About Universalis
Universalis is a project to make the Liturgy of the Hours available in electronic form – Morning Prayer, daytime prayer (Terce, Sext and None), Evening Prayer, Night Prayer, and the Office of Readings. It does Mass readings too.
You can read more about the Universalis project here.
Electric Prayer 
Fr Ivan Boyle said
I recently purchased Universalis for my palm top and I have to say my only dissapointment is that I did not do it sooner!
To have the office and mass readings available literally wherever I am has been a great blessing. I like to ponder the upcoming Sunday readings during the week in prayer and in quiet moments out walking the dog etc. To have them litterally on my hip and available is great. Please keep up the good work
Anonymous said
I have used Universalis for years and have found it to be a fine product. I recently had to retire my windows based Palm Treo with a Motorola Q. Universalis will not install on it. Is there a work around?
David said
“User comment”: I just wanted you to know that I recently began frequenting your site–your work is superb. Not long ago I started anew (after having first begun long, long with a pre-Vat. II breviary) to pray the Divine Office (in part). Thank you very, very much for your efforts and your benefit on souls. I will pray for you.
Francis said
This is a question and answer I found on a web post. It seems valid to me. What do you think?
___________________________
Dear Brother:
I do not have an Office of Readings, so I have been using the Office on http://www.universalis.com. What is your opinion on this website?
Dear Thierry:
The Universalis website CANNOT be used to pray the Divine Office — they do not use an approved translation.
In addition, the owners of Universalis seem to have a rather flippant attitude about liturgical law in this matter.
I cannot recommend them and anyone using that site for the text of the Offices, are not using an approved translation. Anyone knowing that and using them anyway, will be doing only a personal devotion and will not be “praying with the Church”.
God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary
Michael Doody, SJ said
Get a life Brother Ignatius Mary. Universalis is the greatest. God understands all the translations – and is multi-lingual as well. Don’t be so up tight! Take a risk!
universalis said
The owners of the Divine Office do not permit it to be given away free on the Internet. There is nothing “flippant”, in that case, in doing the best we can so that people who can’t afford £100 for the set of books have some access to the spiritual riches that the Liturgy of the Hours contains. If it is a choice between Universalis and not praying at all, using Universalis probably wins!
You will note that we do very carefully point out on the FAQ page that the psalms are not the official translation and that if you are under an obligation to recite the Office then you probably ought to be using the official books.
All the Scripture readings on the Universalis site are in fact from the officially approved Jerusalem Bible translation.
mary said
Hi
I purchased the Universalis software Liturgy of the Hours for my laptop
Because i purchased this; I read that I can copy and paste so I can save special readings and such.
How can I do this I can’t seem to do it. Please let me know how.
universalis said
Tell it you are blind, as follows:
Open the menu by clicking on the downward-pointing arrow in the top left-hand corner. The last option in the menu is “Format for Screen Readers”. Turn that option ON.
The layout of the Hours will now be a little less elegant but it can be highlighted, copied (using Ctrl+C) and pasted.
To reverse the process, open the Options menu in the new format, and turn OFF the “Format for Screen Readers” option.
Peter (Poland) said
Why it is so expensive?
p
universalis said
It’s free on the web.
The downloadable version costs less than a single volume of the three-volume breviary.
Anonymous said
At this point, the downloadable version costs MUCH less than a single volume.
John said
How do I remove the Latin so the text is just english
universalis said
The Latin only appears if you specifically turn it on, and you can turn it off again in the same way. If you can say which version of Universalis you are using (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android) then I can point you to the instructions.
Ethelontés said
I make bold to draw your attention to Decree 524/03/L of 12 February 2004, by which the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments inserted the celebrations of Saint Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Liturgy of the Hours as optional memorials (9 and 12 December, not yet listed in your calendar). The texts (in Latin) for the celebrations are given in Notitiae 2004, pages 201-206.
universalis said
Thank you for this information and especially for the reference.
For the moment you need to be a North American to see these feasts in Universalis, but I’m looking for a library in London that has Notitiae so that I can check the texts, and I’m also seeing how we can subscribe to it ourselves for the future.
Mabel said
Hi, I want to thank you for your contribution. I cannot afford the breviary. Running into you while surfing the net has been a blessing. Please receive my heart felt thanks and God Bless you and your work.
Eric said
Thy Kingdom Come!
God bless you for this beautiful task that you are involved with.
As a university student (in Los Angeles), a PPC breviary is very useful because my backpack is full of engineering books.
I thank our Lord for leading me to universalis.
I’ll pray for you to our Holy Mother so that she can always fill your heart with love to continue expanding universalis so that it may assist in leading us to her blessed son.
I am pleased that the feasts of St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin and Our Lady of Guadalupe are in Universalis.
Richard said
Just looked at to-day’s 17th December Vespers. Surely the scripture passage should come from that for the 17th December, whereas Univeralis has taken it from the reading for the third Sunday in Advent. If the third Sunday is the 17th, then the reading for the 17th should prevail. Or shouldn’t it?
Richard
universalis said
Richard, thank you for your vigilance. I’m glad that someone has the patience to try to navigate the rubrics for this time of year!
The Latin of the Breviary rubric seems to me to be ambiguous and entirely dependent on the punctuation. “lectiones, antiphonae, preces quae infra pro singulis diebus assignantur, omissis iis, quae hic pro dominica III ponuntur“. To translate it into dog-English, so that more people can follow it, it says “readings, prayers, antiphons for 17 December, those being omitted, for Sunday 3”.
In other words, it means either that if something’s missing for Sunday 3 then you take it from 17 Dec or that if something’s missing for 17 Dec then you take it from Sunday 3. I’m assuming the former; you (following the English edition of the Breviary) are assuming the latter.
The comma after “iis” tends towards your interpretation if the writer of the rubric was an Englishman but towards mine if the writer was a continental, because in most continental languages they tend to put commas in that position. But it’s pretty horrible Latin either way. If the writer had intended your interpretation then he should really have put the matter beyond doubt by saying “quibus omissis” rather than “omissis eis“.
