The Scourging. 3. The Crowning with Thorns. 4, The Carrying of the Cross. 5. The Crucifixion.
To the Glorious, 1. The Resurrection of our Lord. 2. The Ascension. 3. The Descent of the Holy Ghost. 4. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. 5. Her Coronation.
But it must be remarked, that merely to run over the beads, repeating each Our Father and Hail Mary one after the other without stopping, and so to get through the Rosary, as the uneducated vulgar too often do, like a task, without any reflection of the mind upon the Mysteries, or meditation, or arousing of the affections at intervals, is a way of praying that is very barren and imperfect, and destitute of all spiritual devotion. For what profit or pleasure can there be in such prayer?[1] But if, good Reader, thou wouldst use the Rosary in a manner well-pleasing to God and his Mother, as well as profitable to thyself, thou wilt proceed thus:
I. Before commencing the Rosary, fix upon, and keep before thy mind some pious intention or object, and, if only by short sighs, ask of God grace in reference to it through his Mother.
II. At the beginning of each Decade, reflect a little while upon the Mystery to be honoured in it, and try to elicit holy feelings in unison with it. To do this the more easily and profitably, it will be of great use to have meditated at other leisure times on the fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary, and thus by pondering them all well, to have penetrated the hidden treasures which they severally contain of the divine Power, Wisdom, Goodness, Justice, Mercy, &c., remarking at the same time the affections that lie beneath the surface, &c., all of which will occur readily to the memory as occasion requires. For this a form and method is given by Father Christian Mayer.[2] Though, as the compiler of a Manual only, I cannot include in it all I could wish, still I cannot omit to set down briefly what follows.
Martin Navarrus, a most learned man (who, though constantly engaged in the office of public teacher , in the discharge of which he gave several lectures daily, was yet, for more than sixty years, in the constant habit of saying the Rosary every day,) suggests, for easier meditation upon the Mysteries, the insertion at each Decade of the Mystery itself after every Hail Mary, thus:
