Soon-to-be-Blessed Fulton Sheen Designed This Colorful Rosary to Help Catholics Pray for the Whole World

Have you ever seen a rosary with green, red, white, blue, and yellow beads?

It is not just a colorful variation of the traditional rosary. Each decade has a special meaning—and it is a beautiful invitation to pray for the Church throughout the world.

The colorful World Mission Rosary was designed in February 1951 by Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, who will be declared Blessed on September 24.

At the time, Archbishop Sheen served as national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, now known in the United States as the Pontifical Mission Societies. He unveiled the rosary during an episode of his radio program, The Catholic Hour.

“We must pray, and not for ourselves, but for the world,” Sheen said. “To this end, I have designed the World Mission Rosary.”

A Decade for Every Continent

While most rosaries have five decades of the same color, the World Mission Rosary uses five different colors to represent the places where the Church continues to proclaim the Gospel.

Here is what each color means:

Green represents Africa and its forests and grasslands.
Blue represents Oceania and the waters surrounding the Pacific islands.
White represents Europe, the home of the Holy Father.
Red represents the Americas and the fire of faith brought by missionaries.
Yellow represents Asia and the light of the rising sun.

In this way, every decade becomes a prayer for a different part of the world.

As Catholics pray the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, or Glorious Mysteries, they can unite their intentions with missionaries, priests, religious sisters, catechists, families, and new Christians across the globe.

Archbishop Sheen wanted Catholics to remember that the Church is truly universal. The word “Catholic” means universal—and the Mission Rosary gives the faithful a simple, visible way to live that reality.

It reminds us that the Rosary is never only about our own needs. It is also a prayer for Christians suffering persecution, for people who have never heard the name of Jesus, for missionaries far from home, and for the Church’s work in every nation.

Sheen explained that this special rosary could support the Holy Father and the missionary work of the Church through both prayer and practical help for the world’s mission territories.