The Laudate app

There is an app called Laudate, which people sometimes think is ours. It isn’t. We get occasional emails that complain about (or praise) what “we” are doing, and where it turns out, eventually, that “we” doesn’t mean Universalis at all. So this blog post is intended to remove the confusion.

The Epiphany again

Some people get into a terrible flap after the Epiphany, and six years out of seven they write to us to say that we have got the readings wrong. So this post really ought to appear every year.

In religious parts of the world the Epiphany is celebrated when it always has been: on the 6th of January, when good children get presents from the Kings. In more commercial parts of the world the Epiphany is moved to the Sunday after New Year’s Day, so that the Twelve Days of Christmas become the Eight Days or the Fourteen Days.

The reason for all the panic is that a day such as Friday 8 January 2021 has different readings depending on where you are. In religious countries (including England and Wales) it is 8 January, the second day after the Epiphany. In commercial countries (including Scotland and the USA) it is Friday after Epiphany Sunday, the fifth day after the Epiphany.

The Epiphany (especially England, Wales, Scotland)

At about this time of year we tend to get a few emails from people who say that we have got the calendar wrong. This is because the solemnity of the Epiphany is celebrated on different dates in different parts of the world. There are two choices:

• It can be celebrated on January the 6th, the thirteenth day of Christmas. That is why the eve of the Epiphany is called Twelfth Night.
• It can be celebrated on the Sunday between the 2nd and 8th of January.

Universalis does both. If you set Universalis to use your local calendar, you will see the Epiphany on the right day for you.

• In England and Wales, 2021 is the first year for a while in which the Epiphany does not fall on the Sunday. Don’t worry: this is correct!
• In Scotland, you need to get the latest update to Universalis to make sure that you get the Epiphany on the Sunday.
• If you are confused about the readings, this page lists them all for both “Epiphany on the 6th” and “Epiphany on the Sunday”.

December 2020 newsletter

Happy Advent, and happy Christmas in advance!

There are no new features this month, and no new bugs, so this newsletter is devoted entirely to what so many of us are thinking about at the moment: Christmas presents.

It has been an odd year, and it will be an odd Christmas too. We may well not be seeing a lot of people we do see usually, and even Christmas shopping isn’t the same when one may not be able to get out and do it. So here are some ideas for Christmas presents from Universalis

Giving New Every Day for Christmas

“New Every Day 2021” e-book

Sample page: click to enlarge

“New Every Day” came out for the first time last year, and it was a success, so here is a new edition.

Giving Universalis for Christmas

The easiest way to give Universalis is in the form of a Universalis registration code. A registration code really is a gift for life.

A Universalis registration code costs £19.99, which at today’s exchange rates is $26.69 or €22.15. It gives the recipient all the Mass readings for every day, forever, and all the Hours of the Liturgy of the Hours for every day, forever. There are also benefits such as the daily ‘About Today’ pages, with their stories of the saints and their illustrations. The registration code works on whatever devices your friend has – Android and iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch and Mac and Windows – and also for making personal e-books.

November 2020 newsletter

This is the time of year to be thinking about books. Advent is round the corner, so if you get the annual or semi-annual e-books for the Amazon Kindle or some other e-book reader, now is the time to be getting the next one. Christmas is round the corner, so if you enjoyed last year’s “New Every Day” e-book, or gave it as a present to a friend, now is the time to do something about that.

But before getting on to these I would like to focus on the other “book thing”, because it is new this year. The Daily Books feature was added to the iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) and Windows versions of Universalis a couple of months ago, and now it has come to Android as well. We were a little anxious about it to start with, as with all new features – was this a genuine benefit to everyone, or just a fun thing to program? – but we were reassured by the many emails of appreciation and gratitude. So if you haven’t tried it yet, do.

October 2020 newsletter

Today is a day to felicitate our readers in England and Wales. Saint John Henry Newman was canonised a year ago, and this year, for the first time, he is celebrated as a Feast in the English and Welsh calendars. Our apps and programs have been updated accordingly.

“One God”

Many of the doxologies in the Mass collects and the Liturgy of the Hours include the words “One God, for ever and ever”.

This is now being changed, but different parts of the world are moving at different paces.

Malagasy on iPhone/iPad

Here are instructions for getting Universalis on the iPhone and iPad and reading it in Malagasy.