There is more evidence for my theory. In several places in the actual office for Sunday 3 it says explicitly “if it’s 17 December, take the readings from 17 December; if it isn’t, use the readings that are given here”. This would all be completely redundant if your “17 Dec overrides Sunday 3” interpretation of the rubric were correct.
I know that the English breviary says that 17 December overrides the third Sunday of Advent, but (a) the translator was probably an Englishman and giving an English weight to commas and (b) he would have been working from an early draft of the Latin edition in any case.
All in all I’m inclined to leave this unchanged for now. Because of leap years the question won’t arise again until 2017, and by then I hope I’ll have had a chance to talk to an experienced Latinist and liturgist and work out a definitive answer.
Comment added later: I wrote this response trusting that Richard had got it right. Looking at the English breviary, it actually says that “Sunday 3 overrides 17 December”, so it agrees with Universalis. I haven’t read the American breviary, so it’s quite possible that the error occurs in the American breviary only and that is the breviary that Richard is using.
HARRIET ANN BURR said
Esau said
Universalis:
I wonder when you’ll ultimately include an Index of Psalms as well as an Index for other things such as the readings or even the extracts from the works of the Early Church Fathers on your Universalis program???
Some of us would certainly like to pray a specific Psalm or read a particular reading from Scripture or even a work of an early church father given the particular moment one finds himself in.
In addition, it surely would come in handy for us who bought and use the program on our mobiles!
Further, in your Mass Readings, for the Psalm, you indicate only the number of the Psalm rather than feature its entire text. It sure would be nice if you could incorporate a link on this page so that the reader can jump right onto the particular psalm for that day as far as the Mass Readings go. If this is not possible, again, the suggested Index of Psalms would surely be a help in this regard as well in that the user can locate the particular Psalm by using a help such as this to go directly to a specific hour of the Office (morning, evening, night) that features the Psalm of interest.
angela said
Universalis has so far been designed extremely well to avoid being complicated but instead being very easy to use. To achieve an easier navigation of scriptures, I think it is best to obtain a navigable bible that provides index and search functions. I am not sure what’s possible on different platforms, but on my iPhone I had a choice of proper translations, not necessarily the best but authorised. I have quickly found passages, verses and psalms on this app.
universalis said
The first priority at the moment is getting the content complete. Indexes sound a good idea and I’ll think about them in due course.
The trouble with doing something about the Responsorial Psalm at Mass is that it usually isn’t a psalm at all, but odd verses of a psalm spliced together to make something of reasonable length. This makes it quite laborious to do something about it, because every single Responsorial Psalm would have to be edited by hand.
The other (more serious) problem is that the owners of the Responsorial Psalms wouldn’t allow them to be made publicly available free of charge on the Web. The owners of the Bible do, because we have a royalty agreement with them; but the owners of the Psalms have other ideas.
Esau said
Thanks, Universalis!
Nix the Responsorial Psalm idea, then, as far as the Mass Readings is concerned; but, as much as possible, I would like to see in the future an Index for the Psalms, the Canticles, the Readings, and the extracts of the Works of the Early Church Fathers.
I know you do tremendous work as it is already and, certainly, I’ll be looking forward to seeing more of that great work both in the near and distant future.
– By the way, about the short readings you’ve nicely incorporated into the Morning Prayers, etc.; how come there are times when you do not indicate its bible verse? Is there perhaps a bug that is causing this where, at times, the bible verse is not indicated for that reading (e.g., maybe you actually have indicated the bible verse but somehow it’s failed to show up onscreen)? If this is, in fact, a bug, will it be fixed anytime soon? Not a biggee, though; just that I like knowing where a certain passage comes from, that’s all (especially if it’s a passage that’s found to be particularly meaningful at some point in time).
Thanks & God bless you for all the great work you do!
Melissa Heredia said
I am a wife of a civilian sailor. When he is deployed he often is unable to attend mass and misses the richness of the prayers and the readings. I found your website, perused it and sent him the address. It is now a very busy site on that ship. Thank you for helping these men feel in contact with Mother Church.
Chris said
In your reply of Oct 1, 2006, you said: “You will note that we do very carefully point out on the FAQ page that the psalms are not the official translation and that if you are under an obligation to recite the Office then you probably ought to be using the official books.”
I closely read your your FAQ page, but I could not find a reason given for why the psalms (and other elements such as the readings) are not the official translation. Is it due to some copyright issue? Thank you.
universalis said
The owners of the psalms don’t allow them to be published on the Web free of charge.
The Bible readings are an officially approved translation.
Scott Carson said
Sorry about that, the rest of my comment got cut off when I submitted it.
I think you’ve misconstrued the Latin. The phrase “omissis iis” goes with what follows, not with what precedes. It is an ablative absolute, and it would be very bad style to state the subject of an ablative absolute–in the nominative case, yet!–right in front of the ablative absolute itself. The text should be translated:
“The readings, antiphons, and prayers are assigned below to the individual days [from 17-24 December], with those things proposed here for the third Sunday being omitted.”
In addition to the grammar (which is not ambiguous at all, actually), there is the fact that the days from 17 – 24 December are higher in liturgical rank than Sundays of Advent.
universalis said
The Latinists I’ve consulted all agree with you that the grammar is unambiguous. However, they all agree that it means that the 17 December stuff should be used if a particular Third Sunday item has been omitted from the book, and not otherwise: in other words, exactly the opposite of what you’re saying. One of them got quite impatient when I tried to persuade him of an interpretation of the Latin that would give your preferred result.
I’ll write a separate blog posting about this, because it’s all a bit complex to convey in a comment. I’ll try and do it soon because we have just under 11 years before the question comes up again.
Scott Carson said
Well, for what it’s worth, I am a Latinist. Some of us do disagree about some things, however, and it may be that this will be difficult to settle simply by appealing to Latinists of various stripes. More promising is the liturgical angle: if your impatient friend is right, though, he is simply stating the obvious: the days from 17-24 December would not differ from any other day found in the Proper of Seasons if all the instruction were saying is that “this is where you get stuff that is not contained in the Proper of the Day”. This raises the question, why then is there a special instruction at this point? And there is an additional worry: there is nothing omitted from the Propers for the Third Sunday, so there is nothing to supply from the Proper of the Season (at least in the way of readings, prayers, or antiphons). So again, why the special instruction? In short, I am having trouble finding evidence in favor of your impatient friend’s reading. But of course, that’s not to say that I’m seeing all available evidence! Your friend may very well have access to materials that I don’ have; all I have is the breviary itself (the normative Latin edition, published by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana).
