A Review of Books on the Rosary
For the month of January, I purchased several books on the Rosary and went through them. The list is not comprehensive (that will come later), but includes everything I could easily purchase by searching online for books on the Rosary.
I have listed them in order of how much I recommend them, with the most recommended at the top. This means that books lower on the list are not necessarily bad, only that other books higher up are recommended first. Additionally, these books serve several different purposes. Sr. Proctor’s book is unique, and can be read in addition to any other book on this list without redundancy. But if you’re only looking for a short book of meditations, you would prefer ‘The Complete Rosary’ (#4) over the books in the #2 and #3 spots. If a book is made somewhat or completely redundant by another book on this list, that drops it far lower on the list (Fr. Calloway’s books are the clearest example of this). The short reviews will show the kind of book it is, and my reasoning for its spot on the list.
The Secret of The Rosary, by St. Louis de Montfort
Pros: Considered the great classic on the Rosary
Cons: None
This book is superb, and is still considered the greatest classic on the Rosary. St. Louis de Montfort teaches you what the Rosary is, the meaning of each prayer and mystery, the importance of saying the Rosary devoutly, and the incredible number of benefits from praying the Rosary. If you read one book on the Rosary, make it this one.
Champions of The Rosary, by Fr. Donald H. Calloway, MIC
Pros: Comprehensive, detailed, highly praised
Cons: 2 possible errors
If not for the two possible errors, I would have put this book first. It is amazingly comprehensive, covering the complete history of the Rosary and the many great saints that promoted it. He has a section with art on the Rosary, including a few he commissioned for this book. If you are looking for information on the Rosary rather than meditations, this is the only book you will need.
There are many apparitions and miracles mentioned in this book, two of which I found so amazing that I wanted to spread the word about after first confirming. The first is a story of a woman that was saved from Ted Bundy by the Rosary, with Bundy mentioning a “mysterious force” stopping him from hurting the woman. I spent some time trying to find testimony from either the unnamed woman or Bundy on this, but all I found were others trying unsuccessfully to find the same thing. The second possible error is the claim that geologists have tested the image of Our Lady of Las Lajas and can’t explain it. I couldn’t find anything on this. I call these “possible” errors because they may be true despite my inability to find any support for them. But even with these potential issues, the rest of the book is superb, earning it the #2 spot.
101 Inspirational Stories of The Rosary, edited by Sr. Patricia Proctor, OSC
Pros: Unique, beautiful, contains Rosarium Virginis Mariae
Cons: Typos
Sister Patricia Proctor has created a beautiful book, collecting 101 stories relating to the Rosary. Some of these are miracles, some talk of people coming or returning to the faith, and some are just nice stories. This book was very clearly a labor of love. It is also, surprisingly, the only book on this list to contain the text of Rosarium Virginis Mariae. The appendices in the back also contain guides to other resources on the Rosary, and a guide to make your own. The only negatives are the occasional typos.
The Complete Rosary, by William G. Storey
Pros: Most comprehensive devotional book
Cons: None
The next several books are all focused on providing meditations and ways to improve your devotion to the Rosary. Of these, this was the most comprehensive. It contains many different methods of praying the Rosary that should help the easily-distracted, as well as meditations, concluding prayers, and litanies. If you’ve read St. Louis de Montfort’s book and are still having trouble focusing, this would be the next in line.
The Contemplative Rosary, by Dan Burke and Connie Rossini
Pros: Good reflections, good intro essays on St. John Paul II and St. Teresa of Avila
Cons: Very similar to The Complete Rosary
This book is written in a very similar spirit to The Complete Rosary, but isn’t as comprehensive. The reflections are helpful and the meditations are decent, but I would always recommend The Complete Rosary above this.
Meditations on The Holy Rosary, by Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo
Pros: Written by Fr. Ruotolo
Cons: Fifteen short meditations, but longer luminous
This is the only author on this list besides St. Louis de Montfort that makes Fr. Calloway’s list of “Champions of The Rosary.” Fr. Ruotolo wrote 15 short meditations on the Rosary, then the editor added 5 longer meditations on the luminous mysteries pulled from his other writings. The editor also added some of his other related writings at the end.
My Rosary, by Fr. Gabriele Amorth
Pros: Written by an exorcist
Cons: None
This book ended up on the middle of the list for being pretty average. Fr. Amorth’s writings on the mysteries are pretty good. If you are looking for helpful meditations, I would recommend those above. But there’s also nothing wrong with this book, so at this point most books further down on this list are there because of their cons, or because they are made redundant by the books above.
The Rosary, with Bishop Robert Barron
Pros: Long and short unique reflections, easy to follow
Cons: Minimal
This is a pretty minimal book, but Bishop Barron’s meditations are unique. I prefer other meditations from the above books, but this is only a matter of preference. If you are still learning the basics of the Rosary, this book is one of the easier ones to follow.
