By popular demand, and out of a deep-seated desire to confound, we present for your edification the second edition of our “quiz from hell.” This one is so much easier than the last [February 1993] that around here we call it the “quiz from purgatory.” You have fifteen minutes to choose the right answers to these ten questions. Solutions follow–but no peeking!
Questions
1. How many popes have been of Jewish descent?
a. Only one, Peter.
b. Two, Peter and his immediate successor, Linus.
c. Only three of the first four popes; after the Jewish Council of Jamnia (c. 85), which promulgated a curse against Christians, no further popes of Jewish descent were elected.
d. More than three.
2. To be elected pope, a man must be at least
a. A cardinal who attends the papal conclave and is less than 80 years of age.
b. Baptized.
c. Over 50 years of age.
d. Fluent in Latin.
3. In cases of necessity, which of the following is acceptable matter for baptism?
a. Beer.
b. Lite beer, but not other kinds of beer.
c. Blood (so “baptism of blood”).
d. Sea water.
4. If the Holy Roman Empire were still in existence, who would be the Holy Roman Emperor today?
a. Pope John Paul II.
b. The president of Italy.
c. Archduke Otto von Habsburg.
d. The heir to the German throne.
5. What is the breviary?
a. An abbreviated form of the New Testament.
b. Latin-rite variant of an aviary.
c. The Divine Office set to music.
d. A book containing prayers, hymns, psalms, and readings for the canonical hours.
6. What sin can’t your spouse commit, even in theory?
a. Final impenitence.
b. Fornication.
c. Assassination.
d. B.asphemy against the Holy Spirit.
7. Who is the patron saint of altar boys?
a. Bruno Bettelheim.
b. John Betjeman.
c. John Berchmans.
d. Loraine Boettner.
8. What is circumincession?
a. The ancient Jewish initiatory rite for male children.
b. The indwelling of each Person of the Trinity in the others.
c. The manner in which the New World was divided up between Spain and Portugal.
d. A manner of procession used by concelebrating priests.
9. When did seminary training for priests become common?
a. At the beginning of Church history, with our Lord’s teaching in the Temple.
b. At the promulgation of Pope Pius X’s encyclical Educationis Seminarii.
c. At the Council of Trent.
d. At an unknown early date, but diocesan seminaries were in regular use by the time of Augustine.
10. The vessel that holds water at the door to Catholic churches may be called any of these except
a. Stoup.
b. Font.
c. Holy water holder.
d. Mandamus bowl.
Answers
Not so bad this time, eh? Here are our answers. If they differ from yours, tough.
Question 1
a. Yes, Peter was of Jewish descent, but he wasn’t the only pope who was.
b. Sorry, there were more than two.
c. Although the story about Jamnia is true, popes of Jewish descent reigned after the first century.
d. No one knows how many popes were of Jewish descent, but in the eleventh and twelfth centuries there were three: Gregory VI, Gregory VII, and Anaclet II. Add Peter to their number, and you get “more than three,” so this is the right answer.
Question 2
a. Although for centuries all popes have been selected from the ranks of the cardinals, there is no rule that a pope must be selected from their ranks.
b. Correct. The candidate must be a baptized Catholic; he even can be a married layman.
c. Nope. There’s no age requirement.
d. All the popes we can think of have been fluent in Latin, but that’s not a requirement either.
Question 3
a. No, because the liquid used must be considered to be water in common parlance.
b. Taking out the calories doesn’t help.
c. “Baptism of blood” refers to martyrdom; sacramental baptism is water baptism and requires water.
d. Yes, sea water works, since it is commonly accounted as water, even if not potable.
Question 4
a. You should guess that the Holy Roman Emperor and the pope are not one in the same since some of the greatest squabbles in history have been between emperors and popes; there has been no emperor/pope.
b. Closer, but the state of Italy was created only after the Holy Roman Empire ended in the nineteenth century, so how could Italy’s president be the emperor?
c. Archduke Otto von Habsburg is the son of the last emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and that man’s ancestor was the last Holy Roman Emperor, the position having been in the Habsburg family for centuries. As a point of interest, when Ian Paisley, the viciously anti-Catholic minister from Northern Ireland, disrupted the European Parliament a few years ago, Archduke Otto was one of the men who wrestled him out the door.
d. No, not the heir to the German throne. Think Austria, not Germany, as the venue of the Holy Roman Emperors.
Question 5
a. We don’t know what an abbreviated form of the New Testament would be called, other than brief, but “breviary” isn’t it.
b. If you chose this answer, open your dictionary to “aviary.”
c. Close, since the breviary, which is commonly called the Divine Office or liturgy of the hours, contains hymns, but mostly it contains prayers that are not set to music.
d. Bingo.
Question 6
a. Anyone can be impenitent on his deathbed, even your spouse.
b. Here’s the right answer. Fornication is a sexual sin that can be committed only by two unmarried people. If one or both are married (but not to each other, of course), the sin is adultery.
c. You might think your spouse is incapable of assassination, but are you really sure?
d. Same answer as “a.”
Question 7
a. Wrong. Bruno Bettelheim was one of this century’s most famous American psychologists.
b. Wrong again. John Betjeman was named poet laureate of Britain in 1972.
c. Yes, John Berchmans (1599-1621) is the answer. He was canonized in 1888.
d. You should be ashamed of yourself. Go back and read chapter two of Catholicism and Fundamentalism.
Question 8
a. No, you’re thinking of circumcision.
b. Yes, this is right.
c. Not even close. I made this one up out of thin air.
d. Given today’s liturgical disarray, this answer almost sounds right.
Question 9
a. Sorry, but you’re about 1500 years off.
b. So far as we know, there has never been an encyclical titled Educationis Seminarii.
c. Correct. The Council of Trent attempted to regularize priestly training–a much-needed reform of the Church.
d. Prior to Trent priests were trained on an apprentice system; young men lived and worked with priests until they learned what to do, and then they were ordained–great if your teacher was Augustine, but disastrous if your teacher was himself ignorant of the faith.
Question 10
a. It seems people either think of this word first for the holy water holder, or they’ve never heard of it at all.
b. A synonym and perhaps in more common use today.
c. While in no way a regular title, this phrase accurately describes the apparatus, so this isn’t the right answer either.
d. Ah, here we are. “Mandamus” sounds as though it might have something to do with the Maundy Thursday foot washing ceremony, but not so. The word actually means a writ issued by a superior court, generally to an inferior court, ordering the performance of a certain act.