How to pray the Chaplet of Our Mother of Perpetual Help
A simple step-by-step guide to the Chaplet of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, prayed on an ordinary rosary — which prayer to say on each bead, from start to finish.
22 October 2026 · 2 min read
The Chaplet of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is a short, simple devotion. You do not need special beads: it is prayed on an ordinary five-decade rosary. It takes about fifteen minutes.
If you would rather be led bead by bead, open the interactive Chaplet and tap the screen to move from one bead to the next.
The rosary at a glance
An ordinary rosary has a loop of five decades — groups of ten small beads, each group beginning with one larger bead — joined at a centre medal, and a short strand with three small beads that ends in a crucifix.
Step by step
Begin with the crucifix. Make the Sign of the Cross.
On each large bead, pray:
O Mother of Perpetual Help,
Listen to our pleading souls,
You can help us in our needs,
Mary, with hope, we call on you.On each of the ten small beads, pray:
O Mary, help us!
After the ten small beads, pray the refrain:
Mary has helped us,
Mary wants to help us,
Mary can help us.
Mary will help us.Repeat steps 2–4 for all five decades.
On the three small beads near the crucifix, pray one Hail Mary followed by one Glory Be on each bead.
End with the closing prayer:
We fly to your patronage,
O Holy Mother of God.
Despise not our petitions in our necessities,
but deliver us from all dangers,
O ever glorious and blessed Virgin Mary.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us!
A word about the closing prayer
"We fly to your patronage" is one of the oldest prayers to Mary that we know of. In Latin it is called the Sub tuum praesidium, and a version of it survives on an Egyptian papyrus from the early centuries of the Church. The Chaplet ends it with the invocation "Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us!"
Praying it well
- Say the short invocation "O Mary, help us!" slowly — it is a cry of trust, not a formula to rush through.
- Hold a particular intention in mind for each decade: someone who is ill, your family, your work, those who have asked for your prayers.
- The Chaplet can be prayed alone, or in a group with one person leading the large-bead prayer and everyone answering on the small beads.
Sources
The Chaplet is a popular devotion rather than an official liturgical text. The structure and wording above are as published by: