iBrievary is the Liturgy of the Hours for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The original release was in Italian only, but the new version includes support for English, Spanish, French, Latin, and Rite Ambrosiano. The app is available for 99 cents.
I downloaded it to give it a try out. As someone who has the 4 volume set of the liturgy of the hours I have always wanted an e-book version that automatically had the correct readings for each day. Even after you learn to use the Liturgy of the Hours there is a lot of page flipping going on.
To get started after downloading the app from the iTunes App store you need to go to the settings button, select iBrievary and then select the language to use and the font size. The settings are not accesible through the app itself, but are part of the settings displayed for the iPhone/iPod Touch.
Once the main menu is displayed you can select the readings you want. You can use the refresh button to make the language displayed match the language you selected.
The bottom tab area allows you to select the Brievary, the Mass Readings for the day, provided prayers, and the info & credits section.
Like most iPhone/iPod Touch apps you can choose to view it vertically or horizontally.
When you have selected the section to read you simply swipe down to move the page down.
In practice this works very well and you can be praying the Liturgy of the Hours quite easily and not thinking about the mechanics of moving around the application.
I have read a couple of books via my iPod Touch and it does make a very good book reader which you can hold and control one handed.
The English translation is different from what you would find in the 4 volume set, but I think I like this translation better. You get all of the same texts that you would in the 4 volume set including the two readings in the Office of Reading and the readings they had today were for the exact same readings as I had read today.
The only thing really missing is having a hymn inserted. The text simply says "A suitable hymn may be inserted here." Though I have read that there are plans for an audio accompaniment with Gregorian Chant. The text could also be formatted better for reading. Though I could wish that you could swipe left or right to advance one page.
I would certainly recommend this application. For 99 cents you can’t go wrong and this provides a great introduction to the Liturgy of the Hours for those just starting and might have been put off by all the ribbons you have to use in a paper set. The fact that you get pretty much the full LOH in such a portable fashion is pretty cool.
The Application is written by an Italian Priest, Fr Paolo Padrini and can be downloaded here via iTunes.Some stories about this application have said it is the only iPhone/iPod Touch application approved by the Vatican. Well I certainly doubt that there is some app approving department in the Vatican, it has been mentioned by the Vatican’s Council for Social Communications.
Universalis has a Liturgy of the Hours application that was available from the beginning when the iTunes Application store first opened up. Though the price for this application is $32.99 which certainly kept me from checking it out. The pictures available for it makes it look to have the text formatted much better, though it also includes no hymns.
Regardless iBrievary is a nice addition for my iPod Touch which also has an excellent Advent Calendar and RC Calendar (free saint of the day information), and Douay-Rheims Bible Translation. Though I wish there was an RSV-CE edition of the Bible available for it. While there is a New American Bible version, I am certainly not fond of that translation.
Update: Around the beginning of 2009 the texts for iBrievary have been updated specifically the English version. It now uses the approved texts that identical with the 4-Volume set of the Liturgy of the Hours. It includes the antiphons and the invitory and at times a hymn. It really is now a fully functional replacement for the hard cover copies and can even be used in community. Since the addition I have been using this app full time now and I really love being able to pray the different hours as a single stream without a bunch of page flipping. The formatting of the text could still be improved and I hope to see this in a later version.
There is also a Facebook version called Praybook for those who don’t have an iPhone/iPod Touch.
23 comments
Downloaded it, and love it. Can’t beat 99 cents. Thanks!
Best use of an IPod I’ve heard so far, Jeff. This tempts me to catch up to technology, somewhat.
Not the official translation, but the old one. The USCCB needs to lay down the law and tell the ICEL that they’re releasing all translated texts under the Creative Commons, and that’s that.
Very cool app. Might be motivation enough to push me over the edge to pick up an iPhone sometime soon.
Great review, Jeff! Thanks so much for sharing. I will link to it on my blog soon.
* Sigh * iPod touch only. The iPod I purchased just two years ago is already obsolete.
After a quick comparison, it appears iBreviary uses the same translations as Universalis. While spendy, Universalis does put the whole LOH on the iPod/iPhone vs. needing an internet connection to download the texts for the day. That said, at 99 cents for iBreviary, I now have both. It’s my mission to support all things Catholic on the Apple platforms. 😉 Thanks for the heads up!
BTW, which e-book reader are you using on the iPod? Am having a hard time discerning which one to try since most are not free and I am not infinitely wealthy.
I don’t have an iAnything* (heck, I don’t even have a TV – seriously) and won’t be getting one but I do have the L.O.T.H. Thing is I find the translation of the scriptures, based on the NAB, mind numbingly lame, like the NAB itself. I also find so many of the prayers rather flat. I keep it because I paid money for the set on ebay and because I really do like the Second Readings which are so often from the ancients, saints and others.
