The following are various fun Catholic facts and figures:
No matter how much changed throughout the course of last year, people still found time to ponder a few age-old questions.
The number one “who, what, how” inquiry to Google in 2007 was, “Who is God?”
There are more than 1.4 million Catholic servicemembers dispersed throughout 220 military installations in 29 countries.
According to theOfficial Catholic Directory, 2008, there are 67,117,016 Catholics in the United States (22% of the U.S. population) and 1 billion Catholics worldwide.
According to the Official Catholic Directory, 2008, there are 41,406 diocesan and religious-order priests in the United States. There are 5,029 seminarians enrolled in the United States.
Of the 265 popes (263 to be exact because Pope Benedict IX, during the dreadful medieval fights between popes and anti-popes, was elected three times) 205 were Italians, (of whom 106 were Romans), and 57 foreigners; comprised of 19 Frenchmen, 14 Greeks, 8 Syrians, 6 Germans, 3 Africans, 2 Spaniards, 1 Austrian, 1 Palestinian, 1 Englishman, 1 Dutchman, and 1 Pole.
The following are all titles the Pope holds:
Bishop of Rome; Vicar of Jesus Christ; Successor to the Prince of the Apostles; Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church; Patriarch of the West; Primate of Italy; Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Province of Rome; Sovereign of the Vatican City; and Servant of the Servants of God.
17% of the world’s population is Catholic.
Five of the nine members of the U. S. Supreme Court are Catholic (Roberts, Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas and Alito).
The Church in the United States was established on November 6, 1789 by Pope Pius VI.
The first Catholic diocese was established in Baltimore, MD in 1789; John Carroll was named the first bishop.
There are 194 U. S. dioceses and archdioceses.
6% of the world’s Catholics are from the United States.
11% of the world’s Catholic priests are from the United States.
The election of the first African-American president and controversy surrounding the role of Catholic voters in the U.S. campaign topped the religious news stories of 2008, and Pope Benedict XVI and President-elect Barack Obama were the top newsmakers, according to the annual poll conducted by Catholic News Service. The global economic crisis took second place among the 31 news stories on the ballot. Pope Benedict's six-day visit to the United States in April came in third. Most first-place votes on the newsmakers list went to either Obama or Pope Benedict, with the pontiff edging out the president-elect by a small margin. Catholic voters were a distant third. SOURCE: USCCB 2008 Year in Review
According to a November 2008 press release by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Rhode Island has the highest percentage of Catholics (59.5%) compared to their overall population. Tennessee has the lowest percentage with Catholics making up only 2.3% of the state’s population. 8.3% of Virginia’s population is Catholic.
The name “Benedict” means “blessing.”
Pope Benedict is online! Email His Holiness at [email protected]
The custom of making pancakes on Fat Tuesday comes from the need to use up fat, eggs and dairy before the fasting and abstinence of Lent begins.
Lentis the Old English word for spring. In almost all other languages, Lent's name is a derivative of the Latin term quadragesima(the forty days).
The Stations of the Cross varied in number from 5-20 until the 18th century when Pope Clement XII fixed the number at 14. Stations of the Cross were only an outside devotional until the mid-18th century when the Stations were allowed inside churches.
“Faith on the Hill” and the 111th Congress:
Catholics, who account for nearly ¼ of the U.S. adult population, are the single largest religious group in the 111th Congress making up about 30%. The number of Catholics in Congress is 2.5 times the size of the next largest religious group, Baptists, who make up about 12%.
While Jews account for just 1.7% of the U.S. adult population, they make up 8.4% of Congress including just over 13% of the Senate.
Catholic Education in the United States
Total catholic elementary and high school enrollment: 2,256,990
Elementary Schools: 6,266 schools educating 1,576,301 students
High Schools: 1,352 schools educating 680,689 students
Colleges and Universities: 236 institutions educating 794,321 students
Source: The Official Catholic Directory 2008
The Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City is the largest cathedral in the world with a seating capacity around 5,000. Despite the fact that it is still unfinished, its 162-foot-tall dome crossing could comfortably contain the Statue of Liberty.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City
The Stations of the Cross in St. Patrick’s Cathedral are works of art which won first prize at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.
The Archbishops of New York are buried in a crypt under the high altar of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Their honorary hats, called galeros, hang from the ceiling over their tombs.
Ponce de Leon, the Spanish explorer, arrived at the territory known today as the state of Florida on Palm Sunday 1513. He named the territory Florida because of the abundance of flowers evident and because flowers were substitutes for palms is his native Spain.
The usual statement, that Easter Day is the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs next after the vernal equinox, is not a precise statement of the actual ecclesiastical rules. The full moon involved is not the astronomical Full Moon but an ecclesiastical moon (determined from tables) that keeps, more or less, in step with the astronomical Moon.
