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Traditional Catholic devotion

The Passionist Chaplet of the Five Wounds

A traditional Passionist devotion to the wounds of Christ

The Passionist Chaplet of the Five Wounds is a short meditation on the wounds of Christ crucified. It is arranged in five groups of five beads.

On every bead, pray one Glory Be. After each group of five, pray one Hail Mary in honor of the sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

At a glance

Groups

5

Beads in each group

5

Glory Bes

25 total

Hail Marys

5 total

Source choice: This guide follows the simplified Passionist form printed in The New Raccolta in 1903. The source prescribes no required opening or closing prayer, so none has been added.

Prayer order

How to pray it

  1. Recall the first Wound

    Turn your mind to one of the Five Wounds of Christ.

  2. Pray five Glory Bes

    Pray one Glory Be on each of the five beads in the group, for five Glory Bes in all.

  3. Honor Our Lady of Sorrows

    After the five Glory Bes, pray one Hail Mary in honor of the sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

  4. Complete all five groups

    Repeat the same pattern while meditating on each of the Five Wounds.

  5. Conclude simply

    The 1903 source gives no required conclusion. You may end in silence or with your customary prayer.

Meditation guide

A customary order for the Five Wounds

The 1903 text calls for prayer in memory of the Five Wounds but does not assign their order. Passionist custom commonly uses the order below.

  1. The Wound in the Left Foot

    Adore the wound Christ received when His left foot was fastened to the Cross.

  2. The Wound in the Right Foot

    Adore the wound Christ received when His right foot was fastened to the Cross.

  3. The Wound in the Left Hand

    Adore the wound Christ received when His left hand was fastened to the Cross.

  4. The Wound in the Right Hand

    Adore the wound Christ received when His right hand was fastened to the Cross.

  5. The Wound in the Sacred Side

    Adore the wound opened in the side of Christ after His death on the Cross.

Pray from this page

Prayer texts

Only the Glory Be and Hail Mary are required in the simplified traditional form.

Glory Be to the Father

Open prayer page

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Source: With God: A Book of Prayers and Reflections (1911), Francis Xavier Lasance, page 790.

The Hail Mary

Open prayer page

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Source: With God: A Book of Prayers and Reflections (1911), Francis Xavier Lasance, page 153.

Historical record

History and sources

Pope Pius VII approved an earlier, longer form of the devotion in 1822. Pope Leo XII approved the simplified Passionist form in 1823. It was this shorter form that became customary on the five-part chaplet.

A Passionist historical account explains that a 1939 Holy Office decision concerned a different Five Wounds devotion. It did not condemn the Passionist chaplet described here.

Do not confuse two different devotions

This is the Passionist Chaplet of the Five Wounds. It is not the later Rosary of the Holy Wounds, sometimes called the Rosary of Mercy. The names are similar, but the prayer structures and histories are different.

About older indulgence grants

Older editions record indulgences that belonged to their period. The Church revised indulgence discipline in 1967, so this guide does not present those older grants as current.

Continue exploring

Other traditional Rosaries and Chaplets

Brigittine Rosary

Six divisions of one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and the Apostles’ Creed, with a final Our Father and three Hail Marys.

Open the guide

Franciscan Crown

Seven decades in honor of the Seven Joys of Our Lady, following an 1869 Franciscan manual from beginning to end.

Open the guide

Seven Sorrows Rosary

Seven groups of seven Hail Marys while meditating on the principal sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Open the guide

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