Catholic Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary Lite

This app holds the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a set of prayers based on the Psalms and attributed to St. Bonaventure. Instead of the usual wording, each psalm is turned toward Our Lady, praising her and asking her intercession.

You read through the psalms one after another, with the focus on honoring Mary and praying for the holy souls in Purgatory. The Lite version gives you the core of the devotion at no cost. It is a reading and praying app, plain and to the point, without a lot of extra features around it.

I had not come across this particular devotion before, and that was part of the draw. We tend to stick to the prayers we already know, and there is something good about sitting with an older one that a saint left behind. Praying the Psalms through Mary puts a different light on words you may have heard your whole life.

It is a good fit for someone who already prays the Rosary or a Marian chaplet and wants to go a little deeper, or for anyone drawn to the older devotions of the Church. Praying for the souls in Purgatory is a worthy habit, and this gives you a structured way to do it.

Keep your expectations in the right place. This is the Lite edition, so it is limited compared with a paid version, and the app itself is older and fairly basic in how it looks and runs. The language of the prayers is lofty and old-fashioned, which fits the devotion but takes a moment to settle into.

It is free, from developer Leonard Mamangkey. You can find it here on the App Store: Catholic Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary Lite. A quiet, traditional Marian devotion worth trying if it speaks to you.