The ecclesiastical rules are:
·Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after the day of the vernal equinox;
·this particular ecclesiastical full moon is the 14th day of a tabular lunation (new moon);
·and the vernal equinox is fixed as March 21.
Resulting in that Easter can never occur before March 22 or later than April 25.
· Pope Benedict XVI recently celebrated his 82ndbirthday. He was born on April 16, 1927 and was baptized that very same day.
· He was elected Pope just three days after his 78thbirthday, April 19, 2005. He is the oldest person to have been elected pope since Clement XII in 1730.
· Pope Benedict XVI is the first pope to own an iPod.
· He has six email addresses. Each one begins with the name "Benedict."
· It is widely rumored that he enjoys Fanta orange soda
On St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC
The stations of the cross are works of art that won first prize in the Chicago’s World Fair in 1893.
The Pieta is three times larger than the Michelangelo’s Pieta in St. Peter’s, Rome.
The Cathedral has three organs
The baldachin over the main altar is solid bronze.
The land was purchased for $11,000 in 1810 as a site for a school
During the early centuries Christians privately used oil blessed by the bishop or priests as an internal and external remedy. In this form it was used as a kind of medicine or ointment or salve. In some localities blessed oil was also used publicly to anoint penitents as part of an extensive reconciliation process. Only with the 5th century is there evidence that priests rather than the laity used oil to anoint the sick.
Before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, there were discrimination laws against Catholics and there was no public Catholic Church in Maryland. Prior to becoming America’s first Catholic bishop, Father John Carroll’s brother built a small-framed chapel for him on his mother’s estate in Maryland and held Mass every Sunday. Weekday Mass was said in his mother’s home. The remains of Bishop John Carroll are guarded in the Baltimore Basilica crypt.
Father Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, was ordained at the Baltimore Basilica in 1877.
The Baltimore Basilica was declared a Minor Basilica in 1937, a National Landmark in 1972 and a National Shrine in 1993.
While our picnic next Sunday is on rain or shine, you might consider saying a quick prayer to Saint Medard, the patron saint for good weather and against bad weather. With school having recently started, a prayer to Saint Vitus might be helpful- he is the patron saint against oversleeping. There are over 10,000 named saints and beati from history, the Roman Martyology and Orthodox sources, but no definitive "head count.”
In a little over four years, Pope Benedict XVI has authored an astounding 65 literary works! Talk about a busy man!
The largest department within AMS is Sacramental Records which currently maintains approximately 2.7 million records. Three (very busy) full-time employees respond to about 30,000 sacramental records requests each year!
In October 1965, Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit the United States. His trip also included a first time papal visit to the United Nations. Pope John Paul II visited the U.S. seven times during his papacy, meeting with four different presidents and visiting the United Nations twice.
The Vatican City/papal flag consists of two equal vertical stripes of yellow and white (with the insignia of the papacy on the white stripe), a triple tiara over two crossed keys, one of gold and one of silver, tied with a red cord and two tassels. The divisions of the tiara represent the teaching, sanctifying and governing offices of the pope. The keys symbolize his role as the successor of St. Peter and the universal spiritual authority of the Holy Father. The papal flag is also a national flag as it represents the sovereign state of Vatican City.
The vigil of the Feast of All Saints (the eve) has grown up in the English speaking countries as a festival in itself, All Hallows Eve, or Halloween. While many consider Halloween pagan (and in many instances the celebrations are for many), as far as the Church is concerned the date is simply the eve of the feast of All Saints. Various customs have developed related to Halloween; in the Middle Ages, poor people in the community begged for "soul cakes," and upon receiving these doughnuts, they would agree to pray for departed souls. This is the root of our modern day "trick-or-treat." The custom of masks and costumes developed to mock evil and perhaps confuse the evil spirits by dressing as one of their own.
The Feast of All Souls owes its beginning to seventh century monks who decided to offer the mass on the day after Pentecost for their deceased community members. In the late tenth century, the Benedictine monastery in Cluny chose to move their mass for their dead to 2 November, the day after the Feast of all Saints. This custom spread and in the thirteenth century, Rome put the feast on the calendar of the entire Church. All Souls day purposely follows All Saints day in order to shift the focus from those in heaven to those in purgatory.
A Prayer on Veterans Day
Father, we could never thank our military men and women enough for their courageous service and sacrifice to our country and its people. Yet today we lift up our voices to express gratefulness and honor to these military troops both from the past and present. Show us ways in our communities, churches, and families to thank and love them better. Keep and protect these heroes and their families, with your hand upon them. In Christ’s name, amen.
More Interesting Papal Statistics
78 of the 266 popes and 2 of the 39 anti-popes have been declared saints.
Of the 266 popes, five have been imprisoned, 4 have abdicated, 4 murdered, 1 openly assassinated, 1 deposed, and 1 subjected to a public flogging. One died of wounds he received in the midst of battle and another after a ceiling collapsed and fell on him.