The rosary ( from Latin rosarium, meaning " rose garden " or " garland of roses ") is a Roman Catholic sacramental and Marian devotion to prayer and the commemoration of Jesus Christ and events of his life.

Pope Pius XII and his successors actively promoted the veneration of the Virgin in Lourdes and Fatima, which is credited with a new resurgence of the rosary within the Catholic Church.

" To Benedict XVI, the rosary is a meditation on all important moments of salvation history.

" His statement echoed the view that in Roman Catholic Mariology the path to Christ is through Mary, with Mariology being inherent in Christology ; a sentiment also expressed by saints such as Louis de Montfort who was a strong rosary advocate.

Devotion to the rosary is one of the most notable features of popular Catholic spirituality.

This rosary is somewhat similar in structure to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, is said on the usual rosary beads, and is intended as an Act of Reparation to Jesus Christ for the sins of the world.

As early as the 15th century, through Saint Dominic and Alan de Rupe the Virgin Mary is reputed to have made 15 specific promises to Christians who pray the rosary.

The rosary is a vital means to participate in the life of Mary and to find the way to Christ.

The use of Novenas which include a rosary is popular among Catholics.

The structure of the Catholic rosary devotion is as follows:

A rosary ring is a ring worn around the finger with 10 indentations and a cross on the surface, representing one decade of a rosary.

A finger rosary is similar to a ring, but is somewhat larger.

A hand rosary is a decade in a complete loop, with one bead separated from ten other beads, this is meant to be carried while walking or running, so as not to entangle the larger type.

A ring rosary is a finger ring with eleven knobs on it, ten round ones and one crucifix.

A rosary bracelet is one with ten beads and often a cross or medal as well.

The most modern form is the rosary card.

Throughout centuries, the rosary has been promoted by several popes as part of the veneration of Mary.

References to the rosary have been part of a number of reported Marian Apparitions spanning two centuries.

Many religious orders wear the rosary as part of their habit.

A rosary hanging from the belt often forms part of the Carthusian habit.

Devotional practices such as the rosary, novenas to saints, and other religious manifestations as processions, the misa de gallo and Holy Week traditional activities are still very much part of the way of life of most parishioners.

Within the bindu, or point that forms a part of the letter, just above it, is Brahma, who is deep red, with four faces and four arms, holding a staff, a sacred vase of nectar, a rosary, making the gesture of dispelling fear ( alternatively instead of the staff and rosary he is holding a lotus flower and the sacred scriptures ).

Meditation is an integral part of the rosary.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, " The rosary is conferred upon the Greek Orthodox monk as a part of his investiture with the mandyas or full monastic habit, as the second step in the monastic life, and is called his ' spiritual sword '.

For centuries, Dominicans have been instrumental in spreading the rosary and emphasizing the Catholic belief in the power of the rosary.

* In the 19th century, the month of October was dedicated to the devotion of the rosary in Roman Catholic countries.

In 1942, after an audience with Pope Pius XII, newspapers quoted Mascagni, a Roman Catholic, as saying that his tuberculosis-stricken niece was cured after receiving a rosary and silver medal blessed by the pope.

The rosary also represents the Roman Catholic emphasis on " participation in the life of Mary, whose focus was Christ ," and the Mariological theme " to Christ through Mary ," taught by Saint Louis de Montfort.

The type of rosary and number of beads may vary between religious communities, depending on a particular Catholic devotion.

In the 16th century, Pope Pius V introduced the rosary into the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar as the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, celebrated on October 7.

The theologian Romano Guardini thus defined the Roman Catholic emphasis on the rosary as " participation in the life of Mary, whose focus was Christ.

Some forms of the Roman Catholic rosary are aimed at reparation including the sins of others.

In 1569, the papal bull Consueverunt Romani Pontifices by the Dominican Pope Pius V officially established the devotion to the rosary in the Catholic Church.

The rosary has been featured in the writings of Roman Catholic figures from saints to popes and continues to be mentioned in reported Marian apparitions, with a number of promises attributed to the power of the rosary.

One of the forces that drove the spread of the rosary during the 19th century among Roman Catholics was the influence of the Rosary Pope, a title given to Pope Leo XIII ( 1878 – 1903 ) because he issued a record twelve encyclicals and five Apostolic Letters on the rosary, instituted the Catholic custom of daily rosary prayer during the month of October and, in 1883, added the invocation Queen of the most Holy Rosary to the Litany of Loreto.

This emphasis on the path through Mary to Christ ( which was also a basis for some of Louis de Montfort's writings ) has since been a key direction in Roman Catholic Mariology, with Mariology being viewed as inherent in Christology, and the rosary paving that path.

These rosary rings were given to some Catholic nuns at the time of their solemn profession.

One Catholic catechism instructs the faithful to wear the rosary as " it will help them to love Jesus more " and serve as a " protection from Satan.

The rosary is sometimes used by other Christians, especially in Lutheranism, the Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Church.

This view had been endorsed by Leo XIII who viewed the rosary as a vital means to participate in the life of Mary and to find the way to Christ.

According to tradition, the concept of the rosary was given to Saint Dominic in an apparition by the Virgin Mary in the year 1214 in the church of Prouille.

Rosary beads are at times used to say rosary based prayers which do not primarily involve the Hail Mary and the mysteries of the rosary.

He issued a record eleven encyclicals on the rosary, approved two new Marian scapulars and was the first Pope to fully embrace the concept of Mary as mediatrix.

On November 1 of the year after a child's death, the godparents set a table in the parents ' home with sweets, fruits, pan de muerto, a cross, a rosary ( used to ask the Virgin Mary to pray for them ) and candles.

As Queen of the Rosary, Mary lets the faithful participate in her life with Christ The rosary is a prayer for faith, hope and love, who were all perfected in the Virgin Mary.

The prayer figures prominently in non-liturgical devotions, notably the rosary, where " Glory be " is recited before the large beads ( on which an " Our Father " is prayed ) which separate the five sets of ten smaller beads, called decades, upon each of which a Hail Mary is prayed.

His attributes are a lily, referring to innocence ; a cross, referring to piety and sacrifice ; a skull, referring to his early death ; and a rosary, referring to his devotion to the Virgin Mary.

Their offices serve as a " hub " for the growing Holy Cross apostolate of fostering family prayer, especially the rosary, as well as devotion to Mary throughout Mexico.

The creatures try to tip the scales in their favour while, in some versions of the painting, The Virgin Mary places a rosary next to the person she wishes to protect, or puts her hand on the scale to counterbalance the demons.

Unlike the traditional rosary used by Roman Catholics, which focuses on the seminal events in the life of Christ and asks the Virgin Mary to pray for their intentions, Anglican prayer beads are most often used as a tactile aid to prayer and as a counting device.

An example is the Rosary of the Holy Wounds ( also called the Chaplet of Holy Wounds ), a rosary devotion directed to Jesus, rather than the Virgin Mary.

* Catholic Girl-a teenage Catholic School girl who is able to fly, can project a force field around herself when she recites the " Hail Mary ", able to fire bolts of energy from her rosary.

By the 16th century the practice of meditation during the rosary had spread across Europe, and the book Meditationi del Rosario della Gloriosa Maria Virgine ( i. e. Meditations on the Rosary of the Glorious Virgin Mary ) printed in 1569 for the rosary confraternity of Milan provided an individual meditation to accompany each bead or prayer.