The Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary are the final of the three traditional sets of events in the life of Christ and His Blessed Mother upon which Catholics meditate while praying the rosary. (The other two are the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary and the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. A fourth set, the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, was introduced by Pope John Paul II in 2002 as an optional devotion.)
The Sorrowful Mysteries ended with the Crucifixion on Good Friday; the Glorious Mysteries pick up with Easter Sunday and the Resurrection, and cover the establishment of the Church at Pentecost Sunday and the unique respect showed by God to the Mother of His Son at the end of her earthly life. Each mystery is associated with a particular fruit, or virtue, which is illustrated by the actions of Christ and Mary in the event commemorated by that mystery. While meditating on the mysteries, Catholics also pray for those fruits or virtues.
Traditionally, Catholics meditate on the Glorious Mysteries while praying the rosary on Wednesday, Saturday, and the Sundays from Easter until Advent. For those Catholics who use the optional Luminous Mysteries, Pope John Paul II (in his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, which proposed the Luminous Mysteries) suggested praying the Glorious Mysteries on Wednesday and on Sundays year-round (but not on Saturday).
Each of the following pages features a brief discussion of one of the Glorious Mysteries, the fruit or virtue associated with it, and a short meditation on the mystery. The meditations are simply meant as an aid to contemplation; they do not need to be read while praying the rosary. As you pray the rosary more often, you will develop your own meditations on each mystery.
Each page is illustrated with a stained-glass window of that particular Glorious Mystery. The windows are found in Saint Mary's Church of Painesville, Ohio, which was built in 1955.
