History of the Rosary of Blessed Alanus, some 300 years later. During the middle ages, evidence suggests that both the Our Father and the Hail Mary were recited with prayer beads. In 13th century Paris, four trade guilds existed of prayer bead makers, who were referred to as "paternosterers", and the beads were referred to as "paternosters", suggesting a continued link between the Our Father ("Pater noster" in Latin) and the prayer beads. In the 12th century, the rule of the English anchorites, the "Ancrene Wisse", specified how groups of 50 Hail Marys were to be broken into five decades of ten Hail Marys
Prayer in the Catholic Church can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself. Contemplation, like all prayer, is pure gift, and not anything one can achieve. The tradition of the Roman Catholic Church highlights four basic elements of prayer: Prayer of Blessing and Adoration, Prayer of Petition, Prayer of Intercession, and Prayer of Thanksgiving. In its widest applications the word "blessing" has a variety of meanings in sacred writings. It can be taken in a sense that is synonymous with praise; thus the Psalmist, "I will bless the Lord at all times; praise shall be always in my mouth." The prayer