The word rosary comes from the Latin word rosarium, which means "a garden of roses," and this derivation helps explain the origins of this Marian prayer. The custom of praying on a string of beads was already common in the 12th century. Christian monks ran beads or knotted string through their fingers as they chanted their required 150 psalms. Because these religious professionals prayed in Latin, the common folk could not chime in. Some resourcefully started praying 150 Our Fathers on the beads as their version of the monks' prayer.

Any account of how the rosary developed has to pause and make a respectful bow to St. Dominic (1170-1221) and the Order of Preachers, which he founded. St. Dominic and his followers certainly propagated the prayer from the 13th century onward. In the 13th century  nobles customarily crowned their beloved with a garland of roses. At the same time, one of the customs of chivalry was for knights to pledge their honor to the Blessed Virgin Mary. From these two customs developed the practice of "crowning" the Blessed Mother, either by placing a wreath of roses upon one of her images or by offering a spiritual "garland of roses" to her through the rosary prayer.

The rosary took its familiar form in the 16th century. Pope Pius V recommended that Catholics pray on their beads 150 Hail Marys in decades separated by an Our Father while reflecting on the life of Christ. Pius left his distinctive mark on the prayer by adding the second half of the Hail Mary to the biblical beginning (Luke 1:28,42).

Over the centuries countless numbers of people have become devoted
pray-ers of the rosary, meditating on the sacred mysteries and appealing to Mary's motherly heart for help and healing.

The rosary is a Christ-centered prayer in which we pray to the Son in the
company of his Mother. With Mary, we contemplate the face of Christ and the mysteries of the life he shared with her. Even in the words of the Hail Mary itself, it is Christ "who is the ultimate object both of the Angel's announcement and of the greeting of the Mother of John the Baptist: ‘Blessed is the fruit of your womb'" (Luke 1:42; RVM, #19).

A clear focus on the life of Christ emerges as the mysteries of the rosary make the circle from joyful to luminous to sorrowful to glorious. Our fingers passing from one decade to the next make the journey with Jesus as he is conceived and born, as he teaches and heals, as he gives himself to us in forms of bread and wine, as he suffers and dies, rises and is glorified in the Church of our day.