La Bible Catholique Audio Catholic Bible in French

La Bible Catholique Audio is a French-language Catholic Bible app built around the Crampon translation. If you read French, or want to, this is one of the more solid Catholic options on the App Store.

The text is the 1923 Crampon Bible, prepared by Canon Augustin Crampon, a priest from Amiens who translated directly from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. It was the first Catholic French Bible translated from the original languages rather than through the Latin Vulgate, and it includes all the books a Catholic Bible should. The app adds audio readings on top of the text, so you can listen as well as read.

What stands out is how plain it is. There is no flash, no sign-in, no daily push to engage. You open it, you find your book, you read or you listen. For Catholics who grew up with French as a first or second language — French Canadians, Africans, French-speaking parishes here in the States — having the Crampon in your pocket is a small gift. The translation is reverent and old-fashioned in places, which I happen to like.

It is a good fit for daily Mass readings if you want to follow along in French, for Bible study in a francophone parish or homeschool, or for anyone trying to keep up the language while staying close to the Word. The audio also makes it usable in the car or while doing chores.

It is not a full liturgical app. There is no calendar, no Mass readings selector, no breviary. It is a Bible, and that is the whole job. The interface is dated and the developer is independent, so polish is modest. None of that gets in the way of using it.

Free. By Oleg Shukalovich, an independent developer. On the App Store: La Bible Catholique Audio. Worth installing if French is part of your prayer life.