A very fine website, by the way, thank you very much for all of your hard work!
Scott Carson said
One last point (sorry for using up so much of your comment space on what is arguably a minor point): consider the O Antiphons. Surely they give us an example of what is going on here. There is, of course, a proper antiphon for the Magnificat for the Third Sunday; but if the Third Sunday falls during 17-24 December one is to use the O Antiphon. In short, we are to omit the proper antiphon for the Third Sunday and use the O Antiphon instead, and this is precisely what the special instruction, as I am interpreting it, tells us to do. Notice that there is no such special instruction for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, as it always falls during the period 17-24 December.
universalis said
Scott – You’ve just advanced something that I’m using as an argument for the priority of the 3rd Sunday. If you have the same edition that I have (editio typica altera), look at the bottom of page 229 (Second Vespers of the 3rd Sunday of Advent). Under “Ad Magnificat, ant.” it lists the three antiphons for the 3-year cycle and then adds “Si vero occurrat die 17 decembris, ant. O Sapientia, 284”. Which is fine because it says something that we’d expect.
On your hypothesis that the big rubric at the start of DOMINICA III ADVENTUS (top of p.220) says “If today is 17 December, use 17 December”, what is the rubric at the bottom of page 229 actually doing?
I’ve written up my argument at https://universalis.wordpress.com/2007/02/01/the-calendar-at-christmas-ii/ and perhaps we should continue the discussion there.
We may end up having to write to Cultu Divino and ask them what they thought they meant by it all… but if anyone out there has the editio typica tertia, please look it up and let us know whether the rubric has been changed!
Sergio said
Greetings
This program is awesome! Everybody I have shown it too also thinks that it is fantastic.
I would like to help improve this program, even if in the smallest possible way, by pointing out the on the Gospel reading on Readings at Mass for February 2, 2007 there is a period missing between the words “pigeons” and “Now”. It appears this way, both, on my ppc and pc.
Example
Gospel
Luke 2:22 – 40
And when the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, – observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord – and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon.
Mainly, I would like to say that I will continue praying for you and your work.
God bless!
Sergio
universalis said
Sergio, thank you: I’ve made the correction.
Martin.
julianchgreen said
I’m just wondering why you have used the ‘readings which can be used on any day during week 3 of Lent’ ie the woman at the well from Sunday Year A, rather than the actual readings of Monday of Week 3 of Lent?
universalis said
In addition to being assigned to the third Sunday of Lent in Year A, the woman at the well (the “living water” passage from John) is given in the Missal as an “alternative reading” for any day in the third week of Lent, together with a recommendation that it should be used in Years B and C, because that passage is too important to be left out. The “alternative readings” are allowed to be used on any day in the third week of Lent, replacing the standard readings for that day.
Universalis follows this recommendation by using the alternative readings on the Monday (in years B and C). It does the same thing in the fourth week of Lent (the man born blind, “I am the light of the world”).
I’ve now written a separate blog entry on this, and on other reasons why you can sometimes find different readings from different sources.
John Underwood said
Can somebody please explain to me why the Solemnity of the Annunciation is being celebrated today?
According to the “General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar” February 14, 1969
“5. Because of its special importance, the Sunday celebration gives way only to solemnities or feasts of the Lord. The Sundays of the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter, however, take precedence over all solemnities and feasts of the Lord. Solemnities occuring on these Sundays are observed on the Saturdays preceding.” (which is referred to in the Breviary but only incompletely in the Missal).
According to my reading of this document (still displayed on the Vatican web site which is where I obtained this quotation) the celebration of the Annunciation should have been started with Vespers on Friday evening and continued until Prayer during the day on Saturday, giving way to the Fifth Sunday of Advent with Vespers and any subsequent Mass that evening.
Has the law changed? If so, when and how has it been promulgated? If a change hasn’t been promulgated, why have the calendars of the Churches of Rome, Westminster and England and Wales (the only ones I have consulted) been published with the wrong celebration?
universalis said
The current document, from the Third Edition of the Missal, is available in Latin here. It says:
…which is substantially what you said, except that the solemnity is transferred to the following Monday, not the previous Saturday.
The Second Edition of the Liturgy of the Hours (English and Latin) says that the celebration is transferred to the next free day after the Sunday, which has almost the same meaning but not quite. The difference comes when a solemnity falls on either Palm Sunday or Easter Sunday, when because of the special importance of Holy Week and Easter Week “the first free day” turns out to be after the second Sunday of Easter.
The 2006-07 edition of the annual “Order for the Celebration of Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours”, published in Rome for the English-speaking world in general, talks about the “Monday following or the next free day”, which is actually the most correct way of putting the matter. It also quotes a decision of the Congregation for Divine Worship of 22 April 1990 in Notitiae 26 (1990) 160 confirming the exact implications of this when Holy Week and Easter Week are involved. [In 1989, when the solemnity of St Joseph occurred on Palm Sunday and therefore needed to be transferred, the solemnity of the Annunciation occurred on Holy Saturday and therefore also needed to be transferred. In that year St Joseph was celebrated on Monday 3 April and the Annunciation on Tuesday 4 April – at least, by those who got their sums right – and this probably prompted the official decision of the following year.]
The English document you quote is therefore simply wrong. This could be a matter of mistranslation, but the likeliest reason is that the translation was of a pre-release Latin draft that was corrected before it was officially promulgated. This happened quite a lot at that time, because everything in the liturgy was being changed at once and it would have been simply impossible to wait for the official Latin version to be published before starting an English translation.
I don’t know whether any official decision is needed to correct a mistranslation. If you’re interested then I suggest that you contact the Vatican site’s webmaster and see what he can find.
John Underwood said
The English document I quoted is neither a translation nor amistranlsation of anything written since since 1990. It was a translation of a document promulgated in 1969. I visited the Allen Hall library this afternoon but couldn’t track down the Acta Apostolicae Sedis for the relevant year. I have compared a number of different English versions and also the French. The last sentence of para 5 says:
“Les solennités qui tombe ces dimanches-là son anticipées le samedi”.
