Learning the Rosary

Hello. Does anyone have any good techniques for learning the Rosary. I am thinking more of the prayers. I know the Our Father, and Hail Mary (mostly). Thanks.

2 Likes

Sorry I don’t have any techniques , when I learnt to pray the rosary in German it seemed rather easy just to remember (and I’m rubbish at remembering) probably because it is a ‘chant’ and chants tend to be very very easy to learn and this one has been designed over centuries to be so. I would think the easiest way is to simply go to the church when the Rosary hour is on and sit there with the Old Ladies which is what I did. I’d be surprised if after half an hour of Hail Mary, Mother of God you don’t have it down patt. Chants and group dynamic (for want of a better word) are powerful memory tools.

Edit* just recited the old style German “Hail Mary” to myself and I haven’t prayed the rosary in a quarter century . Bare in mind alcohol has dissolved St Peter’s in Rome sized holes in my brain and I genuinely can’t remember my exact age last birthday so if I can do it anyone can!

Oh something else I should have said: If you genuinely BELIEVE in what you are saying, if it has real MEANING for you then it will be easier to remember.

1 Like

PS get yourself a set of rosary beads if you don’t have them already as they are a ‘lukasa’ .

*yet another update. Been thinking about this and if you wanted to use mnemonics then perhaps something like the following: As you go in the door of the church you dip your fingers in the holy water so imagine the drips of water off your fingers are hail stones falling on a madonna with child who is snacking on your friend Grace’s best cake . Then in the left hand corner of the church imagine Brain Blessed in full armour playing whichever King Henry, your friend Mary (assuming you have one, if not a famous Mary off the TV) on her knees in front of him and he is placing his hand on her head. Then on the left hand wall perhaps some men peeing up against it (‘wee men’)…if you can live with that image.

Just noticed that in that rough example i skipped " the Lord* is with thee;" after ‘full of grace’. But you get the idea .

2 Likes

16:00 Just reread your original post and see you were more interested in the prayers than the Hail Mary itself. Same thing applies. A ‘quick and dirty’ example:

“Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve,”

So you’ve got hail falling on our dear old Queen who has holes like a swiss cheese through her. Then I would have an image of yer Mum wearing a Sisters Of Mercy Tshirt juggling clocks (our) and sugar cubes with one hand and pushing an old fashioned hoop in another. 4 cups of tea (for thee) …

You could ‘story method’ it I should think if you aren’t au fait with Memory Palaces.

1 Like

Oh wow! Thank you for your all your replies. I appreciate them. I do think that I need to literally just repeat the words many times. I have found reciting what I know helps me feel better, so I will put more effort into it. I love prayer beads and the Rosary. I have a huge collection.