Associated Press – October 5, 2007
ROME – An Italian electronics technician has invented a high-tech rosary, to help Catholic faithful recite the prayers using an electronic device instead of traditional beads.
Shaped like an egg, decorated with images of the Virgin Mary and featuring a push-button, the gadget allows faithful to listen to a woman’s voice recite “Our Father” and “Hail Mary” prayers in Italian.
The technician, Onorio Frati, said earlier this week that he invented the device to help him pray while on the job.
The gadget is being produced in Loreto, a town in central Italy famous for a shrine to the Virgin Mary. The factory owners are working on producing electronic rosaries in English, Spanish, French, German and Polish.
The electronic rosary can be purchased in religious shops nearby the Loreto Sanctuary, and in Rome near St. Peter’s Square.
The average price is €29.50 (US$41.70). It can be purchased with optional headsets. According to the factory owners, some 7,000 of them have been sold since April when it first went on sale.
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