With the greatest respect, I do not accept that so many independently produced translations were all wrong in exactly the same particular. Nor do I accept that either the French or the British, Australian and Americans all depended on a single (erroneous) trnaslation (French or English) as the basis of their versions rather than the Latin – and if they had done so many people, probably me among them would have noticed it.
My original point, I believe, remains. In 1969 norms for the use of the Liturgical Year and the Calendar were promulgated in which it was directed that Solemnities which fall on a Sunday in Lent should be transferred to the previous Saturday. This was an exception to the normal rule that they were moved to the next possible later date (and the document draws attention to this being an exception).
My question is still: when did this change and why?
I fully accept that the Second edition of the Liturgy of the Hours and the latest Missal may have a different rule than that I quoted from the first post-Vatican II Liturgy of the Hours. I have no evidence to persuade me that the first edition said the same think and has been misrepresented. The introduction ot the French and English breviaries are not mistranslations of the then current authoritative statement. That is simply incredible.
Sister Edwin said
I live in Atlanta, Georgia in the USA. Our community cares for terminally ill cancer patients. Sometimes the night duty is long and since I found this page I do not have to worry about carrying an office book out of the Chapel to the nurses station. Furthurmore I can look up eearlier readings without going to another volume of the Liturgy of the Hours. I also use other parts of the site. Several of us use this now and are really grateful for it. God bless you. sister Edwin
Donal said
Delighted to have come across your beautifully crafted piece of software. I look forward to further developments, which I hope will include full antiphons, responsories and midday prayer.
Pete said
Hi, I’m a new christian meditator coming to a point in my life where i am beginning to think about possibly becoming an oblate , or at least leading an ordered prayer life. I am married ,fifty ,a father of a two year old , I’m short-sighted and I am a survivor of a brain injury so I cannot tell you how valuable I find it to be guided and helped in such a way . God Bless you
Father Anthony said
I am very happy to have found Universalis. It makes praying the office so much simpler, and easy to do.
I don’t care about “official”translations. I believe the obligation is to pray. This isn’t magic, but prayer, and the best prayer is the prayer from the heart. The words we read help us to form the spirit to lift our minds, and hearts to God, and that is the old, and still valid definition of prayer.
Thanks for the help you give to help us to pray.
brian said
hi thank you for your work to help us pray. i was wondering about the psalm translation that you’re using, who translates it and from what? is it from the Nova Vulgata? are you translating it or are you paying for someone else to do it? i like it much better that the translation given by Catholic Book Publishing Companies Christian Prayer. thanks so much!!
Stradioti said
I recently purchased Universalis for my Palm device. Prior to this I purchased two of the four volumes of the Liturgy Of The Hours. I am totally lost as to how one uses the Liturgy Of The Hours; that’s why I purchased the Universalis. However, I really want to be able to find all the places in the Liturgy Of The Hours volumes the passages which are featured in the Universalis. I use the Palm version for reading. I don’t feel right praying from or bringing an electronic device into Church. Can anyone help me with this?
Eric said
Universalis,
I purchased a copy of the program and I love it. It is a blessing!
However, I would like to make a suggestion, support for storage card use.
When I install Universalis on the storage card of my pocket pc I cannot have Universalis as an item on my today screen (it does not even appear as an option). However, when I install Universalis on the device memory, I can place Universalis as an item on my today screen. This is a concern because as more updates to Universalis are released, the file tends to get bigger. But the storage capacity of most devices remains small.
Please, resolution to this issue would be greatly appreciated.
Prayerfully,
Eric
Jenni said
Thank you for all the work you have done. Like others I find it extremely useful to be able to access prayers and readings during the day. (I use my mobile phone.)
I can’t believe that God would “discount” our prayers, just because we are not using the “official” version of Divine Office. Surely it’s the intention of the prayers that counts. I always thought he knew what was in our hearts…
Emmanuel Jude said
The Universalis on the Palm is a gift given by God.It is such a trmendous spiritual stimulant and such a soul filling,satisfying blessing that it has become as essential as food.May God shower choicest bleesings continually on all the faithful souls who are involved in this project.
Antoinette said
I was concerned that I was spending too much time at the computer. Then I found Universalis in a Jesuit magazine, and now I preface my on-line time with prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. You have done the Church a very kind service. I am sending your web address to all of my Christian friends.
May God bless you!
Fr. Keyes said
I subscribed to the downloadable version because I wanted to excert passages from the Office, particularly the Office of Readings for articles, teaching tools, and sermons. I was especially looking for the 2nd reading from Charles Borromeo, November 4th, not celebrated this year because of a Sunday. I did not want to have to type the whole text. Yep, lazy and a terrible typist. I could not find November 4th in any year, and even if I could your program does not allow me to copy or excerpt text. How come?
universalis said
Fr. Keyes:
I don’t quite understand what you mean about November 4th. November 4th occurs in most years!! Could you please explain in more detail so I can say something helpful?
As for copying text, the way to do it is described in comment 6 (dated 7 November 2006) on this page. Let me know if you need any more guidance.
Fr. Keyes said
I was able to find the passage I was looking for in November of ’06. That feast was omitted this year beacuse the memorial landed on a Sunday. I figured out how to extract the text based on Comment 6. Thanks very much.
Francis I said
I just discovered Universalis. Thank you!
I am quite confused about what to do for Morning and Evening Prayer on Mon., Dec. 17, 2007; I’ve tried reading the Christian Prayer (Liturgy of the Hours) text instructions, and I can’t work out what they mean, so I guess I’ll just check out what Universalis is doing and try to compare that. If says “116 ff.” but that brings me to a page that has only the Bible reading, and I am lost as to which psalms I’m supposed to use, since it says to skip week III! Does that mean to skip the Psalms of Week III in the Psalter?
I’ve been praying the Liturgy on and off since Christmas 1998, and it has enriched my spiritual life. At Easter 2002 I was confirmed Catholic Christian. I think the Holy Spirit and praying the Liturgy brought me to that point. Often I’m remiss in praying the Liturgy; occasionally the family gets mad at me for praying it, but I am so thankful for those prayers.
