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Learn Latin - Begin With The Rosary
The Rosary consists of nine prayers and the recitation of the Mysteries.  For the most part, these are the simplest and most recited prayers of the Catholic Church.  Additionally, four are recited very often in a single Rosary (i.e. Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Gloria Patri and Oratio Fatima) providing the opportunity to do the mental exercises necessary to memorize them and the growing confidence needed to move forward .  Once memorized, these initial prayers provides the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction required to take on the less recited and more difficult prayers(i.e. Signum Crucis, Salve Regina, Oremus, and Credo Apostolorum).  Finally, the Mysteries of the Rosary(Mysterium Rosarii) take the longest, because they are only recited every several days.

A Close Correlation between English and Latin in the Rosary

Prayers of the Rosary, also, with a few exceptions, have fairly similar English to Latin sentence structure, making the process of translation simpler.

Memorize the Most Recited Prayers First, from Shortest to Longest

The Ave Maria occurs fifty times.  The Pater Noster, Gloria Patri and Oratio Fatima occur five times.

From those recited five times, the shortest is the Gloria Patri, next longest is the Oratio Fatima, then the Pater Noster.  if we apply the same to the prayers which occur only once, our order of memorization works out as follows:

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  1. Ave Maria

  2. Gloria Patri

  3. Oratio Fatima

  4. Pater Noster

  5. Signum Crucis

  6. Salve Regina

  7. Oremus Animas et Pontifice

  8. Credo Apostolorum

  9. Mysterium Rosarii

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Once you complete the Credo Apostolorum, be good to yourself, and consider your task achieved.  The Mysterium Rosarii will take forever to commit to memory from the standard daily recitation of the Rosary, and as you continue to pursue announcing the Mysteries in Latin, over the years, your mind will introduce you to and cause you to desire to speak Latin with proper sentence structure as you explore the various ways the mysteries may be introduced.  Personally, I have been praying the Rosary daily in Latin for about 7-8 years.  As my time for additional Latin memorization projects has diminished, simply reciting the mystery at the beginning of each decade has been sufficient for me to begin to expand my understanding of grammar and structure without taking classes.  Its been a phenomenal experience that never stops giving back to me.

Getting Started - Learn To Recite The Ave Maria From Memory

As and Example to get started, lets take the Ave Maria, and recite the prayer in English, adding a line every 5 recitations of the Hail Mary, until we can say the Latin line without hesitation.  I call this "Burning in the Latin" of the prayer in my mind.

After completing pronunciation and translation work:

  • Step One - Line 1

    • Recite as follows:

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum

Blessed are you among women

And blessed is the fruit of your womb,

Jesus

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Pray for Us Sinners,

Now and at the hour of our death. Amen

  • ​Say the prayer 5 or so times, until you can say line one without hesitating.​

  • Step 2 - Line 1-2

    • Recite as follows:

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum

Benedicta tu in mulieribus

And blessed is the fruit of your womb,

Jesus

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Pray for Us Sinners,

Now and at the hour of our death. Amen​

  • Say the prayer 5 or so times, until you can say line one without hesitating.​

  • Step 3 - Line 1-3

    • Recite as follows:

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum

Benedicta tu in mulieribus

Et benedictus fructus ventris tui,

Jesu

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Pray for Us Sinners,

Now and at the hour of our death. Amen​

  • Say the prayer 5 or so times, until you can say line one without hesitating.​​

  • Step 4 - Line 1-4

    • Recite as follows:

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum

Benedicta tu in mulieribus

Et benedictus fructus ventris tui,

Jesu

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,

Pray for Us Sinners,

Now and at the hour of our death. Amen​

  • Say the prayer 5 or so times, until you can say line one without hesitating.​

  • Step 5 - Line 1-5

    • Recite as follows:

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum

Benedicta tu in mulieribus

Et benedictus fructus ventris tui,

Jesu

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,

Ora pro nobis peccatoribus,

Now and at the hour of our death. Amen​

  • Say the prayer 5 or so times, until you can say line one without hesitating.​

  • Step 6 - Line 1-6

    • Recite as follows:

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum

Benedicta tu in mulieribus

Et benedictus fructus ventris tui,

Jesu

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,

Ora pro nobis peccatoribus,

Nunc et in ora mortis notsrea. Amen​

  • Say the prayer 5 or so times, until you can say line one without hesitating.

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Congratulations!  You have now Completed your first Latin Prayer.  Its that easy!

Latin Prayers Helps One Pray Without Ceasing

As you can see, it does not take much to "Burn in the Latin" words.  As we persevere in prayer, which we need supposed to do anyway, we can learn as much Latin as our prayers provide, and our desire to pray leads us.  I have found that learning to pray in Latin has caused me to want to learn more Latin prayers which in turn has caused me to want to pray more, and, because the Latin visits my conscious mind during idle moments every day, I have begun to pray without ceasing.

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