Monday, February 25, 2008

Weird Theologian Trivia...


Okay... a very short quiz... no prize except for the bragging rights...

1. Which famous theologian introduced Henri de Lubac to shark-fin soup in a Parisian Chinese restaurant?

2. Which Father of the Church suffered from haemorrhoids?

3. Which figure in the Early Church was prevented from handing himself over for martyrdom by his mother? How did she stop him?

4. Which medieval spiritual writer was prominent in the court of the Scottish King before becoming a monk?

5. Which Doctor of the Church craved fish on his deathbed?


Answers/Guesses welcome in the comments box. Alternatively, post your own piece of weird theologian-trivia. (And by that I mean weird trivia about theologians rather than trivia about weird theologians.)

24 comments:

bill7tx said...

1. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

4. Ailred of Rievaulx

Zadok the Roman said...

1. It's not Teilhard.
4. Correct! It was Aelred.

bill7tx said...

And I guess 2 was NOT Cardinal Richelieu (who also had them).

Sorry about 1. I thought that was a photo of Teilhard, who was a contemporary of Lubac.

Gengulphus said...

Did not Origen's mother hide his clothes?

Anonymous said...

Zadock! ROFL!

Anonymous said...

Which Father of the church didn't suffer from haemorrhoids?

Sharon

StMichael said...

2. I guess Jerome, just that strikes me as a convenient explanation for his personality.
5. Big Ol' Tommy d' Aquino

Zadok the Roman said...

Maybe St Jerome did have haemorrhoids, but I'm not sure there's any evidence of this. I'm thinking of another Father of the Church who had them.

Gengulphus is correct about Origen. His father Leonidas was martyred and the teenage Origen wanted to follow him. His mother, however, hid his clothes so that he couldn't leave the house and thereby spared him from martyrdom.

Stmichael is correct about St Thomas Aquinas. Legend said that he craved a particular sort of fish on his deathbed and unexpectedly a fish-seller showed up at the door of the monastery selling these fish. It's also said that as an act of asceticism the Angelic Doctor didn't actually eat them.

Okay... the remaining unanwered questions are as follows:

1. Which famous theologian introduced Henri de Lubac to shark-fin soup in a Parisian Chinese restaurant?

2. Which Father of the Church suffered from haemorrhoids?

Anonymous said...

wow, you got a comment from Fr Zed. Respeck.

Kim Andrew D'Souza said...

I'm going to guess that the answer to question number 1 is Hans Urs von Balthasar.

Zadok the Roman said...

Nope. It's not von Balthasar.

Terry Nelson said...

I will guess:

#1 - Jean Danielou

And because I ran across it online when searching, "Church Father with hemoroids":

#2 - John Calvin (LOL! Kidding of course, but he did suffer from them.)

Fred said...

#1 I'm guessing Hugo Rahner because this quiz has something of a patristics theme (but Terry's guess of Danielou would fall here also).

Zadok the Roman said...

Nope... no one has correctly answered questions 1 and 2 yet.

Lauren said...

2. Augustine

Francis said...

The photo is DeLubac?

Francis said...

#2 could be St. Fiacre but I don't think he is a Father. Final answer.

Gengulphus said...

In the matter of haemorrhoids Fiacre is notably efficacious. His celebrated stone - in the depression of which suffers may sit to obtain relief - still exists to provide comfort to the afflicted. But he is not recorded as having endured this particular complaint himself.

Gengulphus said...

1. Jean Daniélou?

Fred said...

1. Karl Rahner?

bill7tx said...

1. Yves Congar

Anonymous said...

2. St. Augustine suffered from hemorrhoids, according to his Epistle #38

Zadok the Roman said...

Lauren was correct about St Augustine, and many thanks to QM for the reference. I'd actually lost track of where I read it.

No one's got the De Lubac question correct yet. A quick clue - the theologian in question was neither French nor German.

Fred said...

1. I'm betting against Avery Cardinal Dulles and Karol Józef Wojtyla. So, I'm putting all my money down on an Italian, Angelo Cardinal Scola.