Bosco Peters said
I’ve added Universalis to the online resources as a link from http://www.liturgy.co.nz/ofthehours/resources.html
Peter Cassar Torreggiani said
…………and anyone who humbles himself will exalted.’ “be” has been omitted at the end of the gospel of 2nd January.
…………and anyone who humbles himself will be exalted.’
Thanks for everything. Happy new year.
Kathryne said
I have just “discovered” the Liturgy of the Hours, and fortunately your web site. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You. I do web sites for a real estate business, and know how much work is going into this project! Please know how much your work is appreciated!
Bosco Peters said
Greetings
I have been working hard to provide a simple introduction for those starting out on praying the Liturgy of the Hours. This is what I have prepared:
http://www.liturgy.co.nz/ofthehours/introduction.html
I would be happy to receive any constructive suggestions to make this a better starting resource. I will incorporate suggestions if they appear helpful – and if other suggestions don’t say the opposite ☺
Please consider placing a link called “Liturgy of the Hours” or “Liturgy of the Hours (ecumenical)” to http://www.liturgy.co.nz/ofthehours/resources.html
Blessings on your venture
Anonymous said
Prayers and Blessings for your amazing work!
I love the program!
I think the canticle for morning prayer on 21 January should be Sirach 36, not Ecclesiasticus 36.
God Bless
universalis said
@Anonymous: Sirach and Ecclesiasticus are the same book. Ecclesiasticus is the traditional English name of the book, which is why we’re using it; just as Ecclesiastes is the traditional English name of the book also known as Qoheleth. But thank you for your vigilance: I am sure there are genuine mistakes still in the database, so if you see anything else that looks suspicious, please report it.
Anonymous said
The morning prayer short reading for today (13 Feb. 08) does not display where in the bible it comes from; it just has the text.
Blessings
universalis said
Thank you: I’ve just worked through the whole database and I think it’s all corrected now, so there shouldn’t be any more missing attributions.
Br William ofm said
I just want to thank you for putting this site together. I am one of those who think the Divine Office is something worth promoting and making it available on the net / PDA is possibly the best way to make it popular and as personal daily practice.
T heresa said
I need a short version of morning and evening prayer to us at a meeting April 19, Can you oblige. Hopefully, In Jesus name Theresa
Alphonsus Josemaria Soh said
i find universalis is a very good use for people who are on the move… well i wanna ask if i can have it in my M600i phone? ahaha!
~fonz-jm
Matt M said
quick question. i’d like to receive the divine office on my cell phone. does it cost anything? will universalis charge me a fee everyday? God bless.
universalis said
Matt, I don’t know what you mean by “receive”.
If you are able to view web pages on your phone then you can view the Universalis ones just like any other web pages. And just like any other web pages, the pages on the Universalis site don’t cost anything.
But perhaps you mean something else…
Tim Suter said
This website rocks! I love it that you can go here and pray the Liturgy of the Hours. I just enrolled as a candidate as a Benedictine Oblate and to not have to spend the money on the Liturgy of the Hours hard copy is nice. I have 5 children, so I am sure you can understand why I say that!
Peace be with you all and God bless,
Tim
James said
Universalis
Why is it that my Office is telling me to go to week, and you seem to be on weeek 1 or 2 ?
James
(UK)
James said
Universalis
Why is it that my Office is telling me to go to week 4, and you seem to be on weeek 1 or 2 ?
James
(UK)
George said
Dearest Universalis,
I love the program!
However, I also experience the same issue as Eric, comment #40. I would love for universalis to be installed in the storage card (not the ppc memory) and also have universalis appear on the today screen.
Thank you, George
universalis said
George, I couldn’t reply to Eric because he didn’t give an email address, and I can’t reply to you for the same reason.
I’ve just installed Universalis on my ancient iPaq 4700 with Pocket PC 2003 on it. I installed it on the storage card. Universalis appeared on the Today screen.
Then I reset the iPaq (a “soft reset”, by pressing the Reset button). When my iPaq woke up, Universalis wasn’t on the Today screen any more. This is exactly the problem you’ve been reporting.
I did Start > Settings > Today > Items, and I saw that Universalis was listed as being present on the Today screen (although in fact it wasn’t).
I tapped on OK, and there was a longish pause. Then the Today screen came back – with Universalis on it.
So Start > Settings > Today > Items > OK is the way to make Universalis appear on the Today screen.
This behaviour is built in to the operating system. What I think is happening is this:
1. When the iPaq starts up, Pocket PC / Windows Mobile wants to start operating as fast as possible. In particular, it doesn’t want to wait for the slow process of seeing if a storage card is present and waiting for it to get going.
2. So at the time the Today screen is being built, the storage card doesn’t yet exist. This means that programs on the storage card don’t yet exist. This means that Universalis doesn’t yet exist. This means that Pocket PC won’t put it on the Today display.
3. By the time everything has fully woken up, you end up with a storage card that is awake and active, and a Today screen that doesn’t have Universalis on it.
4. When you do Start > Settings > Today > Items > OK, you make Pocket PC rebuild the Today screen (you’ll notice it takes a few seconds to do so). This time, the storage card does exist, so Universalis exists, so Universalis will make it to the Today screen display.
Mina said
I know you had it posted in your News section and I did have the archive open in a separate tab. I accidentally closed the tab. Now I can’t get back to the News section. What I was referencing was…
How do I add Universalis to Google Calendar? [embarrassed]
universalis said
Mina,
Go to the Universalis calendar page. Look at the bottom of the page to make sure that the “Calendar used” is the one you want, and change it if necessary.
At the bottom of the calendar page you’ll see a button marked “Add to Google Calendar”. Press it.
Richard N said
In taking my first look at your online calendar (US version) I must offer my congratulations.
However, I also see something that gives me pause. For 2008, there are several instances where the Psalm Week number does not change on a Sunday but instead it changes on a Monday. Are these instances errors? If not, I presume they must be tied to an Octave but, if that is the case, why are some Octaves affected in this manner and others are not? Samples: May 12; May 19; September 15.