The Rosary Handbook, by Mitch Finley
Pros: Generally helpful writings on the mysteries, good introduction for the layman
Cons: Overstates the case against the Pious Tradition, cites Fr. James Martin
Most of this book is fine. I think it can be recommended to the average Catholic that isn’t that focused on the faith, someone that doesn’t pray often but has been meaning to, and prefers something simple, but more than a minimal book of meditations. The author does deny that St. Dominic had anything to do with the Rosary, and although I am open to that possibly being true, I think he largely overstates the evidence as firmly against the Pious Tradition when that’s not the case. He also cites Fr. James Martin, which, of course, isn’t in itself a bad thing (the quote is fine), but it does signal the perspective of the author.
The Rosary, by Garry Wills
Pros: Pullitzer prize winning author, decent commentaries on the mysteries
Cons: Dismissive of church teaching on indulgences, poor image formatting
I was surprised to learn that this author was famous as a Catholic historian after reading this book. The commentaries on the mysteries are perfectly fine, but the one negative that puts this so low on the list is his complete dismissiveness of the validity of indulgences. He does believe that they have done more harm by incentivizing people to treat the Rosary mechanically and rush through it so that they can get an indulgence, but goes further and insists the whole concept of indulgences is a fraud, with no theological basis. The other small negative is the image formatting. The book has a set of color images together, and the same black and white images before each mystery. But because many of the images are spread across two pages, you can barely see the center of the image as it folds into the spine.
The Rosary and Devotion to Mary, by Deacon Andrew J. Gerakas
Pros: A wide variety of info
Cons: Difficult to read, redundant
Some authors can take complicated or dry subjects and write in a way that makes them fascinating. This author, as grateful as I am to him for his commitment as a Deacon, writes in a way that I found difficult to follow. Everything in this book (history, apparitions, ways to pray the rosary, etc) can be found in the books listed above, so I would recommend those instead.
Saint Dominic and The Rosary, by Catherine Beebe
Pros: Easily readable biography on St. Dominic
Cons: Misleading title
Since this book has “The Rosary” in the title, I bought it. But the book is just a biography of St. Dominic, and, as you would expect from any biography that affirms the Pious Tradition, it mentions St. Dominic receiving the Rosary, but otherwise doesn’t mention it. Since it barely mentions the Rosary, it’s unfair to put it very high on a list of Rosary books. But as a book written for children to learn about the life of St. Dominic, it is highly recommended.
10 Wonders of The Rosary, by Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC
Pros: Easy to read, lots of great info
Cons: 2 possible errors, redundant to #2
This book is pretty fantastic, but is lower on the list because it is made redundant by Fr. Calloway’s Champions of The Rosary in the #2 spot. It also contains the same possible errors (see comments to the #2 spot). If Champions of The Rosary is too long and you want something shorter, this is preferable. Besides that, Champions of The Rosary is in every way better.
The Illustrated Rosary, by Victor Hoagland, C.P.
Pros: Pocket size
Cons: Extremely minimal, redundant to meditation books on this list
This book’s unique advantage is its size. If you want to introduce people to the Rosary, this would be easy to keep on hand and giving it to someone would provide them with everything they need to learn the Rosary. Unfortunately, that’s about it. It contains the basics, as well as an image and short meditation for each mystery. Any book on this list containing meditations will provide you with more. A link to a website or online video on the Rosary would work just as well.
Rosary Gems: Daily Wisdom on the Holy Rosary, by Fr. Donald Calloway
Pros: Unique on this list, being 365 quotes on the Holy Rosary
Cons: Several of the quotes, redundant to #2
This is the only book on this list that is formatted to be read throughout the year. I can also see it being useful as a resource for finding quotes on the Rosary. Unfortunately, many of the quotes fall short of inspiring or illuminating. The quote for April 13th is “The rosary should be said with devotion.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori) The quote for May 6th is “Do you pray the Rosary every day?” (Pope Francis) There isn’t anything objectionable about these quotes, and together they are a reminder of the quantity and quality of our rosaries, but they fall short of what I’d expect to be “Daily Wisdom.” There are many great quotes in this book, especially those from St. Louis de Montfort, but these can be found in the “Rosary Gems” sections of Fr. Calloway’s other book, Champions of The Rosary (see above).
The Rosary of Our Lady of Sorrows, by Richard Dole
Pros: It’s a book
Cons: Typos, formatting, simplistic
I put a divider above to separate this from the rest of the list, since it’s a book on the Seven Sorrows Rosary and not the standard Dominican Rosary. This book will give you everything you need to pray the Seven Sorrows Rosary, but there are typos and strange formatting (the book could be about half the size that it is). If you require a book to teach you this Rosary, it will suffice, but there are many better resources on the internet.