The Vatican reinvents the rosary into a $110 wearable
The eRosary aims to teach people how to pray.
- Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has three times been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
Tech meets tradition.
Even the rosary has gone digital.
The Vatican on Wednesday said it was launching a "Click To Pray eRosary," an app-driven wearable that can be used to learn how to pray the rosary. The device is worn like a bracelet and is activated when users make the sign of a cross. It consists of 10 black beads and a "smart cross" that stores data linked to the app.
Users can choose to pray the standard rosary, a contemplative rosary or different kinds of thematic rosaries, which are updated each year. After beginning a prayer, the smart rosary shows a user's progress and tracks how many rosaries are completed.
The free accompanying app includes access to an audio guide, images and "personalized content about the praying of the Rosary."
The Vatican said in a press release that this project brings spiritual tradition and the latest technological advances together.
"Aimed at the peripheral frontiers of the digital world where the young people dwell, the Click To Pray eRosary serves as a technology-based teaching tool to help young people pray the Rosary for peace and to contemplate the Gospel," the Vatican said.
The smart rosary is part of "Click to Pray," a prayer app belonging to the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network that connects people around the world to pray each day.