I’m also wondering about the incomplete cycle of Psalm Week numbers in January 2008. Why does the cycle run 1-2-1-2-3-4 with a comment that the 14th is week 1 of the year? Pardon me if this is one of those “everyone knows” things but, as should be apparent by my quesion, I for one don’t know. Is this perhaps an EO matter, and if so, can you advise how that would translate to RC and Anglican renderings of the Psalm Week number?
universalis said
Richard, the psalm weeks are labelled as starting on a Monday in weeks whose Sunday does not belong to a numbered psalm week. May 11 is the feast of Pentecost; May 18 is the feast of the Most Holy Trinity; September 15 is the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
Weeks start from 1 at the beginning of: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time (“weeks of the year”).
The most noticeable hiccup in the numbering is normally on Ash Wednesday, because the first half-week of Lent uses week 4 of the psalm cycle – but it just so happens that this year the week that was interrupted by the start of Lent was week 4 of the year and so was using psalm week 4 already.
You’ll see another jump in May where the 7th week of Eastertide (psalm week 3) ends at Pentecost and is followed by the 6th week of the year (psalm week 2).
The Christmas season carries on the psalm week numbering from Advent. Psalm week 1 starts on the Sunday on or after Christmas Day and psalm week 2 on the Sunday after that. The “weeks of the year” or “weeks in ordinary time” start after the Sunday after 6 January.
In case you’re wondering, the weeks in ordinary time before Lent and Easter are numbered forwards from the Sunday after 6 January, but those after Lent and Easter are numbered backwards from the beginning of Advent, so that the last week in ordinary time is always the 34th week. This is why there is no 5th week of the year in 2008.
I hope this makes things a bit clearer. I’m afraid I can’t understand your last sentence at all, so I can’t answer that question.
Richard N said
Thanks so much for the quick reply and explanation. You’ve answered quite a lot.
However, I remain confused about the transition from 7th week of Easter to Pentecost (6th week of Ordinary time). Here, we go from Psalm Week 3 to Psalm Week 2. I am nonplussed as to how this can be.
The 4th Week of Ordinary time stopped on February 9 as Psalm Week 4. So if it were the case that Pentecost resumes Ordinary time, I would expect Pentecost to indicate Psalm Week 1, not 2.
If it were the case that Pentecost simply follows in turn after the 7th week of Easter, I would expect Pentecost to be Psalm Week 4, not 3.
Or is this a case of the missing week of Oridnary time of the 5th week, which would have been Psalm Week 1, and therefore Pentecost is (for 2008) Psalm Week 2?
Or is there some other explanation, or perhaps is this an error?
Thanks
universalis said
I think the root of your confusion is the idea that every day is part of a psalm week. This is not the case. Some days have their own psalms and aren’t part of a week at all. Pentecost is one of those. It isn’t the Sunday of the 8th week of Easter, and it isn’t the Sunday of the 6th week of Ordinary time: it’s just Pentecost. In the same way, last Sunday wasn’t the Sunday of the 13th week of Ordinary time, it was the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.
Ordinary time doesn’t always resume where it left off, because some years have fewer weeks of it than others. The first week of Ordinary time starts during the week after the Sunday that lies between 7 January and 13 January, and the last week of Ordinary time starts with the Sunday that lies between 20 November and 26 November. The first week is always week 1 and the last week is always week 34, so in years (including 2008) in which there are only 33 weeks of Ordinary time, a week has to be skipped in the sequence of week numbers. This is done in the hiatus caused by Lent and Easter.
Monk said
Dear Universalis:
I am a current registered user of this program and would like to inquire if it would be possible for you to provide an index of the various Psalms in the program as well as have direct links to the various psalms from such an index.
It would be nice to have access to psalms one would like to pray at certain times given certain occasions. Thanks and God Bless.
universalis said
Monk, this is something I’m bearing in mind, but it may not happen for quite some time because the database hasn’t been designed for this purpose and some redesign may be necessary.
George said
Dearest Universalis,
I love Universalis and I keep this ministry in my prayers.
The Windows Mobile / Storage Card situation is still of concern to me.
I have read the post (on the home screen dated 13 June “Windows Mobile: storage cards and the today screen”).
However, what is written and my personal experience do not agree.
I own a total of 5 pocket pc phones: 2 with Windows Mobile 2005 (WM5), 2 with Windows Mobile 2006 (WM6), and one with Windows Mobile 6.1 (WM6.1).
I also have purchased 22 applications for my phones/ppcs with 8 of them having today screen plug-ins.
All of these applications are installed on storage cards; they function fine and are displayed on the today screen all of the time, even after a soft reset.
I have been using pocket pcs since WM 2003, and have since purchased well over 30 applications and games. I am familiar with these devices and their functionality.
So, with charity and humility, I am confident in saying that issue might not be with WM.
Like poster #40 stated, Universalis, when installed in the storage card, does not appear as an option for the today screen (Start > Settings > Today > Items). Not even after soft resets.
I have tried installing Universalis in the storage card on all five of my devices. I even Hard reset one device and formated the memory card (to have a “new” device), and Universalis does not show up as an option for the today screen (Start > Settings > Today > Items).
I noticed that the screen shots of the today screen posted are of WM 2002, maybe the code needs to be slighted updated for WM6 devices.
If you have any questions or comments regarding my post please email me.
Thank you for your time and consideration!!!
George
Robin said
Thank you Universalis! I have been enjoying your site and your blog and now must make an inquiry.. hopefully you can help me with something I know little about.
This morning’s first reading at Mass should have been Gal.1:6-12, but my church used different readings and I cannot find what. What would be the alternate reading for today?
Al said
First off as someone coming through the RCIA program this site has been a true blessing and an intricate part of my conversion process. I originally had the app on my iphone but since the phone never worked properly I now have the new G1 and was wondering if you were going to develop an app for this new phone? I really miss this app and wouldn’t mind paying for it again.
Thank you
Al
Benedicta said
Martin founder of universalis, Thank you for sharing your father’s story. Prayers ascending.
Taylor said
Thank you so much for this website. The Liturgical Calendar here makes it so much easier for me to look at upcoming feasts and such. It also keeps me on track with my psalter weeks. God Bless! 🙂
Linards Jansons said
Thanks for this great resource – very helpful considering all my office books are in a box coming from O/S. Just a question – does there exist an index of all the patristic readings?
