Expert: Fr. Michael - 3/16/2009

Question
How was the Rosery prayed before John Paul added the additional Luminious mysteries?

Answer
That action violated the traditional practice of the Church for over a millennium with respect to the Most Holy Rosary and should be considered as an anomaly not to be followed by any Catholic.

The Rosary is historically a kind of layman's devotion that is analogous to the Divine Office, which is prayed by the clergy (and devout laity).  The Divine Office includes the recitation of the entire Psalter over the course of a week.  Since the Psalter consists of 150 Psalms, the Rosary has ten decades and fifteen mysteries, for a total of 150 Aves.  The idea of using the number of 200 and concocting five additional "Luminous Mysteries" is inexplicable and smacks of Gnosticism and Freemasonry.