50 free Catholic Christmas trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
For Catholics, Christmas is not one day but a season, bracketed by four weeks of Advent on one side and the Octave, Epiphany and Candlemas on the other. This Catholic Christmas trivia quiz walks through all of it: the violet and rose candles of the Advent wreath, Gaudete Sunday, the O Antiphons behind 'O Come, O Come, Emmanuel', the three Masses of Christmas Day, St Francis's first crib at Greccio, the feasts of St Stephen, the Holy Innocents and Mary Mother of God, and the Magi's chalk on the door at Epiphany. It also covers Catholic Christmas customs around the world, from Las Posadas and Simbang Gabi to the Befana, plus the December Marian feasts of the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe, Silent Night's priest-lyricist and the Vatican's tree and crib. Questions range from easy ones any parish CCD class could answer to expert-level liturgical history, so it works for a parish social, a Catholic school quiz or family game night. Every answer was checked against liturgical references and encyclopaedic sources before publishing, and each question carries a citation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01When does the season of Advent begin?
The fourth Sunday before Christmas
Advent Sunday also opens the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name comes from the Latin adventus, 'coming'.
Q 02What is the usual liturgical colour for Advent in the Western Church?
Violet
Pope Innocent III once declared black the proper colour, but violet has held sway since about the 13th century.
Q 03On which Sunday of Advent may rose vestments be worn and the rose candle lit?
The third
It is called Gaudete Sunday, and it echoes Laetare Sunday, the rose-coloured fourth Sunday of Lent.
Q 04What does 'Gaudete', the name of the third Sunday of Advent, mean?
Rejoice
It is the first word of that day's introit, from Philippians: 'Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.'
Q 05Advent originally began as a fast of forty days starting the day after whose feast on 11 November?
Martin of Tours
It was known as St Martin's Lent as early as the fifth century; the season shrank to four weeks in the ninth century.
Q 06The Advent wreath, common in Catholic homes, began as a tradition in which denomination?
Lutheran
German pastor Johann Hinrich Wichern is credited with the modern version, built in 1839 for children at his Hamburg mission school who kept asking if Christmas had come.
Q 07The O Antiphons, sung at Vespers from 17 to 23 December, are best known in English as which hymn?
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Each antiphon is a title of Christ: O Sapientia, O Adonai, O Radix Jesse, O Clavis David, O Oriens, O Rex Gentium and O Emmanuel.
Q 08The O Antiphons are sung during which canticle at Vespers?
The Magnificat
They probably date to sixth-century Italy; Boethius appears to quote them in The Consolation of Philosophy.
Q 09What is the earliest document to place Jesus's birthday on 25 December?
The Chronograph of 354
Also called the Calendar of Filocalus, it lists the date as the birthday of the sun god Sol Invictus too. Historians think that part was written in Rome in AD 336.
Q 10Which pilgrim first chronicled the tradition of a Christmas midnight vigil, in Bethlehem around 381?
Egeria
After the vigil, the faithful processed by torchlight to Jerusalem, arriving at dawn. Pope Sixtus III brought the custom to Rome in 430.
Q 11In which Roman basilica did Pope Sixtus III institute midnight Mass in 430?
Santa Maria Maggiore
He held it in a grotto-like oratory of the basilica, which was built to honour Mary after the Council of Ephesus.
Q 12What is the official Latin name of what most Catholics call Midnight Mass?
Missa in nocte
'Mass during the Night' need not start at midnight; at the Vatican it has begun at 10 pm or earlier since 2009.
Q 13How many Masses may a priest traditionally celebrate on Christmas Day, each with its own proper?
Three
Midnight, dawn and day. The privilege was reserved to the pope until the twelfth century.
Q 21What does the papal blessing 'Urbi et Orbi', given at Christmas, literally mean?
To the city and to the world
The pope gives it as bishop of Rome (urbs) and head of the Church throughout the world (orbis).
Q 22Epiphany is traditionally celebrated on which date in January?
The 6th
Since 1970 some countries celebrate it on the Sunday after 1 January. In the West it chiefly recalls the visit of the Magi.
Q 23What do priests bless at Epiphany in parts of central Europe so families can mark their doors?
Chalk, water, frankincense and gold
Q 14Which saint staged the first nativity scene with live actors, at Greccio in 1223?
Francis of Assisi
He had been inspired by seeing the Grotto of the Nativity in the Holy Land. Sculpted cribs later spread from Italy across Europe.
Q 15Which two animals are traditionally shown at the manger, though neither appears in the Gospel accounts?
An ox and a donkey
The Magi's camels come from Matthew and the shepherds' sheep from Luke, but the ox and ass are later tradition.
Q 16When does Christmastide begin in the Catholic liturgical calendar?
At sunset on Christmas Eve
Most of Christmas Eve is still Advent. Since 1969 Christmas Time runs to the Sunday after Epiphany.
Q 17Whose feast, honouring the first Christian martyr, falls on 26 December?
Saint Stephen
It is the second day of Christmastide and a public holiday in Ireland, Italy, Germany and much of Europe.
Q 18The Feast of the Holy Innocents on 28 December commemorates children killed on whose orders?
Herod the Great
Also called Childermas, it recalls Matthew's account of the massacre in Bethlehem after the Magi failed to report back.
Q 19What solemnity does the Catholic Church celebrate on 1 January, the Octave Day of Christmas?
Mary, Mother of God
It is a holy day of obligation where not abrogated. Traditional calendars keep the Feast of the Circumcision on the same day.
Q 20Which territory's first bishop formally began the feast of the Holy Family in the 17th century?
New France
Saint François de Laval founded a confraternity of the Holy Family in Quebec. The feast presents Jesus, Mary and Joseph as a model for families.
The chalked initials C+M+B stand for the Magi Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, or for 'Christus mansionem benedicat'.
Q 24In Italian folklore, who delivers gifts to children on the night of 5 January?
The Befana
Her name is a corruption of Epifania. Italy's Christmas season traditionally opens on 8 December, when the tree goes up.
Q 25What is the ring-shaped cake eaten in Mexico on 6 January called?
Rosca de Reyes
Children leave shoes by the door with grass and water for the camels. The French equivalent is the galette des Rois.
Q 26Las Posadas, the nine-night procession re-enacting the search for lodging, runs on which dates?
16th to 24th
The nine nights represent Mary's nine-month pregnancy. Star-shaped clay piñatas are broken at the end of each night.
Q 27Las Posadas has been a Mexican tradition since which year?
1586
It grew out of medieval Bible plays that the Church had once banned; two Spanish saints reintroduced the idea in the 16th century as a Christmas pageant.
Q 28The Filipino dawn Masses of Simbang Gabi began in 1669 as a compromise for whom?
Farmers who worked before sunrise
Anticipated Masses are also held the evening before, from the 15th to the 23rd.
Q 29What is the Christmas Eve Mass called at the end of Simbang Gabi?
Misa de Gallo
It means 'Rooster's Mass'. Puerto Rico's parallel tradition of nine dawn Masses is called the Misa de Aguinaldo.
Q 30On which December date is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception?
The 8th
It falls nine months before the Nativity of Mary on 8 September and is a patronal feast of the United States, Spain, Italy and the Philippines.