Hot Under the Collar Trivia Quiz

Answer: Great

Albertus was born near the end of the 12th century (though sadly the exact date is not known) and was drawn to the Dominican order where he became a friar. In 1223 he commenced his studies in theology at Bologna and it was here that his profound intellect was recognised. It wasn't long before the student became the teacher and began to serve the Church as a lecturer. In 1245 he was moved to Paris as the Master of Theology and one of the students on whom he would have an enormous impact was Thomas Aquinas. In 1260 he was appointed Bishop of Regensburg by Pope Alexander IV. So humble was he that, despite his age, he refused the services of a horse to move about the parish, instead he would walk. This culminated in locals calling him the "Boots Bishop".

Beyond his faith Albertus was a prolific writer and produced thirty eight volumes of observations, summarisations and deductions on a wide range of topics that included zoology, astronomy, alchemy, law, mineralogy, friendship and love. Magnus passed away in 1280 and was beatified in 1622. Pope Pius XI declared him a saint in 1931 and, at the same time, bestowed the rare honour of declaring him a Doctor of the Church for his contributions to theology. Albertus is the patron saint of scientists.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member pollucci19.

Answer: Augustinian

Gregor Mendel was the second child of a farming family. He showed great promise as a child and his family did what they could to support him. One of his sisters gave him her dowry to help finance his studies. As funding became scarce Mendel eventually turned to the church as a means of furthering his education. Mendel was well known for his work with pea plants and his theories on heredity.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member mustbejan.

Answer: Brother Adam

Kerhle, born in Germany, went to England for his health at the age of 11, taking Holy Orders at the Benedictine Abbey in Devonshire. It was to Turkey he went to source new bees for the Abbey after the devastation of the hives due to a parasite.

He had a life-long fascination with bees and was bestowed with honorary doctorates in recognition of his dedication. He retired at the direction of the Abbot at the age of 96, two years before his death.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member VegemiteKid.

Answer: Pope Sylvester II

Pope Sylvester II's papacy began 2 April, 999 and ended with his passing on 12 May, 1003. At his appointment he became the first French Pope. Gerbert arrived at the monastery of St. Gerald (of Aurillac) around about his seventeenth birthday and was soon taken to study both mathematics and the Arabic languages. Within six years he had arrived at Rome where he was introduced to Pope John XIII and the Emperor Otto I. He was quickly appointed as the tutor to the future Emperor Otto II and, eventually, Otto III. All of these opportunities opened doors to his own promotions and he moved steadily from being the abbot at Bobbio to archbishop at Ravena and finally to being Pope Gregory V's successor.

Gerbert also drew attention as one of the preeminent scientists of his time with his strengths lying in mathematics and astronomy. He managed to construct a hydraulic-powered organ with brass pipes and his work with the abacus saw its use become popular in Europe during the eleventh century.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member pollucci19.

Answer: Mayo Clinic, Rochester

After a tornado in Rochester, Minnesota, Sister Mary Joseph (born Julia Dempsey in 1856) went to help William W. Mayo and his two sons, Charles and William, staff their new hospital. She was the first surgical assistant for William Mayo. Later, she also contributed to the establishment the Mayo Clinic.

Sister Mary Joseph founded St. Mary's Hospital School for Nurses and assisted with the establishment of the Catholic Hospital Association of the US and Canada. She identified a nodule on babies' umbilical cords and contributed to the recognition of metastasis now known as 'Sister Mary Joseph Nodule'.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member VegemiteKid.

Answer: China Mission

The Jesuit China Missions provided strong links between China and the Western world. They were vital in assisting the exchange of ideas and science, the exposure of cultures and created the opportunity for the Christian church to impose itself on Chinese society. Ricci arrived in Macau in 1582 and immediately began to study the Chinese language and customs and would become one of the first Western scholars to master this art. This led to his compiling a Portuguese-Chinese dictionary, which was the first that linked the Chinese language with a European one.

