularly associated with it. The fruit is not magical; it is a hint for the heart, a way of letting the mystery speak its lesson. Each individual mystery page on this site names its fruit.