Though it’s not yet the “dog days” of summer, it’s never too early (or late) for a quiz on all things Catholic! Feel free to ask your friends and family—but no fair using Google, Wikipedia, or the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
- What Pope declared himself a prisoner of the Vatican?
- What two symbolic pieces of heraldic regalia are found in all basilicas?
- Who was the first non-martyr to be named a saint (pace Mary, St. John the Evangelist and of course, St. Joseph)?
- In Italy, which saint is so famous she is simply known as “THE Saint”?
- What were (are) the four “minor orders”?
- What was the name of the cave David took shelter in?
- During the singing of the Exultet at the Easter Vigil, what insect is extolled?
- During his papal installation, Pope Benedict wore what garment in an Eastern Catholic tradition?
- What two 20th-century British authors, both of whom were converts to Catholicism, soured on the liturgical changes of the Second Vatican Council?
- A crosier with two horizontal bars on it is called what kind of cross?
- Leon Bloy wrote a famous work on which Marian apparition?
- What cardinal died suddenly and immediately before the conclave of 1958?
- An atheist does not believe in God. An agnostic is unsure. But what is the technical term for someone who actively hates God?
- Which 20th-century saint wrote an autobiography entitled Journal of a Soul?
- What Doctor of the Church is literally named “Golden-Word”?
- What Renaissance artist practiced the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola?
- What epic English poet not only served in World War I, but went on to decorate many churches with his engravings and paintings?
- In a church what are bobaches used for?
- Who is the patron saint of editors?
- In the West, what are the tradition names given to the Magi (the “three kings”)?
- A priest with “O.A.R.” for a suffix belongs to which religious order?
- The “Miraculous Medal” was manifested to which saint?
- Who is “The Second Apostle to Germany” (the first being St. Boniface)?
- There are two arch-abbeys in the United States: what are their names and where are they located?
- Although he is always depicted in art as being shot through with many arrows, St. Sebastian did not die from arrow wounds: how was he finally martyred?
- What famous Lebanese-American actor had a public and strong devotion to St. Jude?
- Most tourists think that the Cathedral of Venice has always been the famed St. Mark’s Basilica—but from 1450 to 1805 the Cathedral of Venice was which other church?
- What are four different names for the Sunday following Easter?
- What Catholic writer and painter also invented—according to his own history—color and underwater photography (though he died broken and penniless in Venice)?
- What famous philosopher wrote books taking titles from the New Testament such as The Sickness Unto Death and Fear and Trembling?
- On the Feast of Saint Agnes, lambs are blest then shorn to fashion what ecclesiastical garment?
Answers
- Pope Saint Pius IX
- A tiny ceremonial bell and an elaborate umbrella.
- St. Martin.
- Saint Catherine of Genoa.
- Porter, Lector, Exorcist, Acolyte.
- Adullam
- Bees
- Pallium
- Graham Greene and especially Evelyn Waugh
- A patriarchal cross
- Our Lady of La Salette (She Who Weeps)
- Cardinal Edward Mooney of Detroit
- A misotheist
- Pope St. John XXIII
- Saint Peter Chrysologus
- Bernini
- David Jones (his WWI experience is recorded in his work In Parenthesis)
- Bobaches catch the wax from candlesticks in Church.
- St. John Bosco is the patron saint of editors.
- Caspar (alternately, Gaspar), Melchior and Balthazar.
- “O.A.R.” is the post-nominals for an Augustinian Recollect member.
- St. Catherine Labore
- St. Peter Canisius, S.J. is called the “Second Apostle to Germany”
- Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and Saint Meinrad Archabbey, Saint Meinrad, Indiana.
- Ultimately St. Sebastian was clubbed to death.
- Danny Thomas went on to found St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
- San Pietro di Castello
- Low Sunday, Sunday in albis, Quasimodo Sunday, Divine Mercy Sunday. Some Eastern Christians refer to it as “Thomas Sunday,” too.
- Frederick William Serafino Austin Lewis Mary Rolfe, Baron Corvo.
- Soren Kierkegaard
- The pallium