During this period Ricci's scientific abilities became prominent, in particular, his predictions of the arrival of solar eclipses that were strong influences in the Chinese way of life. This ultimately led to his invitation to the Forbidden City by the Emperor and, though he would never get to meet the Emperor, he became an adviser to his court. Ricci was then able to use his new found influence to establish the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing, where it remains as the oldest Catholic cathedral in the city. Ricci passed away in 1610. A case was put forward for his beatification in 1984.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member pollucci19.

Answer: Her siblings' need to learn

Maria was born into a wealthy Italian family in 1718 and was seen as a child prodigy from a very early age. Her desire, however, was to enter a convent but was prevented from doing so by the need to teach her siblings - she was the eldest of 23 children, including step-brothers and -sisters. (She could speak seven languages by the age of eleven).

Maria's greatest contribution to science was her work into the studies of Euler, in particular his teachings in regard to infinitesimal calculus and graph theory. Maria's faith remained firm and in her later life she achieved her early dreams by founding a nunnery and living as a nun, though she never actually took holy orders.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member VegemiteKid.

Answer: A better lightning rod than Benjamin Franklin

He improved on Benjamin Franklin's lightning rod by grounding it.

Divis studied and entered an abbey and studied to become a Catholic priest and was ordained in 1726. In 1733 he received his degree of Doctor of Theology. He returned to the abbey and then spent time as a pastor in a nearby parish. He returned to the abbey as a prior. In the following year during the First Silesian War, his abbot was arrested by the Kingdom of Prussia. Divis paid a heavy ransom for his release which actually displeased the abbot and Divis was returned to the parish. Here he was responsible for managing the farmland of the parish. He constructed water conduits and became fascinated by electricity. Upon the death of a professor in St. Petersburg who was studying the effects of lightning while attempting to measure the intensity of an electric field in the atmosphere, Divis became especially interested in atmospheric electricity and set out to build a 'weather-machine'. In 1754 he came up with the grounded lightning rod, a significant improvement on Franklin's 1749 lightning rod. Whether he had knowledge of Franklin's work seems to be a matter of debate.

Divis also constructed the first electrified musical instrument which imitated the sound of many instruments and was called the Denis d'or.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member TAKROM.

Answer: He was well-versed in maths and theology

Lemaître aspired to become a priest and a man of science during his secondary school days in a Jesuit school in Belgium. However, due to financial constraints, he embarked on a career in civil engineering, during which he volunteered in the Belgian army as an artillery officer in World War I. After the war, he enrolled in a seminary and at the same time, pursued an education in mathematics and physics. Based on Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, Lemaître calculated the shift in light emitted by galaxies and formulated his theory that the universe was expanding, a good two years before Edwin Hubble published independent but nearly identical findings. The fact that the universe was expanding meant that it had started off as a smaller, more compact entity. Therefore, at some point back in time, it must have been a single, compacted dot, or in other words, a beginning. Coming from a Catholic priest, this sounded suspiciously like the creation theory in the Bible to staunch scientists; the origin of life has been a subject of controversy between the scientific and religious communities. However, Lemaître maintained that religion and science had no conflict and that his theory was strictly scientific in nature without intention to confirm or deny religious beliefs. Lemaître was simply a brilliant mathematician-cum-Catholic priest who analysed his data with an open mind and took it for what it was. His idea of an expanding universe later came to be known as the Big Bang Theory.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member purelyqing.

Answer: Richard of Wallingford

Richard entered the monastery in his early 20s, and undertook theological studies graduating a couple of years before he assumed the abbacy.

The truly amazing clock he designed was so sophisticated that it not only struck the hour, but also depicted the celestial bodies above the St Albans area and predicted when a lunar eclipse might occur. He had started to build the clock but sadly, died of leprosy before it could be completed. His successor completed it according to Wallingford's design, but it was lost or destroyed during the dissolution of monasteries under Henry VIII. The plans for the clock (all written in Latin) were found at the Bodleian library and replicas have been made.

This question was created by Phoenix Rising member VegemiteKid.