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:
1. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
4. Ailred of Rievaulx
1. It's not Teilhard.
4. Correct! It was Aelred.
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.
Did not Origen's mother hide his clothes?
Zadock! ROFL!
Which Father of the church didn't suffer from haemorrhoids?
Sharon
2. I guess Jerome, just that strikes me as a convenient explanation for his personality.
5. Big Ol' Tommy d' Aquino
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?
wow, you got a comment from Fr Zed. Respeck.
I'm going to guess that the answer to question number 1 is Hans Urs von Balthasar.
Nope. It's not von Balthasar.
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.)
#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).
Nope... no one has correctly answered questions 1 and 2 yet.
2. Augustine
The photo is DeLubac?
#2 could be St. Fiacre but I don't think he is a Father. Final answer.
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.
1. Jean Daniélou?
1. Karl Rahner?
1. Yves Congar
2. St. Augustine suffered from hemorrhoids, according to his Epistle #38
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.
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.
Post a Comment