The mysteries follow the day of the week: the Joyful Mysteries on Monday and Saturday, the Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesday and Friday, the Glorious Mysteries on Wednesday and Sunday, and the Luminous Mysteries on Thursday. The only exception is Sunday, which follows the season: Joyful in Advent and Christmas, Sorrowful in Lent, and Glorious the rest of the year.
◆ Today's Rosary
To find today's mysteries, look up today's day of the week in the schedule below. Sunday is Glorious; from there you count forward through the week.
The mysteries of the Rosary by day of the week
Each day of the week carries one set of mysteries. The pattern is easy to hold once you see its shape: Sunday sits at the centre with the Glorious Mysteries, and the week unfolds from there. It repeats every week, all year, with the single seasonal adjustment on Sundays noted below.
◆ The weekly schedule
| Monday | Joyful Mysteries — the Incarnation and the hidden years |
| Tuesday | Sorrowful Mysteries — the Passion of Christ |
| Wednesday | Glorious Mysteries — the Resurrection and glory |
| Thursday | Luminous Mysteries — the public ministry and the Eucharist |
| Friday | Sorrowful Mysteries — the day of the Cross |
| Saturday | Joyful Mysteries — the traditional day of Our Lady |
| Sunday | Glorious Mysteries — the Lord's Day (Joyful in Advent and Christmas, Sorrowful in Lent) |
How Sundays change with the season
Weekdays keep their set all year. Sunday is the one day that moves, because Sunday belongs first to the season the Church is living. This is the detail most printed lists get wrong, and the reason a page that simply prints seven fixed rows can send you to the wrong mysteries on a Lenten Sunday.
◆ Sunday, by liturgical season
| Advent and Christmas | Joyful Mysteries — the season of the Incarnation, awaiting and welcoming the Child |
| Lent | Sorrowful Mysteries — the season of the Passion, walking toward the Cross |
| Easter and Ordinary Time | Glorious Mysteries — every Sunday is a little Easter, the weekly memorial of the Resurrection |
An easy way to remember which mysteries are prayed today
You never need a chart once the shape is clear. Put Sunday and the Glorious Mysteries in the middle. Monday, the next day, is Joyful. Tuesday is Sorrowful. Wednesday returns to Glorious. Thursday is Luminous. Then the far side of the week mirrors back: Friday is Sorrowful again, and Saturday is Joyful again. Read across the week and it runs Glorious, Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, Luminous, Sorrowful, Joyful. Two anchors make it stick: Friday is Sorrowful because it is the day the Lord died, and Sunday is Glorious because it is the day He rose.
Whichever day it is, you can open the guided Rosary and today's set is already chosen for you, with the season handled: pray today's Rosary now. For the step by step, see how to pray the Rosary.
Why the mysteries are arranged this way
The point of a weekly cycle is completeness. Prayed across a week, the mysteries carry you through the whole of the Gospel: the coming of Christ in the Joyful Mysteries, His public ministry in the Luminous, His suffering and death in the Sorrowful, and His Resurrection and Mary's glory in the Glorious. Two mysteries a week fall on their most fitting day, and the rest fill in around them so that nothing is left out. It is an old Dominican habit, meant less as law than as a rhythm that keeps a whole life of prayer from settling into a single mood.
Pray today's Rosary now.
Open Orabimus and today's mysteries are already set for you, the season handled, with a voice to pray alongside in nine languages. Free, no account needed.
Pray today's RosaryToday's set chosen for you · Audio in nine languages · Works offline
Sources: John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae §38 (2002) · USCCB, How to Pray the Rosary · The Mysteries of the Rosary (The Holy See)
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Rosary mysteries are prayed today?
The mysteries follow the day of the week: Joyful on Monday and Saturday, Sorrowful on Tuesday and Friday, Glorious on Wednesday and Sunday, and Luminous on Thursday. The only exceptions fall on Sundays, which follow the liturgical season: Joyful during Advent and Christmas, Sorrowful during Lent, and Glorious for the rest of the year. On Orabimus, today's set is already selected when you open the Rosary.
How do I know which Rosary to pray today?
Find today's day of the week in the schedule above. A simple memory trick: Sunday is Glorious, and you count forward from there — Monday Joyful, Tuesday Sorrowful, Wednesday Glorious, Thursday Luminous, then Friday returns to Sorrowful and Saturday to Joyful.
Do the Rosary mysteries change on Sundays during Lent?
Yes. Although Sunday is normally the day of the Glorious Mysteries, on the Sundays of Lent the Sorrowful Mysteries are prayed instead, and on the Sundays of Advent and Christmas the Joyful Mysteries are prayed. This is the one place the weekday schedule bends to the season. Weekdays, Monday through Saturday, keep their fixed set all year.
Can I pray any mysteries on any day?
Yes. The weekly schedule is a helpful custom, not a rule that binds under sin. It exists so that Catholics around the world meditate on the same mysteries together, and so that over a week you pray through the whole life of Christ. You are always free to pray whichever mysteries your heart is drawn to on a given day.
Who set the schedule of mysteries by day?
The custom of assigning mystery sets to days is old, long attested in Dominican practice. The current arrangement, which adds the Luminous Mysteries on Thursday, was proposed by Pope Saint John Paul II in his 2002 Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae. Before 2002 there were three sets across the week, with Sunday assigned to the Glorious Mysteries year-round.