Bad Anglo-Catholic confession: I’m not very good at praying the Rosary. Or at least, I thought I wasn’t until a week or so ago. That was when I learnt that there was more than one kind of Rosary. What we often think of as ‘The Rosary’ is the Dominican Rosary which was given by Our Lady to St Dominic in 1206 to aid in his missionary work. Indeed, confusingly, the Carthusian Rosary has a claim to being called ‘Dominican’ in the sense that it too was first promoted by a Dominic – in this case, Dom Dominic of Prussia (1384-1460), a Carthusian hermit living in what is now south-west Germany. Dom Dominic developed a set of meditations on the Life of Christ, not to replace to Hail Mary prayers, but to build on them. In fact, at the time Dom Dominic was working on his meditations on the Life of Christ, the Hail Mary did not take the form which it is most known for today: it stopped at ‘blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus’, which allowed Dom Dominic, in his meditations, to add a short meditation or nugget of information about the life of Jesus in relation to his mother Mary in order to develop his set of prayers for use with the Rosary. For example ‘Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus, to whom you, perpetually virgin in body and soul, gave birth with joy.’ This means that in the Carthusian Rosary, every Hail Mary bead represents a separate Mystery, rather than ‘one-tenth’ of a Mystery. This therefore means, naturally, that the Carthusian Rosary has more Mysteries than the Dominican: a grand total of fifty, one for each Hail Mary bead, in contrast to the Dominican’s mere twenty.
This presents us with, of course, advantages and disadvantages: the most obvious disadvantage is this makes the Carthusian Rosary a little harder to remember! Most of us Catholically-inclined could name the 20 mysteries of the Dominican Rosary; the 50 Carthusian ones take a little more remembering! It helps that Dom Dominic did divide his 50 mysteries into decades reflecting a stage or theme in Christ’s life: namely 1) His birth, 2) his youth and public ministry 3) his Passion 4) his Crucifixion and 5) his Resurrection. Yet even with these helpful prompts, it might be a while before you can recite them ‘off-book’ when out and about!
So what advantages does the Carthusian Rosary have? Well, this is where the response becomes more personal, because we can of course only speak from our own experience when it comes to something like prayer. But ‘personal’ is not the same as ‘exclusive’ so it’s worth us all sharing our personal responses with each other in the knowledge that they will resonate somewhere and continue to guide others to revelation and understanding! So for me, when I prayed the Carthusian Rosary for the first time, I immediately started to go more slowly and actually focus on what I was saying. I think this is where the difficulty in remembering the mysteries becomes an advantage because there is no option to recite them off quickly without thinking about it – you have to concentrate. This was always my problem with the Dominican Rosary; the desire to finish, to get to the end of the day’s set of mysteries. The joy of the Carthusian Rosary is that you don’t have to complete the whole Rosary, or even a whole decade. If the Holy Spirit moves you to stop and contemplate the flight into Egypt, or the Harrowing of Hell, or any Mystery, then that is wonderful and to be indulged. The process becomes quite Ignatian – you picture the scene of the Mystery, and can become lost in it; and because each Mystery is self-contained, as it were, the psychological pressure to ‘complete’ a Mystery evaporates.
But before I begin to sound like I’m denigrating the Dominican Rosary at the expense of the Carthusian, I wondered why this difference between the two might be. And this is where I start theorising! My theory is that the difference in the ‘type’ of prayer the two Rosaries encourage have their basis in the charism of religious life from which they stem. The Dominicans, especially traditionally the male Dominicans although now also happily the female too, are a preaching order with a vocation to travel and to work actively in mission and Christian education in the world. The Carthusian calling, by contrast, is one of the most enclosed, disciplined, contemplative callings to be found in the Christian West. Both, of course, vital to the Body of Christ: and this is perhaps how we should look at the two types of Rosary: equally wonderful, but very different. The Dominican Rosary is an active rosary: it’s portable, easily remembered, and, while of course it should be prayed reverently, it does not encourage ‘lingering’ in contemplation on each bead. The Carthusian, by contrast, is best prayed somewhere you can have a copy of the Mysteries open before you, and probably a Bible too. You will stop a lot more, and contemplate, even picture yourself in the scene and speak to Jesus; or at least that is the experience I have had. It’s why I have wondered in the title to this article whether the Carthusian Rosary might be a useful devotion for periods of lockdown, when we are all living out our inner Carthusian a little: more time to sit, to pray, with nowhere to go – this can become fertile ground for ‘journeying’ into the Mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Above all, whether you pray the Dominican or Carthusian Rosary, or perhaps another kind, the important thing is that the rules are there to help prayer to blossom, not to hinder it or make it feel like a chore. As Pope Paul VI wrote in his encyclical ‘Marialis Cultus’,
‘The Rosary is an excellent prayer, but the faithful should feel serenely free in its regard. They should be drawn to its calm recitation by its intrinsic appeal.’ (Marialis Cultus, no. 55).
Here are the 50 Mysteries of the Carthusian Rosary:
Begin by kissing the crucifix and signing yourself with the sign of the cross, saying, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Our Father bead
Recite the Apostle’s Creed.
Three Hail Mary beads
Upon each say one Hail Mary, inserting a clause of your choosing related to our Lord and the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, such as:
1. Jesus, to whom we can always turn in Faith
2. Jesus, the reason for our Hope
3. Jesus, the source and goal of all Charity
Our Father bead Say one Our Father.