LJ
Des said
Hi,
I bought Universalis for my Ipod Touch which is great. I then downloaded the Windows PC version and tried to put in the code. It keeps asking for a code on dates years into the future and I don’t have them on my ipod. How do I register the PC version?
Des
Des said
Hi
Problem solved. I found Universalis does not stop at the end of the year and you can move into the next year. I found the code and my PC version registered.
Des
John D said
Greetings,
I know you may have answered this question countless times, but I can’t seem to find the explanation as to the Psalms, in the Liturgy Of The Hours, listed and followed by parenthesis. Is this the Greek or Hebrew translation in the parenthesis? It seems to be one number higher.
Thank You so very much. We love your website.
John D
universalis said
It’s Greek first, then Hebrew in parentheses if it’s different. You’ll find a more detailed explanation on the Frequently Asked Questions page.
Patrick J said
I recently purchased an iPod touch specifically for using Universalis. It’s excellent except for the text size. I cannot find a way to increase the text size. I notice that in some other Apps this is possible under the iPod’s Settings menu. Is there a solution to my problem short of getting a new pair of reading glasses?
Thanks, Patrick J
universalis said
You can pinch-zoom, as with Safari; or you can just double-tap to enlarge the font size. It’s probably worth reading the full instructions in case there are any other features you are looking for.
brian m said
May I ask the source for the office hymns that you have recently added to the site? If they all came from the same hymnal, I’d like to know, so I can use that hymnal when I am compelled to use the official books to say the Hours. Thanks very much–
David said
Hello,
I have just purchased a B&N Nook and I want to know what the easiest way to have the Liturgy of the Hours for daily recitation is. Do I have to download it daily? Is there anyway to have it automatically downloaded and ready everyday?
Great product and awaiting a reply!
David
universalis said
This page gives full details on how to create Universalis e-books for your own use.
Tomas said
Greetings!
I love universalis. It is such a beautiful program.
However, I am having a trouble viewing the greek text properly (in the Gospel reading at Mass).
I see the text, but I also see boxes in between the text, which I am sure should not be there.
How do I view the greek text without the boxes and with the accents?
I have windows xp, and a paid version of universalis.
thank you for your help and hard work
God Bless you!
Tomas
universalis said
I’ve written a page about Greek on Windows. Please read it and see if it resolves your problems. If not, please email us using the “Contact Us” link at the bottom of any Universalis page.
brian m said
Is there any chance that you might set up the optional memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary as an option for all appropriate Saturdays?
universalis said
It’s a good idea, but there are some tricky issues to be sorted out.
There are at least seven possible Second Readings for these memorials, three short readings at Lauds, six Benedictus antiphons, two sets of prayers and intercessions, and six concluding prayers. This would make the liturgy of the day incredibly long if everything were included. I’m wondering about doing the same kind of thing that we do with the Invitatory Psalm, and giving you a different Second Reading, short reading, antiphon etc on each Saturday.
What do you think?
Brian M said
I think your proposed arrangement would be fine–great, in fact. If you could put it in the Europe-England calendar I would be immensely thankful.
Preben Pedersen said
In 2012 march 25 is a sunday in Lent. Therefore the annunciation of the Lord is moved. According to Universalis the annunciation is moved to the monday following (march 26) but according to these other websides: http://catholicism.about.com/od/2012calendar/f/2012_Annunciation.htm and http://www.easterbrooks.com/cgi-bin/Cathcal.cgi?20120324 it is moved to the previous saturday (march 24). Which is correct?
Preben, Denmark
universalis said
They are wrong. I’ve just written a blog post about this. The draft 2012 calendar of the Catholic Liturgy Office in the UK puts the Annunciation on 26 March; so do the other official calendars that I’ve checked.
Preben Pedersen said
In the blog post, you mention, you give a link to the General norms for the liturgical year and the calendar, © 1982, ICEL, which includes an apostolic letter written by Pope Paul VI in 1969. In his 1969 letter Pope Paul VI must, as far as I can see, have approved the general norm of moving the annunciation to the preceding Saturday march 24, which, again as far as I can see, was the general norm at that time. But now you say that general norm was changed in later Latin versions of the General norms. Which pope signed that change, and in which document?
universalis said
You will find detailed information about this in the Third Edition of the Roman Missal, published in 2002.
Paul C said
Hi
I really enjoy using your website
I also enjoy listening to the divine office sung – usually in latin on the vatican website. For me it sets out the calm pace and dignity of the prayer.
However I do struggle with keeping track of the latin.
It would be great if in the future, somehow you could offer an option for side by side english-latin translation – especially of morning, evening and night prayer.
(I would definitely subscribe to that)
thanks again for all your great work
Paul C
UK
Anonymous said
Dear Universalis,
Can the order of Mass also be made available when we creat e-book in epud / mobi-pocket format? i just got Samsung Android phone and downloaded the fbreader, i can now pray the office by creating e-book on my mobile.
brian m said
Dear Universalis,
If you did eventually move to the proposed two-year cycle of lessons for the Office of Readings, may I ask if official responsories were ever made available for this cycle, and if so, whether they are available anywhere in English, or if they would have to be translated for this purpose?
p.s. Thanks very much for providing the optional Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary–
universalis said
Since there is no official two-year cycle, there are no responsories for it. I’m sure that once these things are made official, they will be complete.
How long will that take for an official two-year cycle to appear? Years, at the very least, according to the liturgists I’ve talked to.
Miss T Kulurachi CJN said
Dear Friends, thank you for Universalis Divine Office, it makes praying the divine offices very simple and I am not trying to find the correct psalms, prayers etc for the day as you have already set it all out for me. This all encourages me in my prayer life and I am so grateful to you. Many blessings
Mary Murphy said
i love your sitr but would prefer it to exactly reproduce the Roman breviary esp. the psalms
universalis said
The psalms do match.
Edwin Ezike said
Universalis is a superb work. I am very excited using it. Please I would like to know how to get Masses for the Dead, Wedding Masses, Funeral Masses and other Votive Masses as contained in the Roman Missal and Lectionary, and the Scripture readings for these Masses from Universalis. Thank you very much.
