October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary. We celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7, and the entire month, the Church encourages us to go to Jesus through Mary via the mysteries of the rosary. I recently had the opportunity to ask Brendan Weston, author of Memorize the Rosary in English and Memorize the Rosary in Latin, to share tips for using his two guides, advice for praying the Rosary with children, and how memorization of prayers helps us in different aspects of our lives. Thank you, Mr. Weston, for sharing your wisdom with us!
AC: What inspired you to create these guides?
BW: In a way I was actually called to make them. I started making guides to help people memorize poems at first, until a friend saw one and asked if I could use the same system to help him teach his kids the Rosary in Latin. My background is in Classical Languages, so I was happy to help. But as soon as I started working on it the vision grew. Pretty quickly I saw how helpful an all-in-one resource for teaching the Rosary would be and that it needed to be beautiful and enjoyable to hold and use. Now Memorize The Rosary fulfills that first calling and so much more.
AC: Do you prefer praying with apps or without and why? What are the benefits of praying one way or the other?
BW: I generally don’t use apps when I pray, but as a father of three small children I’ve grown to appreciate recorded Rosaries by Fr. Mike Schmitz, etc. as a way to keep on track even when the mood in the room isn’t exactly meditative. That being said, you should always be careful about choosing the easy route. With all the distractions that phones and screens bring, I worry about what I actually know and what I just know I can find.
That’s where I’ve always been fascinated with memorization. When you memorize something you purposely embed it into your mind, into who you are. You choose to make it a part of you, but then later it comes back on its own. Things you memorize will surprise you days after you’ve learned them and will keep doing so throughout your life. Little things will trigger a memory of a verse, or in a time of trouble or joy you’ll find you have words to express yourself that you hadn’t thought about in years. That’s the kind of thing that an app can’t give you, so I think it’s even more important than ever to decide to make those deep connections to prayers, especially if we’re using apps to help us.
AC: You must have a special devotion to the rosary to spread the devotion through your beautiful books. What fruits have you noticed in your own life from praying the Rosary?
BW: The reality is I feel like God places the Rosary in my life more often than I actively choose to be devoted to it. In college at Ave Maria University was the first time that I saw people who really loved the Rosary. That affected me deeply. They were thoughtful about how they prayed it, and we had friends that would say the Rosary in different languages as well. We would sit together in one of the dorm chapels and trade one decade of Latin for the next in German and then the next in French, and so on depending on what languages everyone knew.
It was probably that experience that gave me one of the biggest fruits that I have felt in my own life: seeing how the Rosary can be at once both simple and meditative, yet still have so much richness in the different ways it’s prayed. I have a brief section on the different Rosary traditions at the beginning of the Memorize The Rosary books to introduce others to that idea as well.
AC: What advice do you have for someone just learning to pray the Rosary?
BW: Two things: 1) pray it with others if you can, and spend time reading the scripture passages around the mysteries. There are lots of different ways to pray the Rosary. The way your friends approach it will probably help you reflect on your own prayer life and you’ll remember those times for years to come. They can also help you pray it frequently enough that you can make it a habit on your own. 2) Really focus on the stories of the mysteries. Re-reading the scripture passages surrounding the Annunciation, the Passion, and Jesus’ miracles, etc. will keep you grounded when you’re praying each decade. You’ll be able to meditate on them better with the stories fresh in your mind.
AC: What about families with little ones? Any advice for engaging their children in the Rosary and praying together?
BW: Good question, I have three little ones of my own so this issue is on my mind all the time. Patience and repetition aren’t easy for young children – we already know that. But one thing we do is to try to make our environment different when we pray together. Lighting a candle, turning down the lights, and having Gregorian chant quietly playing can help make it seem like you’re doing something special.
More importantly, focus on the stories of each mystery. If children know that in between each decade they’re going to get to hear a story about Christmas or Easter it gives them something immediately enjoyable that they can focus on. I try to end each mystery by telling them to think about something specific while we’re praying as well, a lesson or a part of the story that they can visualize like Jesus in the manger or the shepherds seeing the angels.
But the biggest thing is just that they see you praying. Even if it’s chaos in the house, just praying with them shows them that it’s an important part of your life as a family. Sometimes that’s all you can do, and that’s ok.
AC: Why should Catholics learn to pray the Rosary in Latin? What are the benefits?
BW: The biggest reason that Catholics should learn to pray in Latin in general is that it’s our straight line back to Calvary. If you want to feel a connection across history in your spiritual life, learning even a little Latin means you get to use the same words that the greatest Saints of history did. But more than that, you’re using a language that God chose to have a special place in history.
The abbreviation you’ve seen countless times on top of crucifixes, INRI, is from the Latin: “Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum” “Jesus the Nazarene, King of The Jews “. Different languages have their own beauty, but only Greek, Hebrew, and Latin hung over Jesus at his death. That’s an important point to meditate on in itself. Why did God choose Latin to hang above the cross?
For praying the Rosary itself, Latin opens up a new dimension of how you think about the words of each prayer as well. Phrases that you’ve said a million times and never really thought about can become a richer and more meditative because you are approaching it fresh again.
Of course, the spiritual connection is important here as well. What do you have in common with Saint Thérèse of Lisieux or with Saint Thomas Aquinas, or even with famous Catholics like Miguel de Cervantes? If you learn the Rosary in Latin you can share something personal with them, too.
AC: How should someone who has no background in Latin approach learning to pray in Latin?
BW: Learning languages through prayers is a unique experience because right from the start you already know the general meaning of what you’re saying. Embrace that and just start praying. You can look up every word in the glossary in the back of this book, but don’t feel bad about guessing and repeating the prayer until it feels comfortable at first. As you repeat it you’ll start to recognize more parts of it. You can always go deeper into learning the grammar and more nuanced definitions, but the most important part is to get the feel and start making it a habit.
AC: This book is so versatile, and I can see it being used in many settings. How should families, religious education classes, and homeschoolers use the book?
BW: One of the best things about this method is that you don’t have to tackle memorizing the whole prayer at once. You can do all 5 exercises for each prayer in a row or you can jump around and test your memory after each successive exercise.
Another way to use it that I like is to cover the word bank on the right side so that when I start the next exercise I have to guess first, but I can still uncover it and see the words if I get stuck.
For homeschoolers and families you can adjust to your child’s needs and abilities quickly, while for larger classrooms it gives the teacher a visible baseline for how the whole class is progressing.
Plus the reflection sections can be a place to encourage creative writing or journaling exercises to get students to shift their thinking from memorization back to more freeform thoughts about prayer and the Saints.
I’m always surprised by how people are using these books, there was even an 80+ year old stroke survivor who said that the memorization practice was helping with his therapy and recovery. It’s a blessing to see the impact it’s having and I love hearing from people who are using it.
AC: Do you have any final thoughts you would like to leave us with?
BW: Praying the Rosary isn’t always easy, even Saint Thérèse of Lisieux struggled with it, but it’s the most worthwhile devotion you can bring into your life and to your family. Learn the prayers by heart so you can pray it daily and invite others to pray it with you. You might be surprised at which of your friends shows up!
AC: Where can our readers find you and purchase your books?
BW: You can find more about me at https://sophiainstitute.
