Q. 1078.  When are palms blessed and of what do they remind us?  A. Palms are blessed on Palm Sunday.  They remind us of Our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when the people, wishing to honor Him and make Him king, strewed palm branches and even their own garments in His path, singing:  Hosanna to the Son of David.

Q. 1079.  What is the difference between a cross and a crucifix?  A. A cross has no figure on it and a crucifix has a figure of Our Lord.  The word crucifix means fixed or nailed to the cross.

Q. 1080.  What is the Rosary?  A. The Rosary is a form of prayer in which we say a certain number of Our Fathers and Hail Marys, meditating or thinking for a short time before each decade; that is, before each Our Father and ten Hail Marys, on some particular event in the life of Our Lord.  These events are called mysteries of the Rosary.  The string of beads on which these prayers are said is also called a Rosary.  The ordinary beads are of five decades, or one-third of the whole Rosary.

Q. 1081.  Who taught the use of the Rosary in its present form?  A. St. Dominic taught the use of the Rosary in its present form.  By it he instructed his hearers in the chief truths of our holy religion and converted many to the true faith.

Q. 1082.  How do we say the Rosary, or beads?  A. To say the Rosary or beads we bless ourselves with the cross, then say the Apostles’ Creed and the Our Father on the first large bead, then the Hail Mary on each of the three small beads, and then Glory be to the Father, &c.  Then we mention or think of the first mystery we wish to honor, and say an Our Father on the large bead and a Hail Mary on each small bead of the ten that follow.  At the end of every decade, or ten Hail Marys, we say “Glory be to the Father;” &c.  Then we mention the next mystery and do as before, and so on to the end.

Q. 1083.  How many mysteries of the Rosary are there?  A. There are fifteen mysteries of the Rosary arranged in the order in which these events occurred in the life of Our Lord, and divided into five joyful, five sorrowful, and five glorious mysteries.

Q. 1084.  Say the five joyful mysteries of the Rosary.  A. The five joyful mysteries of the Rosary are:  (1) The Annunciation—­the Angel Gabriel telling the Blessed Virgin that she is to be the Mother of God; (2) the Visitation—­the Blessed Virgin goes to visit her cousin, St. Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist; (3) the Nativity, or birth, of Our Lord; (4) the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the temple—­His parents offered Him to God; (5) the finding of the Child Jesus in the temple—­His parents had lost Him in Jerusalem for three days.

Q. 1085.  Say the five sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary.  A. The five sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary are:  (1) The Agony in the Garden—­Our Lord was in dreadful anguish and bathed in a bloody sweat; (2) the Scourging at the Pillar—­Christ was stripped of His garments and lashed in a cruel manner; (3) the Crowning with Thorns—­He was mocked as a king by heartless men; (4) the Carriage of the Cross—­from the place He was condemned to Calvary, the place of Crucifixion; (5) the Crucifixion—­He was nailed to the cross amid the jeers and blasphemies of His enemies.