When you read about Catholic traditions, especially in regards to the Rosary, you're going to find yourself coming across words that may be unfamiliar to you. To help you on your way, this page provides a short glossary of these terms.
A Chaplet is a form of Christian meditative prayer that uses prayer beads. However, while the Rosary is a form of chaplet, many chaplets use different numbers or groupings of beads and prayers, so not every chaplet is a Rosary or can be prayed using one.
The difference between a cross and a crucifix is that the former is bare; a crucifix is a cross with Christ still upon it. On a Rosary, the crucifix marks the starting location of your prayer.
Beads in a Rosary are grouped into sets of ten, known as a decade. When praying the Rosary, you'll use these ten beads to time how long to meditate on a specific Mystery.
A Mystery of the Rosary refers to an event in the life of Jesus or Mary. While praying the Rosary, the faithful meditate on these different events as a way to study them or grow in their Faith.
See the list of Mysteries for more information.
An older term for the popular prayer known as the Our Father or Lord's Prayer.
