Then follows most appropriately the Apostle’s Creed.  It declares more fully that which the sign of the Cross indicates.  The twelve articles of the Creed contain that which we must firmly believe if we would be saved.

The Creed most properly opens the Rosary because it is the basis of our faith.  The Joyful Rosary expounds the article of faith:  “Conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.”  The Sorrowful Rosary is a commemoration of the article:  “Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.”  The glorious is founded upon the article:  “Rose again from the dead, ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God.”  Thus the entire Rosary is in truth a prayer of faith, and draws from the faith its force and efficacy.

After the Creed follows “Glory be to the Father,” which is repeated at every decade of the Rosary as it is also said in the ecclesiastical “hours” after every Psalm.  To give glory to God is our chief duty, it must be our intention in all our words and works.  To give glory to God must also be our principal intention in saying the Rosary.  As we repeat this doxology at the end of each decade, we should again raise up our mind and heart to God with fresh sentiments of faith, love, and confidence.  This preserves us from distraction and gives new zeal to our prayers.

After the first “Glory be to God” we say one Our Father and three Hail Marys for the increase of the three divine virtues.  The three divine virtues are the foundation of the right disposition which we must have, in order truly and worthily to honor God.  St. Augustine says:  “God is to be glorified through faith, hope, and charity.  They are the corner-stone of the Christian life.”  And the Apostle says:  “The just man liveth by faith” (Heb. x, 38), meaning that man lays the foundation for his justification through faith, receives the life of justification from faith, perseveres in this just life through faith, perfects this life through the light and the power of faith whence hope and charity proceed.

To promote this kind of life is the aim of the devotion of the Rosary.  The more pious and virtuous we become, the more we glorify God and assure our temporal and eternal happiness.

These prayers are the introduction and preparation to the prayer of the Rosary, which combines meditation of the Mysteries with the recital of the Our Fathers and Hail Marys.  The Rosary is a prayer indeed for the glory of God and for honoring and invoking Mary the Mother of God.  The Mysteries of the Rosary contain that which God has done in order to glorify Himself and to redeem, sanctify, and save mankind.  At the same time these mysteries from the lives of Jesus and Mary are fraught with touching examples for our own lives.  In the devout contemplation of these mysteries, and in the application of the same to our own religious moral life, lie the gist of the prayers of the Rosary and the chief fruits which we should draw from this saving devotion.