Praying the Rosary for the Dead: Order, Prayers and Custom

A candle burns beside the photograph of the departed, and the beads slip through the fingers, decade after decade, each made up of ten Hail Marys with an Our Father. Praying the Rosary for the dead is one of the quietest ways of standing by someone beyond death. It is not a separate prayer but the traditional Rosary, offered for a particular intention and with a short addition after each decade. This guide explains how it is prayed, gives the prayers in Latin and English, traces the origin of the custom and sets out what the Church teaches about the benefit of this prayer for the departed.

How do you pray the Rosary for the dead?

You pray the Rosary for the dead like any other Rosary, but with a fixed intention: at the start you name the deceased person or all the holy souls, and after each decade you add the prayer “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them”.

The order is the same as in our Rosary prayer companion:

1. The Sign of the Cross and the intention, for example “for my late father N.” or “for all the holy souls in purgatory”.
2. On the crucifix the Apostles’ Creed, then an Our Father, three Hail Marys and the Glory Be.
3. Five decades, each of one Our Father, ten Hail Marys with the mystery, and one Glory Be.
4. After each decade “Eternal rest grant unto them” and, where it is customary, the Fatima Prayer.
5. At the end the Hail, Holy Queen. If you wish, close with the psalm De profundis (“Out of the depths”, Ps 129), which the Church prays for the dead.

The intention need not be spoken aloud. It is enough to think quietly, before the first decade, of the person for whom you are praying. You may pray the Rosary alone or together with your family, at home, in church or at the graveside.

What prayers do you add for the dead?

For the dead you add the Requiem aeternam after each decade, in English “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord”. When praying for a single person, you say “unto him” or “unto her”. The psalm De profundis may follow at the end of the Rosary.

V. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
R. Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
V. Requiescant in pace. R. Amen.

V. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
R. And let perpetual light shine upon them.
V. May they rest in peace. R. Amen.

For one of the departed: V. Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine. R. Et lux perpetua luceat ei. V. Requiescat in pace. R. Amen.

V. Eternal rest grant unto him (her), O Lord. R. And let perpetual light shine upon him (her). V. May he (she) rest in peace. R. Amen.

Latin from Preces et pia opera, 1952, no. 582; English in the traditional form; Latin singular after the missal of Anselm Schott, 1894, p. [117]

For this short prayer with the Requiescant in pace the Church granted an indulgence of 300 days, applicable only to the dead (Preces et pia opera, no. 582). Where the Fatima Prayer is customary after each decade, you pray it as usual and add the Requiem aeternam afterwards. The psalm De profundis with all its verses is given in our guide to prayers for the dead.

Which mysteries do you pray for someone who has died?

Tradition knows no special Rosary mysteries for the dead. You pray the set of the day: the Joyful Mysteries on Mondays and Thursdays, the Sorrowful on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the Glorious Mysteries on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

If you pray for the same person on several evenings, for instance in the days before the funeral, you can pray the three sets one after another and so meditate on all 15 mysteries. The Glorious Mysteries begin with the Resurrection of Our Lord. They fit the Epistle of the first Mass of All Souls’ Day, which speaks of the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:51–57).

Where does the Rosary at a wake come from?

The Rosary at a wake continues a very old custom. In the monasteries the monks kept watch in prayer beside the dead and prayed psalms for their departed brethren. Those who could not read the psalms prayed Our Fathers in their place. Our Lady’s Psalter is closely bound up with this practice.

The evidence goes back a long way. Around 800 the monasteries of St Gall and Reichenau agreed that for every deceased brother all the priests would say a Mass and pray fifty psalms. The customs of Cluny, written down by Udalric in 1096, lay down what each monk is to pray for a deceased brother:

“Quicunque sacerdos est cantet missam pro eo, et qui non est sacerdos quinquaginta psalmos aut toties orationem dominicam.” Let whoever is a priest sing a Mass for him; let whoever is not a priest pray fifty psalms or the Lord’s Prayer as many times.

Consuetudines Cluniacenses (PL 149, 776), cited in: The Rosary, Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 13, 1912

The Rule of the Templars of about 1128 required the knights who could not take part in the choir office to say a hundred Our Fathers a day for a week whenever a brother died. From the 12th century the faithful prayed 50 or 150 Hail Marys, after the pattern of the psalms. The Raccolta of 1910 therefore describes the Rosary as Our Lady’s Psalter: 150 Hail Marys, as many as there are psalms. The wake itself is old as well. In the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1908 Herbert Thurston suggests that the Church’s Office of the Dead grew out of the praying of psalms beside the body.

When should you pray the Rosary for the dead?

You may pray the Rosary for the dead on any day. Special times are the days between death and burial, the third, seventh and thirtieth day after death, the anniversary, and the month of November with All Souls’ Day on 2 November.

The third, seventh and thirtieth days are ancient days of remembrance. On them, counted from the death or from the burial, the 1962 Missal permits a Requiem Mass as on the day of death, with its own orations (Rubrics, no. 417), and as early as Anglo-Saxon England the penitential ascribed to Archbishop Theodore (died 690) and St Dunstan (died 988) explained the commemoration on these days at length. All Souls’ Day is a day of the first class in the 1962 calendar. If 2 November falls on a Sunday, the Church keeps it on 3 November. In 2026, 2 November is a Monday.

For the month of November the Church granted to everyone who prays for the dead an indulgence of three years once a day; whoever does so on every day of the month can gain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions (Preces et pia opera, no. 589). Whoever visits a cemetery during the eight days from All Souls’ Day and prays there for the dead can gain, on each of these days and under the usual conditions, a plenary indulgence applicable only to the dead (no. 592). The Rosary at the graveside combines the two.

Does praying the Rosary really help the dead?

The Rosary does not help the dead like a remedy that works by itself, but as intercession. The Council of Trent taught in 1563 that the souls detained in purgatory are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, but above all by the holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

St Thomas Aquinas grounds this in charity, which unites the members of the Church and does not end with death. Intercession does not change the state of the departed, but it can lessen their punishment (Supplement to the Summa theologiae, q. 71, a. 2).

There is also the indulgence, which can be gained in the state of grace (CIC 1917, can. 925): for five decades prayed devoutly the Church granted five years, and for praying together, ten years once a day. Whoever prays daily for a whole month can gain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions: confession, Holy Communion, a visit to a church and prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father (Preces et pia opera, no. 395; the conditions are given in preliminary note no. 4). Under can. 930 these indulgences may be applied to the souls in purgatory unless otherwise stated.

Because Trent puts the Sacrifice of the Mass first, the Rosary is well accompanied by a Holy Mass that you have offered for the deceased (CIC 1917, can. 809).

Mentioned in this article Memento Mori Paracord Rosary Hand-knotted from 550 paracord, with skull beads for the Our Father, a Miraculous Medal and a Twelve Apostles crucifix. View the rosary Suited to praying for the dead Holy Sepulchre Paracord Rosary Hand-knotted from 550 paracord with 10 mm stone beads, a centrepiece showing the Holy Face of Christ and a Twelve Apostles crucifix. View the rosary

Frequently asked questions about the Rosary for the dead