What I am eagerly waiting on is the forthcoming English/Latin D-R based Breviary from Baronius Press. I do not know Latin and am only beginning to appreciate the Extra Ordinary Mass but I would love to be following the pre VII breviary.
*OK, I do have a no name mp3 player for cycling and I love it though it’s hard to listen to Chant with wind whipping around my ears.
One very sound American religious community that has recently become “of pontifical right” is planning to switch over to the English breviary used in Scotland, Ireland, England&Wales, Australia, New Zealand … just as soon as they can. If you want an English new rite breviary try getting this one instead of the USA one.
Does ibreviary include antiphons? I checked out the universalis product and liked it a lot but figured out it didn’t include the antiphons.
How the heck did you guys get it into english? Mine’s only italian!
Doh! Nevermind! I was looking for a settings button INSIDE the app itself. You have to use the one which is for the iPod in general.
For those of us who have not converted to the “i”, try Mobile Gabriel. The site offers downloads of the Daily Mass readings for Palm products, along with a Reflection. Mobile Gabriel can be downloaded through MobiPocket (an e-reader) or AvantGo (look under Catholic sites).
Also check out http://www.rc.net for more Catholic Liturgical readings.
Cate – I would recommend the Stanza Ebook reader for the iphone/ipod touch. It is free and has pretty much all need in an ebook reader.
Reading 1
1 Jn 2:18-21
Children, it is the last hour;
and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming,
so now many antichrists have appeared.
Thus we know this is the last hour.
They went out from us, but they were not really of our number;
if they had been, they would have remained with us.
Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.
But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One,
and you all have knowledge.
I write to you not because you do not know the truth
but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 96:1-2, 11-12, 13
R. (11a) Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name;
announce his salvation, day after day.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult before the LORD.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
The LORD comes,
he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
R. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!
Gospel
Jn 1:1-18
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.
But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son,
full of grace and truth.
John testified to him and cried out, saying,
“This was he of whom I said,
‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’”
From his fullness we have all received,
grace in place of grace,
because while the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only-begotten Son, God, who is at the Father’s side,
has revealed him.
excuse me for the 2 comment with the readings….
I’m waiting for the autorization to use ICEL texts….with antiphons, cantics, etc…
I uso from today the American texts of USCCB….
fr. Paolo Padrini
I just downloaded iBreviary. For .99 cents its not too bad, but the requirement to download the readings each day defeats the purpose for me.
I travel a lot and I wanted an app that just put the texts on my ipod so I dont have to lug my books in the field (where there is no wi-fi). I am going to plunk down the $32 for universalis.
Does anyone know how to get the catechism, compendium, and other goodies for the ipod/iphone?
You should check out new app called iMissal on iTunes. It has all the Mass Readings included on the device and doesn’t need a WIFI connection to get them.
Great for those who travel. It thus lets you select the Readings for any date. I love it! It is currently on sale for $4.99 and uses the correct translations for the US.
The latin Ibreviary uses the vulgate text for psalms whereas the official breviary has the text of the neovulgate.
I feel this is a major problem because the neovulgate is alwys understandable whereas the vulgate has its problems and is NOT the common text.
For those who prefer the latin breviary the availability of translations for the lectiones is a tremendous help. But in the end I prefer Universalis for that because of its its simplicity and the permanent availability of alle texts, which is an advantage if one wants to look at a former or a coming one.
I beg to differ on the claim that iBreviary uses the older Vulgate texts. It does not. It uses the same version of psalms as the current Liturgia Horarum, which are the psalms from the Nova Vulgata.
For those plugging Universalis (which was the first site I knew of that even attempted an electronic breviary) keep in mind that clergy and religious are bound to the official translations for their recitation of the office. As of now, iBreviary is the only one offering that (without a subscription and/or daily, manual downloads).
To sweeten things, iBreviary is now available as “praybook” for facebook, as well as for Android-based phones under the iBreviary name.
The iBreviary is great, when it works. Unfortunately, it doesn’t much of the time. This morning for example, the download didn’t work at all. I tried again a couple of hours later and it appeared to download, but there was nothing actually there. The author never acknowledges E-mails, and has not addressed the issues like this that most people are having. It appears that the author has basically abandoned this so I’d steer clear for now. Too bad, it was great when it worked. I’m hoping Universalis will get permission to use the approved texts soon. I use it often and actually like the translation they use (Jerusalem Bible). I’d prefer the official translation though, just to be “legal”.
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