First Decade (His birth)
1. Jesus, conceived in you by the Holy Spirit during the annunciation of the angel
2. Jesus, with whom you visited Saint Elisabeth in the hill country, and whom John the Baptist recognized while yet in his mother’s womb
3. Jesus, to whom you, perpetually virgin in body and soul, gave birth with joy
4. Jesus, whom you wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger
5. Jesus, whose birth the angels celebrated singing, “Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will,” and whom the shepherds visited in Bethlehem
6. Jesus, who was circumcised on the eighth day and given the name which is above every other name
7. Jesus, who was sought for and worshiped by the Magi
8. Jesus, whom you carried to the Temple and presented to God, His Father
9. Jesus, who was lovingly received in the arms of old Simeon, and recognized by the holy prophetess, Anna
10. Jesus, with whom you fled into Egypt as directed by the angel, to avoid Herod’s persecution
Our Father bead
Say one Glory Be, one Fatima prayer, and one Our Father.
Second decade (His youth and public ministry)
11. Jesus, with whom you returned home after seven years, when directed by the angel
12. Jesus, left in Jerusalem when He was twelve years old, and found in the Temple after three days
13. Jesus, who each day grew further in wisdom and grace before God and man
14. Jesus, whom John baptized in the Jordan and called the Lamb of God
15. Jesus, who fasted forty days in the desert and overcame the temptations put to Him by Satan
16. Jesus, who called the disciples and proclaimed the kingdom of God
17. Jesus, who healed the sick, freed the possessed, and raised the dead to life
18. Jesus, whose feet Mary Magdalene washed with her tears, dried with her hair, and anointed with her perfume
19. Jesus, who was transfigured on Mt. Tabor in the presence of Peter, James, and John
20. Jesus, who raised Lazarus to life after he had been dead for four days
Our Father bead
Say one Glory Be, one Fatima prayer, and one Our Father.
Third decade (His passion)
21. Jesus, who was welcomed as the Messiah as He entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday
22. Jesus, who at the Last Supper instituted the sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist
23. Jesus, who prayed in agony in the garden of Gethsemane
24. Jesus, who, betrayed by Judas and abandoned by His friends, willingly placed Himself in the hands of His captors
25. Jesus, who, captured and roughly bound, was led before the high priest
26. Jesus, who was denied three times by Simon Peter and was falsely accused, mocked, beaten, and spat upon by the crowd
27. Jesus, who was scourged at the pillar on orders given by Pilate
28. Jesus, who was wrapped in a purple robe, crowned with thorns, and hailed as king by mocking soldiers
29. Jesus, who before Caiaphas and Pilate was condemned to a wicked death
30. Jesus, who was given the burden of the cross to bear like a criminal to the hill of Golgotha
Our Father bead Say one Glory Be, one Fatima prayer, and one Our Father.
Fourth decade (His crucifixion)
31. Jesus, nailed to the cross beneath the inscription “This is the King of the Jews”
32. Jesus, who prayed for His murderers, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” 33. Jesus, who said to the thief at His right, “Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise”
34. Jesus, who said to you, His Mother, “Woman, behold thy son,” and to John, “Behold thy Mother”
35. Jesus, who cried out upon the cross: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
36. Jesus, who said, “I thirst,” and after having tasted the vinegar offered to Him said, “It is consummated”
37. Jesus, who at the ninth hour cried out, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit”
38. Jesus, who for us, poor sinners, suffered a cruel and painful death. Alleluia.
39. Jesus, whose side was pierced with a spear and from whose Sacred Heart Blood and Water poured out for the forgiveness of our sins
40. Jesus, whose sacred body was taken down from the cross and lovingly received in your arms
Our Father bead Say one Glory Be, one Fatima prayer, and one Our Father.
Fifth decade (His resurrection)
41. Jesus, whose body was wrapped in a shroud and laid in the tomb by holy men
42. Jesus, whose tomb was sealed and guarded by Pilate’s soldiers
43. Jesus, whose holy soul descended into Hell to preach the good news and conduct the holy patriarchs to Heaven
44. Jesus, who rose from the dead on the third day, filling you with ineffable joy
45. Jesus, who after His Resurrection appeared frequently to His disciples and friends to strengthen their faith
46. Jesus, who, before you and His apostles, ascended into Heaven on the fortieth day and was seated at the right hand of the Father
47. Jesus, who, as He had promised, sent the Holy Spirit to you and to His apostles on the day of Pentecost
48. Jesus, who finally called you, His dearest Mother, to Himself, seating you at His right hand and crowning you with glory as Queen of Heaven
49. Jesus, who wants to call us, His servants and yours, to Himself after this life and through your intercession, we pray, receive us into the joy of His Father’s Kingdom
50. Jesus, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and with you most Holy Mother, reigns triumphant and glorious forever.
Say one Glory Be and one Fatima prayer.
You can use whatever concluding prayers you like, such as the Salve Regina, the Walsingham prayer or any other you use.
Details for the Mysteries of the Carthusian Rosary and information about its providence are taken from Fratelli ed., (2012) The Life of Christ Rosary (also known as the Carthusian Rosary) attributed to Dom. Dominic of Prussia.
Holy Countenance 