I-Breviary: prayers got digital

A breviary fitting in a pocket, always updated, in 9 languages, already used by 3 millions of people all around the world: this is i-Breviary Pro Terra Sancta, the app for your daily prayers in connection with the places at the origin of our Faith. 

The app is available for PC and Ipad and works with iOS and Android systems. It can be downloaded from Google Play and Amazon Appstore for free. I-Breviary is the #1 in the breviary app category and #10 in the “prayers” category.

It’s popularity in the world is confirmed by the fact that the app was entered in the top-ten list of the best apps to use during the Holy Week made by the Spanish cultural magazine “Shock”. It won its placement by allowing users to follow the main events of a very peculiar Easter: the Covid one. The downloadings also confirm its popularity in the States. 

During the pandemic we had to renounce the social and community aspects of praying and had to get back to a more personal, spiritual approach. Keeping track of the rites using an app allowed many people to keep in touch with their spirituality and, by doing so, fight back negativity and loneliness. 

Thanks to the app, you could easily share a significant text or a beautiful hymn online with friends by copy and pasting it: in this way, even in a situation where physical contact was not suggested, it was possible to keep a strong communion in prayer!  

What is i-Breviary? 

I-Breviary is an original idea of Father Paolo Padrini of Tortona parish – Alessandria, Piedmont (Italy)- an expert in education and social media with a great passion for communication and technology. 

Using i-Breviary you can easily read the Liturgy of the Hours, the Missal, the prayers and the rites of the Roman Catholic Church all in one app. The Liturgy of the Hours is a 4 tomes edition: i-Breviary is a modern solution to an old problem.

From paper to pixels: the evolution of breviaries 

The breviary is a 12 Century invention that eased the life of clerics on the move that had to take with them many heavy books just to respect the timeline of the DIvine Office. 

“Breviary” comes from “breviarium”, the Latin for “summary”, a collection of the most important elements. The breviary contains psalms, carols, hymns, prayers and lectures from the Gospel you have to recite during the day to pray to the Lord.

This short volume was initially addressed to cleargies only but i-Breviary Pro Terra Sancta is an app for everyone: those celebrating the mass, those attending it and those praying daily. 

To pray is a way to thank and praise the Lord but can also be a time of self-reflection and meditation that can help us live with more awareness, gratefulness and serenity. This tool makes it possible anywhere and anytime. 

More than 3 millions of users pray this way daily and can read liturgical texts in Latin, Italian, English, Spanish, French, Romani, Portuguese, Arab and Turkish.

I-Breviary is an app that makes things accessible: not only you can change the language of the menu and the texts but also the dimension of characters and the contrast on the background to read easily. 

Using i-Breviary to support the Holy Land 

Another thing making i-Breviary unique is the way it brings the user back to the Holy Land. Thanks to this app it is possible to pray in communion with the places where Jesus lived. 

To be close to the land loved by God becomes a complete experience with i-Breviary: not only the app contains liturgical texts but, thanks to the notifications, you will be updated on our projects in the Holy Land. If you want, you will also be able to help the local community and the holy places with a donation. 

From the paper breviary of the 12th Century to the i-Breviary app: your prayer in the Holy Land is one click away!