Updating apps and programs

Depending what Universalis app or program you are using, it may update itself automatically when a new version comes out. Here are all the details, with instructions for manual updating.

New ebook: “New Every Day”!

Sample page: click to enlarge

We have just brought out a new e-book, in time for Christmas.

It is the sort of book you will want to keep with you all year, to read or just dip into. Your friends will love it too. It is the perfect present.

“New Every Day” has 366 chapters, one for each day of the year. It celebrates not only every day but also a huge number of saints: over 600 of them. There are spiritual readings for every day and for many of the saints. There are biographies of the saints and over 300 illustrations.

The readings come from all periods, from the early 2nd century to the end of the 20th. Some of the authors are famous, like St Augustine. Some are great orators, like St Leo the Great. About others, nothing at all is known, like the anonymous ancient author (11 April) who imagines Jesus going down into the underworld and meeting Adam face to face. There are readings by the saints and readings about them. St Peter Claver (9 September) describes the arrival of a slave ship in Colombia and what has to be done for its passengers. Mr Masten, Protestant chaplain of Newgate prison, writes (23 June) about the last night and morning of the martyr St Thomas Garnet: “I never saw him so full of life, and almost miraculous cheerfulness”. St Thérèse of Lisieux (1 October) lays out her unique spirituality, which changed our notions of sainthood for ever and led her to be acclaimed as a Doctor of the Church.

Sample page: click to enlarge

“New Every Day” is not a prayer-book. That is good, because a prayer-book is like a gym subscription – it carries an obligation with it (and, if you give it to someone as a present, there is more than a hint that you’ll be asking them how the exercise programme is going!).

“New Every Day” is more human and delightful than that. It is a treasury of spiritual uplift and refreshment. You can dip into it most days, or look through and explore whenever you need it, or just feel like it.

And your friends and family will love it as well.

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Price: £7.99 (UK), $9.99 (USA). Available worldwide.

ePub: · Get it on Apple Books

Kindle: Get it from Amazon UK · USA · Australia · Brazil· Canada · France · Germany · India · Italy · Japan · Mexico · Netherlands · Spain

See also: How to give e-books as presents.

How to give e-books as presents

Both Apple Books and Amazon make it easy to give our e-books as presents to your friends and family.

Amazon Kindle e-books: see Purchase a Kindle Book as a Gift on Amazon’s site.

Apple Books: see Apple’s Send a Gift page. You can send gifts from the Books app on your device or from the Apple Books web site on your computer.

Advanced Debugging on iOS

Very, very rarely, a problem comes up where we need the Universalis app to report precisely what it is doing at every instant, and also to report every detail of its configuration.

How to send a Contact Us message

All the Universalis apps and programs now have a command called “Contact Us”. This is a good way of getting in touch with us, because it creates an email which automatically contains a lot of useful information – such as which version you are using, what calendar and language settings you have, and what page you are looking at.

How to record the screen on the iPhone or iPad

Sometimes it is easiest to explain things by sending a video of what you are seeing on your screen.

Apple have instructions, but they are a bit elliptical, so here is a longer version.

October 2019 newsletter

This month there is one major new feature in Universalis: the Spiritual Reading page.

September 2019 newsletter

The summer is over (in the Northern Hemisphere at least) and it is time to send out newsletters again. Although this period is still called “Ordinary Time”, it is full of extraordinary people. Follow the About Today page each day, and you will see.

Easter 2019 newsletter

Happy Easter!

He is truly risen! May the grace and blessings of Easter be with you all and remain in you.

St George in England

Today is St George’s Day, and some people in England are wondering why it does not appear in Universalis today. The reason is that this year there is a collision with Easter Tuesday.

The Church’s calendar has to deal with collisions. Suppose, for instance, that the Annunciation, on the 25th of March, falls on Good Friday (as it did in 2016). Should we omit Good Friday that year, or omit the Annunciation? Or try to celebrate both at once?

Interview at Pray Tell

The Pray Tell blog describes itself as:

A blog that gives practical wisdom about prayer, sacraments, and the community of the faithful – in short, worship. Created especially for pastors, liturgists, musicians, and scholars, Pray Tell is informal, conversational, even humorous, but also – we hope – always well-informed and intellectually grounded.

It has just published a two-part interview by Father Neil Xavier O’Donoghue, which you may find interesting:

1. An unlikely liturgist.
2. An interview with Martin Kochanski, Founder of Universalis Publishing.