Teach yourself the rosary here:

http://www.rosary-center.org/howto.htm


AVE MARIA!

My grandmother was into that big-time. She used to try to make my sister and I pray along. However, I haven't met a Catholic in at least 15 years (including priests and nuns) who claims to pray with it. I think putting the Mass into the vernacular has finally killed the Rosary, as it has destroyed so much else in Catholicism. (And no, I don't remember the Latin Mass. It was just a bit before my time, sadly.)

Still, everything looked surprisingly familiar, including the illustration. I think I may have even had a pamphlet with that picture in it. It was all familiar except, that is, this bit:


After each decade say the following prayer requested by the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima: "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who have most need of your mercy."


That I don't remember ever saying.

Funny, sometimes I miss being a Catholic, but most of the time I'm glad I've walked away. I certainly find very little of interest in the Catholic Church of today.

The rosary was one of the more interesting Catholic innovations. The Orthodox use a similar, but less ornate rope but only pray one prayer on it. It was the result of a monastic tradition where a monk would take 150 small stones and fill his pocket. each time a psalm was said, a stone was dropped. When he had said all 150, he'd refill. eventually, they began to tie knots in ropes so they could carry them around instead of stones.