Q 01/05

When does the season of Advent begin?

A) The day after Thanksgiving

B) The first day of December

C) The fourth Sunday before Christmas

D) The feast of St Nicholas

Answer · why

C) The fourth Sunday before Christmas

Advent Sunday also opens the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name comes from the Latin adventus, 'coming'.

Q 02/05

What is the usual liturgical colour for Advent in the Western Church?

A) Green

B) White

C) Violet

D) Red

Answer · why

C) Violet

Pope Innocent III once declared black the proper colour, but violet has held sway since about the 13th century.

Q 03/05

On which Sunday of Advent may rose vestments be worn and the rose candle lit?

A) The fourth

B) The first

C) The second

D) The third

Answer · why

D) The third

It is called Gaudete Sunday, and it echoes Laetare Sunday, the rose-coloured fourth Sunday of Lent.

Q 04/05

What does 'Gaudete', the name of the third Sunday of Advent, mean?

A) Rejoice

B) Prepare

C) Watch

D) Come

Answer · why

A) Rejoice

It is the first word of that day's introit, from Philippians: 'Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.'

Q 05/05

Advent originally began as a fast of forty days starting the day after whose feast on 11 November?

A) Lucy of Syracuse

B) Andrew the Apostle

C) Nicholas of Myra

D) Martin of Tours

Answer · why

D) 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.