St. Louis De Montfort is known as one of the principal advocates for devotion to Our Lady. In his book The Secret of the Rosary he outlines how to say the Rosary well and warns against common mistakes made while saying the Rosary. This passage in particular is worthy of note:
It is really pathetic to see how most people say the Holy Rosary – they say it astonishingly fast and mumble so that the words are not properly pronounced at all. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most unimportant person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment and yet we expect Jesus and Mary to be please with it! Small wonder then that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before! Dear Confraternity members, I beg of you to temper the speed which comes all too easily to you and pause briefly several times as you say the Our Father and Hail Mary…
To see a Saint use the words pathetic and slipshod gives a clear indication of how little patience he has with poorly said prayers. Some have argued that it does not matter how fast you say the prayers of the Rosary, as long as you are meditating on each mystery. While it is true that meditation is the primary goal of the Rosary, we cannot forget that this prayer is made up of the Angelic Salutation. Every Hail Mary is a salutation to the Mother of God, and should be said respectfully.
Additionally, the point of the Rosary should never be to finish as quickly as possible. Saying each Hail Mary and Our Father slowly and deliberately has at least two practical benefits:
- When we become distracted or find it difficult to meditate, focusing on the words of these beautiful prayers helps us to re-engage our meditation, or even provides a means of meditation themselves.
- The slower we say the words, the more time we have to meditate.
This does not necessarily mean the Rosary should be said at a snail’s pace. Recently, our parish priest gave some instruction on this topic and said, very practically, that the Rosary (especially in group settings) should be said at a conversational pace. Though this will vary from person to person, it is a good general guideline.
God Bless
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