The iPhone's 140 million-plus applications now include one that helps Catholics pray the rosary.
Dave Brown, from the US, has invented a virtual rosary-beads "app" as a sign of thanksgiving after doctors found a successful bone-marrow match for his kindergarten-age daughter in 2008, curing her of her leukemia, the Catholic News Service reports.
As an information technology manager at a window and door company, Brown designed the app that has animated beads, which can be moved with a touch, said the report. Corresponding prayers pop up on the screen, along with devotional images.
The application knows which mystery to pray on which day. It even knows where the user left off if the rosary is interrupted. The app also has Spanish and French capability.
Brown told the Catholic Sentinel, Portland's archdiocesan newspaper, that within a year of its introduction, more than 20,000 sales of the app had been recorded. The Browns decided to keep the price low - 99 US cents - to get as many people as possible praying.
Other apps include a similar rosary app, known as the Prayer Beads App, was designed by Premier Christian media in England in advance of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Great Britain later this year, and an app by a priest to deliver daily inspirational video messages.
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There's an 'app' for that: iPhone applications devised for Catholics (Catholic News Service)