By Tom Gourlay
Now, I may have said this somewhere else, but in all honesty, this really takes the cake …
A good friend of mine put me on to this
one, and for this I am truly thankful.
iPieta has pretty much EVERYTHING one could possibly want in a Catholic
iPhone application. In such a
short space as is afforded for this review it is impossible to include in
everything that this App contains, but here I will provide you with what I
consider to be the real highlights.
iPieta is divided into four main sections:
1)
The Bible, in both an English
translation (Douay Rhiems) and Latin Vulgate
2)
Liturgical Calendar (both the
Ordinary, Norvus Ordo and the Extraordinary, Tridentine) including readings and
solemnities, feasts, memorials etc.
3)
The Prayer Book is exhaustive with
literally hundreds of prayers easily navigated through via the indexed
tables. (many of the prayers are
available in audio too)
4)
The library, titled Veritas is the
real gem in my view. It is here
that one can find a veritable smorgasbord of solid Catholic teaching; from the
documents of pretty well ALL the ecumenical councils of the Church, through to
Bible commentaries, the writings of Saints and Doctors of the Church (including
the major works of St Theresa of Avila, St John of the Cross, and the entirety
of St Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica,), Papal documents (going back to Pope
Pius VI), catechisms, biographies of Saints and whole lot more. The really fantastic thing about all
this is that pretty well all of the documents are fully searchable via the
indexed tables (which makes it extremely user friendly).
Realistically, I don’t know how much
reading of these substantially meaty spiritual/literary works I will actually
be doing on my iPhone, (perhaps I’m old fashioned, but I really like the whole
experience of a book, the touch, smell etc) but the convenience of having such
incredible writings there for such easy reference is a great way familiarise
yourself with their content, and a wonderful way to clear up your own, or
others misunderstandings of core elements of our faith. For an incredibly low price of $3.99
(which when you think about it is less than a small meal at MacDonald’s) I
think there’s not much more anyone could really want in a Catholic iPhone
Application. Without a doubt the
BEST Catholic iPhone App out there.