Is it OK to pray any five decades of the Rosary or do they have to be in the specific set of mysteries?

Question

I'm working on setting up a guide book for a Eucharistic procession for Corpus Christi and I was told that it's not exactly traditional to pray the Rosary during one of these processions, but we orphaned traditionless Wisconsinite Catholics don't have a ton of songs memorized and nobody knows the traditional hymns by heart. We do, however, know how to Pray the Rosary and that's what we've been doing for the last couple of years.

I was thinking though, this year, instead of Praying the Glorious Mysteries (because we're doing the procession on Sunday, not Thursday) that we'd announce these mysteries (two Joyful and three Luminous)

1. Annunciation
2. Nativity
3. Wedding at Cana
4. Transfiguration
5. Institution of the Eucharist

Because they, in my opinion, are the "most Eucharistic" of the 20 mysteries.

Now, since I am just a layman whose only credentials is a Gold Catholicism badge on Stackexchange, my wife says I shouldn't just go an make this kind of stuff up. We've reached out to other people in the group for planning it, but nobody seems to want to give a critique of the idea and our priests are seemingly too busy with their transitions to new assignments to worry about this.

So, what I want to know is:

Is it OK to mix and match mysteries of the Rosary and if so, is it OK to call it a "Eucharistic Rosary"?

Answer 1

I answer as a deacon in the RCC, so a bit more credentials than a badge on SE maybe, but not much, and I do so without a specific expertise in this question. I notice that your question is not just theoretical and academic, you need to organise your procession. So I want to answer so you at least have some answer, but as soon as someone with more expertise explains that I missed the point entirely, I apologise and bow to greater expertise. If I didn’t feel you have some time pressure, I wouldn’t respond at all.

All that being said, I strongly believe a few things:

1. In general one shouldn’t try to be very creative with Catholic tradition.
2. Our Good Lord not only has a sense of humour, He also has a very, very big love for people who try to do what is good and right.
3. Prayer can be good, or better. But any prayer that is coming from a good heart, with good intentions (good, not perfect), is good prayer.

I couldn’t make a ranking of the mysteries of the Rosary, but I agree with you that the mysteries you name are very good linked to the Eucharist. I love that you included the wedding at Cana. (on a personal note, that is going to cost me SE points: my calling to become a deacon, just after the “completen” in a Trappist monastery, were the Holy Mother reminding me of the words you can read in the story of the wedding, she said to the διακόνους, the “deacons”, to just do what He told them to do)

The only thing I would advice against: don’t call what you do a “Eucharistic Rosary”. Just explain these are the mysteries you feel are most connected to the Eucharist, but don’t introduce a new term for a particular event as if it is an established ritual.

But besides that, I just wish you a good procession, a lot of devotions, and I pray that the Good Lord will bless your endeavour.

Answer 2

Is it OK to pray any five decades of the Rosary or do they have to be in the specific set of mysteries?

There is no golden rules here. But it would behoove one to choose the 5 Mysteries of the Rosary that would be most fitting to this particular occasion.

Traditionally the Church uses litanies while doing processions, no matter what the occasion. The Litanies of the Saints are the most common litanies chanted in processions.

I would like to recommend that for the Corpus Christi Procession, you would consider chanting the Litaniae de Sanctissimo Sacramento (Litany of the Most Blessed Sacrament). Traditional Benedictine monasteries in France do this. You could end it with Ecce Panis Angelorum

This would be the traditional way!

Answer 3

St. Louis de Montfort, Methods for Saying the Rosary, "Fifth Method: 150 Motives Impelling us to say the Rosary" gives two decades with special intentions for each Hail Mary on the "Manner of saying the Rosary well" and "Different methods of saying the holy Rosary":

46.	15 Our Father	Manner of saying the Rosary well.
	1 Hail Mary	It must be said with a pure heart without attachment to grave sin.
	2 Hail Mary	In a worthy manner with good intentions.
	3 Hail Mary	With attention avoiding voluntary distractions.
	4 Hail Mary	Slowly and calmly with pauses in the prayers.
	5 Hail Mary	Devout whilst meditating on the mysteries.
	6 Hail Mary	Modestly and in a respectful attitude whether standing or kneeling.
	7 Hail Mary	Wholeheartedly and every day.
	8 Hail Mary	Inwardly when it is said alone.
	9 Hail Mary	Publicly and in two responding groups.
	10 Hail Mary	Perseveringly until death.
47.	16 Our Father	Different methods of saying the holy Rosary.
	1 Hail Mary	The holy Rosary can be said in a straightforward manner, saying only the Our Fathers and Hail Marys with the intentions of the mysteries.
	2 Hail Mary	We can add a word to each mystery of the decade.
	3 Hail Mary	We can make a little offering at each decade.
	4 Hail Mary	We can make a more important offering at each decade.
	5 Hail Mary	We can have a special intention for each Hail Mary.
	6 Hail Mary	We can recite it inwardly without speaking.
	7 Hail Mary	We can genuflect at each Hail Mary.
	8 Hail Mary	We can prostrate at each Hail Mary.
	9 Hail Mary	We can give ourselves a stroke of the discipline.
	10 Hail Mary	We can commemorate the saints at each decade and blend with one of the above-mentioned methods as the Holy Spirit inspires.