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BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ROSARY According to historians, the Rosary is an ancient form of prayer. The Christians in the first centuries used a knotted rope to count their devout deeds; and they used to move their thumbs one knot after the other. When monasteries and orders were first established beginning of the fourth century onward, monks prayed together. Their prayers were limited to reciting the "OUR Father" and "Hail Mary" and to the chanting of the 150 Psalms. The illiterate monks who were entrusted with working the land were exempt from chanting the Psalms; and they replaced it by reciting the "Our Father" and one hundred and fifty times the "Hail Mary". When the Crusades invaded the Orient in the beginning of the 11th century, it was essential to find an easy and simple prayer that could fulfill the needs of illiterate soldiers. At that time, their leader and guide, Peter the Hermit, advised them to use the rope with the one hundred and fifty knots, which was used by monks, and to recite the "Hail Mary" one hundred and fifty times in the place of the Psalms. Later on, this prayer became widely used by a number of Believers.