Edwin.
Karen Howard said
I think I’ve run into a bug in the Mac version of Universalis. When I right click a word and select “Look Up”, the font and font size change to match that of the dictionary pop-up (which is unfortunately a little small). To fix things, I have to quit and restart. I’m running version 1.97 of Universalis and version 10.7.5 of the Mac OS.
Also, do you have a contact link or email somewhere? I couldn’t find one. Or do you prefer bug reports to show up here?
Thx.
Skittle said
Thank you for this lovely resource, which I’ve been using for nearly two years. I’ve greatly appreciated some of the improvements, as they’ve come in.
I wonder why you have changed the opening of the Invitatory from “Oh Lord, open my lips. And my mouth will proclaim your praise” to “Oh Lord, open our lips. And we shall proclaim your praise”?
I haven’t seen this more recent translation anywhere else, and the Latin definitely uses “my” and “my mouth”. What’s behind this?
Michael Carvill said
Great app! And it is always improving. Compliments to the makers and designers. I mention just one little “wish” item: sometimes I’m half way through an hour when I realize I’m on the wrong day. The app adjusts the date well, but if you take it to another day, say to look at the comming Sundays readings, and do not put it back you can easily forget. So, my request would be to have the liturgical day in the header always visible. You could make the left drop down calendar so that it functions like the hour being prayed in the new and welcome drop down menu.
Frances said
Can I purchase a universalis liturgy package in French, my English version, on my kindle, is invaluable.
Iyke said
I’ve been using the android app for a year or two and I must admit that it is fantastic, especially if I consider the effort it takes to deliver it to several people in several different countries with so many different calenders and options.
I am also impressed with the effort to keep improving. Please keep up the good work.
Anonymous said
I have been using your website and its apps for a very long time. I recently discovered that you now have complete mass readings and responses. I cannot begin to explain how fulfilling this all is, in one place with no internet required. I carry mine to church and read along and read before church for better understanding. How long will it take the Church to realize that ‘Electric Prayer” is the wave of the future and they need to get on the bandwagon? Who in the World owns the Psalms? Did the get the copyright from King David?
Leonard Vella said
I cannot find enough words to express my gratitude to those behind this inispired project. God Bless you all and keep up the good work.
Rolden Jacob said
Great App.
In the text of Mass, the words of Consecration could be given BOLD.
In the local Calendar – India – the Epiphany has to be on Sunday between 2-8 January. At present it is not so.
Lalitha D'Souza said
Hello!
I uploaded Universalis on my Samsung last summer and have had a completely smooth service until this morning when I find it is stuck on May16th 2016 – yesterday. I wonder if anyone can help to solve this problem.
Many thanks!
universalis said
If this is the Universalis app for Android, then you can make it display any date you want by tapping the top left-hand corner of the screen (where the date is displayed). If this doesn’t help, then please contact us at universalis@universalis.com and I am sure we will be able to sort it out for you.
Christopher Smith said
I have been using Universalis for several years, and find that it is one of the most helpful programs of any kind that I have ever encountered. My wife and I pray from it daily and I use it on my tablet to follow the liturgy at Mass since my old eyes now struggle to follow the printed type on the Mass sheets – being able to select a font and a type size is a huge advantage if one’s eyesight is less than perfect. I sometimes wish that there were more alternatives offered for the Eucharistic prayers at Mass since our PP, frustratingly, tends to dive off into some private variant that is in his book but is not available for the congregation. That said, the program is simply wonderful.
Rusty Baldwin said
Hello! Really appreciate this app and especially that the entire Breviary is available offline!!
Are the propers of saints for particular orders available and/or could they be added? I’m personally interested in the Carmelite propers but there are others as well.
Thanks and God bless!
Dorothy Collins said
What is the source of the opening hymn for mid-morning prayer for july 9 2017?
universalis said
It is the Stanbrook Abbey Hymnal.
>
Nigel McBain said
Dear Universalis,
Thank you for your excellent site. There are a few things in the Ordinariate Calendar that, might I suggest, require a bit of fixing.
The Ember Days in the Year are higher in rank than Memorials and Optional Memorials. They occur on the Wednesday, Friday and Saturdays, in the First Week of Advent, in the First Week of Lent, in the Octave (Week After Pentecost) and the Autumn Ember Days, which are the Wed, Fri and Sat after Holy Cross: Sept 14. The Liturgical colour for these days is Violet, except for the Pentecost Ember Days, which are red.
Two other things: From Septuagesima – the Pre-Lenten Season – three Sundays before Lent, all days following are in Violet, except for Obligatory and Optional Memorials. The entire Octave of Pentecost is in Red – no green Weekdays. The Octave of Pentecost days, with the Ember Days, outrank Memorials, Obligatory or Optional, and so those become optional commemorations in these times.
God bless you and your work!
Frances Hubbard said
Do i have to subscribe to Universalis ?
universalis said
The web site is free; the apps and programs need to be bought. You can read more about them at http://universalis.com/n-apps.htm
Roger Albert said
I am a daily subscriber. I want only to receive the daily mass readings. Please make this change now.
Thank you
Lalitha D'Souza said
Interesting. I’m the same, just need the day’s gospel. All you have to do is clucks on hours, then from the drop-down list click on Readings at Mass. That’s it. Nothing needs to change really.
woodyham said
I am webmster for our church and we wish to link to the daily readings on Universalis. The downloadable gif from you doesn’t easily fit with the look of our site https://st-dunstans.org so for now I have a button (matching other links) which take the readers to the daily readings. Is there a way in which I can add the heading from your gif which explains what day it is etc?
Leo M Walker said
I am interested in the Liturgy of the Hours in Spanish four use on my Linux desktop. Is there anything for that?
Anonymous said
Dear all, thank you for this wonderful App for our spiritual growth and communion with our God. It is convenient and a must have for anyone who seeks spiritual growth and renewal, how I wish as many as possible may know about it.
I humbly request if it is possible you include liturgies for votive Masses and hours. Just a suggestion, because sometimes I would like to chose Masses of our Lady, or Sacred Heart, or Holy Eucharist etc but they are not available on our dear App.
Thomas Tusuubira