The Battle Rosary: the full text, from the Creed to the Hail, Holy Queen
The prayer
To begin, on the crucifix: the Apostles’ Creed.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
On the first single bead: an Our Father, in full.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen.
On the three beads that follow: three Hail Marys, in full (3x).
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst 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.
On the single bead before each decade, in place of the Our Father — the author’s own words, in her Portuguese:
Deus do céu me dê força. Jesus Cristo me dê poder. Nossa Senhora me dê coragem para essa batalha eu irei vencer.
In English: God of heaven, give me strength. Jesus Christ, give me power. Our Lady, give me courage, for this battle I shall win.
On the ten beads of the decade, in place of the Hail Mary (10x) — again her Portuguese first:
Jesus essa batalha eu irei de vencer.
In English: Jesus, this battle I shall win.
Repeat the two steps above until the five decades are complete.
At the very end: the Hail, Holy Queen.
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
In short
The Battle Rosary is a family prayer, composed by Maria Aparecida Brandão Schmitt and dedicated to Valéria Cristina Schmitt. It is prayed on the beads of the ordinary rosary: the opening in full and then, on the decades, two short invocations in place of the Our Father and the Hail Mary. This page gives the whole text.
- Written by
- Raphael Navarro Schmitt
- Reviewed by
- Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt
- Published on
- Reading time
- 7 min read
When to pray it
In front of a fight that has already begun and has not yet ended — an illness, a legal case, a long crossing. It takes as long as an ordinary rosary, fifteen to twenty minutes, and it was made to be repeated for as long as the battle lasts.
The author’s two lines do not ask for the battle to end, and that is what sets them apart. The first asks for three things and names who gives each one — strength, power, courage — and closes on a statement rather than a request: this battle I shall win. The second is that same statement cut to the bone, repeated ten times in every decade. Whoever prays it is not negotiating an end to the fight: they are saying, fifty times over, that they will get through it.
Which battle it is, the text never says, and that is not vagueness. A prayer that named the illness, the lawsuit or the debt would serve one person and nobody else. This one serves anyone in the middle of something that has not finished yet, which is why it can be prayed both by the person it was given to and by whoever finds it here.
The opening is set out in full on this page rather than merely named. The original instruction lists the Creed, the Our Father and the three Hail Marys by title, the way you write for someone at home who knows all three by heart. A page open on the internet cannot assume that: whoever arrives may be praying their first rosary, and sending them elsewhere for the words amounts to not publishing them.
The structure of the rosary is what makes a composition like this work. The ten beads are not there to pile up repetitions but to give the mind somewhere to rest its hands while the rest of it holds on to one thing — here, the fight the person is in. It is the same reason many people think better while walking: an occupied hand frees the attention.
Where this prayer comes from
When it appeared A family composition, no date on record
The Battle Rosary was composed by Maria Aparecida Brandão Schmitt, in Portuguese, and dedicated by her to Valéria Cristina Schmitt. It has no published edition, does not circulate in print and came from no devotional book: it reached this page through the family, in the author’s own wording. The date it was written is not on record, and this page does not invent one.
What she wrote is a short instruction and two invocations. The instruction says to begin with the Creed, the Our Father and three Hail Marys; from there on, one line of hers takes the place of the Our Father and another takes the place of the Hail Mary; at the end, the Hail, Holy Queen. The count of the beads is that of the ordinary rosary — five decades, one single bead before each — because that is what the substitution rests on: saying “in place of the Hail Mary” only means something where a Hail Mary already was.
Two editorial decisions are on this page, and both are worth stating. The first: the opening is prayed in full — Creed, Our Father and the three Hail Marys entire — and the substitutions begin only at the decades. The second: her wording is kept exactly, and it is published above in Portuguese before any English, because the translation is ours and hers is hers.
Little-known details
The opening is any rosary’s opening; the two only part company at the first decade
Swapping what is said on the rosary beads is not this composition’s invention
What the passages say
10Concerning the rest, brothers, be strengthened in the Lord, by the power of his virtue.
11Be clothed in the armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the treachery of the devil.
12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the directors of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places.
13Because of this, take up the armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand the evil day and remain perfect in all things.
The passage in the New Testament closest to this prayer’s vocabulary: strength, armour, a fight you are meant to stay standing through. Notice who the opponent is said to be — the text insists the struggle is not against people, which changes what is being asked for when power is asked for.
15And he said: “Pay attention, all of Judah, and you who live in Jerusalem, and you, king Jehoshaphat. Thus says the Lord to you: Do not be afraid. Neither should you be dismayed by this multitude. For the fight is not yours, but God’s.
The line repeated in the face of any battle: it is not yours, it is God’s. It is here because it pulls against the prayer rather than confirming it — the Battle Rosary says “I shall win”, in the first person, and it is worth praying both while knowing they look each other in the eye.
33These things I have spoken to you, so that you may have peace in me. In the world, you will have difficulties. But have confidence: I have overcome the world.”
What is promised is not the absence of trouble, and the verse says both halves in one breath: there will be pressure, and there is still reason for courage. That is the exact shape of the invocations on this page, which assert the victory without ever denying the battle.
37But in all these things we overcome, because of him who has loved us.
38For I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor the present things, nor the future things, nor strength,
39nor the heights, nor the depths, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Where Scripture speaks of conquering in the first person, and so the closest parallel to the line repeated through the decades. The list Paul runs through next — what is present, what is to come, the height and the depth — is his way of saying that no category was left out.