The Blessed Mother knew that Brother Dominic was puzzled. Tradition tells that it was then that she taught him the way she wanted the Psalter said, the prayer that was to become her Rosary.
"Make clear to them the mysteries of their religion, the divine truths that God has revealed but that they cannot understand. Teach them to picture in their minds the events of my Sons life. Teach them to see as I saw the joys that came into the world with the Annunciation. Recall to them the words of the Angel Gabriel when he announced to me, a Virgin, that I was to be the Mother of the Savior.

 

"'Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with thee.'
"Let them journey with me to my cousin Elizabeth and hear, as I heard, her words of welcome,
"'Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.'"

 

The Holy Spirit had let her know that her Child was the One who would redeem men from their sins.
"Teach them to picture the stable in Bethlehem where Christ the Lord was born."
The Blessed Mother smiled as though she were seeing again the little Lord Jesus in His first cradle.
"Let them walk with Joseph and me when we take the Baby to the great Temple in Jerusalem to receive the blessing of Almighty God. Make them rejoice with us when we find the Holy Child who was lost for three long days."

Then a sadness came over the Blessed Mother as she recalled the sorrows she had shared with her Son. Brother Dominic thought of the Garden of Gethsemane. He wept as he pictured the drops of blood and the sweat on the Savior's face when He beheld the sins of the world.
Brother Dominic had often meditated on the Scourging at the Pillar, for he had chosen the lash of the whip as his own frequent penance. He thought of the crown of thorns which the mocking soldiers had placed upon the head of Christ the King, the heavy Cross which He carried wearily up the long hill to Calvary. Brother Dominic saw them all as Mary had.

He raised his tear-filled eyes to the Blessed Mother. How had she stood so bravely beneath the Cross of her crucified Son? She had shared with Him all of His joys, sorrows, and pain, and the glory of His triumph over death. How well had God prepared her to be the understanding Mother of all mankind!

No one knows the words she spoke to Brother Dominic when he saw her in his vision. It is not exactly known how long it took to arrange our Lady's Psalter into the Hail Mary's separated by the Our Fathers that make up each decade of the Rosary. It is not known how long it took to gather together the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries into the fifteen decades of the entire Rosary.
But it is known that Brother Dominic began at once to preach and teach the Incarnation and the Redemption as he had been directed to by the Blessed Mother.
Filled with new zeal, Brother Dominic began to teach his listeners to picture the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as they prayed the Rosary. They recited our Lord's own prayer, the Our Father. Then they repeated over and over again the Angel Gabriel's words to the Virgin when he announced that she was to be the Mother of God's Son. As they said the Our Fathers and Hail Mary's, they learned to see in their own minds the mystery they named as they began each decade.
The simple words of the prayer kept their thoughts on heavenly matters for as long as their beads slipped through their fingers. The Rosary then became a prayer that everyone could understand. Those with little learning or scholars with profound knowledge could now picture the divine life, each in his own way.
The Petition "Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death" had been included by the common man as "Holy Mary, Mother of God pray for us sinners, and forms similar to this long before it was made official by the Church. The prayer book for the dying, by St. Anselm of Canterbury, a native Italian (died 1109), contains a Latin prayer in verse in which the last line is a petition to Mary for assistance at the hour of death. Very much like the "Holy Mary," it runs as follows: "Mary, Mother of Grace, Mother of Mercy, protect us against the Evil Sprit and take us to heaven at the hour of our death."
In 1568 the Hail Mary was added to the Our Father to become the prescribed form exactly as we pray it today. The Glory-Be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost and the O my Jesus portion of the Rosary have been added and approved by the Church through the years to arrive at it's present form as it is prayed today. Each prayer having it's own history of Praise, Glory, and Worship of God.
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