The Rosary has been prayed by saints of every century and every walk of life. A few have left a particularly deep mark on the prayer itself.
St. Dominic (c. 1170–1221)
Founder of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans). Catholic tradition holds that he received the Rosary from the Virgin Mary as a tool for preaching, and the Dominican Order has been the prayer’s most consistent champion ever since.
Bl. Alan of la Roche (c. 1428–1475)
A Dominican friar whose preaching, writing, and confraternities gave the medieval Rosary much of the form we know today — 150 Hail Marys grouped into 15 mysteries.
Pope St. Pius V (1504–1572)
A Dominican who, as pope, gave the Rosary its standardized form and instituted the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary after the Christian victory at Lepanto in 1571.
St. Louis de Montfort (1673–1716)
Author of True Devotion to Mary and The Secret of the Rosary, two books that shaped Catholic Marian devotion for the next three centuries. He preached the Rosary as a school of sanctity for ordinary people.
St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844–1879)
The young French visionary of Lourdes. When the Blessed Virgin appeared to her in 1858, Bernadette prayed her rosary while Mary let the beads pass through her fingers in silence — speaking only at the Glory Be.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873–1897)
The Carmelite of the “little way.” She admitted that she struggled with distraction while praying the Rosary — a comfort to every Catholic who has felt the same.
Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta of Fatima
The three Portuguese children to whom Our Lady appeared in 1917. At each apparition, she asked them to pray the Rosary every day for peace and for the conversion of sinners. Francisco and Jacinta are canonized; the cause of Sr. Lucia is open.
St. Padre Pio (1887–1968)
The Capuchin friar of San Giovanni Rotondo, famous for his stigmata and for his pastoral work. He prayed many rosaries a day and called the Rosary “the weapon for these times.”
St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894–1941)
The Polish Franciscan who founded the Militia of the Immaculata and who died in place of a fellow prisoner at Auschwitz. The Rosary was central to his life and to the movement he founded.
St. John Paul II (1920–2005)
Pope from 1978 to 2005. He called the Rosary his favorite prayer and, in 2002, added the Luminous Mysteries to deepen its scope. His motto, Totus Tuus — “entirely yours” — was addressed to Mary.
St. Teresa of Calcutta (1910–1997)
Mother Teresa carried a rosary in her hand through the streets of Calcutta and around the world. She told her sisters to pray it constantly — while walking, while working, while waiting.