Like the 5 sorrowful mysteries 3 times, and omitting the joyful and glorious, just for Lent.

I have heard of that custom also.

Why not?  There's nothing stopping you.  There's no Church law that requires you to pray the Rosary at all.  As to whether it is advisable or ideal, I am sure people might have different opinions.  I could go either way myself.

Well yeah, but if you're going to pray the Rosary at all, then you're supposed to follow the rules, praying all 3 mysteries and not omitting one or another.

I know that in the beginning there wasn't any such division of "Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious" but they were revealed to St. Dominic, or he came up with them, I'm not sure, but the idea is that this is how it has become with Tradition, so I've always thought you would be going against Tradition if you did whatever you wanted to, or that you somehow wouldn't get the full benefits etc.

I've thought about not praying the Joyful before, because I find them harder to meditate on, and I believe there is more merit/fruit in meditating on the Passion above all else, but I've thought it wouldn't "count" if I were to omit them.

The oldest book I have with instructions on the rosary is the Raccolta 1857, the first published in English.  It states:

Joyful, every day from the 1st Sunday of Advent 'til the Feast of the Purification Feb 2nd
Sorrowful every day from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday
Glorious every day from Easter Sunday to Trinity Sunday.

Any other day of the year the mysteries alternate with the Glorious on Sunday

The book states that in this way the Rosary is prayed according to the calendar of the Church.

I've found this method stated in Missals and Prayerbooks as late as the 1961 Ideal Missal.  Only after the 2nd WW did the people start this alternating method all year.

I started paying the rosary this way and it sure helps you focus on the liturgical season.

Disputaciones, you really come across as extremely scrupulous.  Just do what you feel.  God just wants you to pray.  These are all just CUSTOMS and not rules.

Quote from: Cantarella

Yes. You may always say the Rosary mysteries at your choice. It is the prevalent custom to say the sorrowful mysteries on Tuesdays, Fridays, and the Sundays during Lent.

Thats still 3 days a week, not everyday.

There is nothing wrong with praying them every day if you wish to do so.

I always start with the Sorrowful in Lent, then Glorious, then Joyful.

I'd never heard of anyone praying just the Sorrowful on Sundays of Lent.  I thought it was because Sundays are not "days" of Lent, so on Sundays I start with the Joyful.

But as previously stated it is just custom although I thought Our Lady always said to pray "The Rosary", which would be all 15 decades, not just 5.  That said, 5 is better than none.

Regarding indulgences (which are always a good consideration) you can receive all the Rosary indulgences by praying only the Sorrowful Mysteries as often as you like.

The rule has long been that all 5 decades of any THIRD of the 15 Mysteries are required for one Rosary indulgence. So you could pray only the Joyful Mysteries or only the Glorious Mysteries as well as only the Sorrowful Mysteries. There are no Rosary indulgences for praying less than a group of 5 Mysteries in one day. All you would receive is the indulgence (if any) for each of the prayers you say.

All 5 mysteries must be completed in one session, in one day, with reasonable interruptions if necessary. If you stop in the middle of a particular decade you should resume later in the same day by starting that decade over with the Pater Noster. When praying alone you do not need to literally announce the mystery, so long as you can do the meditation for that mystery -- but for most of us it helps to speak the name of the mystery. When praying in a group of two or more, the name of the mystery must be pronounced, generally by the person leading the prayers. Reading or spontaneously speaking a brief meditation of that particular mystery is often very helpful for the group, but sometimes it can be a distraction or a cause for disagreement (the devil is always looking for ways of interfering with our prayers).

I was privileged to attend a daily rosary group that met in Beverly Hills at the parish Church there many years ago and there was a very gracious older lady who led the prayers. She had a seemingly endless variety of brief meditations of about 20 seconds that she would say before each mystery. I asked her one time after the prayers where she gets these descriptions of the 15 decades and she told me that she had long been practicing a spontaneous meditation for each decade, and it comes naturally to her even without having to try hard. She thought that she was following the lead of the Holy Ghost, Who gave her the words to use. I never heard her say anything contrary to Church doctrine in those prayers. I told her I was very impressed by her contribution and it gave me something to think about for each decade, more than I was accustomed to having. She replied that anyone can do this, as it is a product of asking the Holy Ghost for the grace of contemplation on the Rosary Mysteries. I would expect she is no longer with us, as she was likely in her 70's at the time and that was about 1984. So now she would be over 100.

Curiously, only the original 15 decades (by name, officially) have been given indulgences, and the 2002 addition of the "Luminous" mysteries never was given any indulgence.

When you are in a group and everyone is in the state of grace, each person praying the Rosary receives the indulgence of all the people present. Of course, you can only receive one plenary indulgence in a given day. But if there are say 4 people, each person gets 4 partial indulgences, and perhaps one plenary. If the group is 50 persons, each person gets 50 partial indulgences and perhaps one plenary.