Q 01/05

In the Gospels, the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus after his baptism in the form of which bird?

A) A raven

B) A dove

C) An eagle

D) A sparrow

Answer · why

B) A dove

A dove is why artists nearly always show the Spirit as a bird with wings outspread, hovering above or between Father and Son in paintings of the Trini...

Q 02/05

Which plant is Saint Patrick said to have held up to teach the Irish about the Holy Trinity?

A) Shamrock

B) Thistle

C) Mistletoe

D) Heather

Answer · why

A) Shamrock

Shamrock is first linked to Patrick on coins of 1675, some twelve centuries after he lived, so the famous lesson is legend more than history.

Q 03/05

Which Cambridge scientist privately rejected the Trinity while a fellow of the college named after it?

A) Charles Darwin

B) Francis Bacon

C) Isaac Newton

D) Stephen Hawking

Answer · why

C) Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton kept his views private, and won a special dispensation so he could remain a fellow of Trinity College without being ordained a priest.

Q 04/05

Which explorer named the island of Trinidad after the Holy Trinity on his third Atlantic voyage?

A) Vasco Núñez de Balboa

B) Ferdinand Magellan

C) Amerigo Vespucci

D) Christopher Columbus

Answer · why

D) Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus had vowed to name his next discovery for the Trinity, and in July 1498 a lookout sighted an island topped by a cluster of three p...

Q 05/05

Which Roman emperor summoned bishops in 325 to settle whether the Son was truly equal to the Father?

A) Constantine

B) Diocletian

C) Justinian

D) Marcus Aurelius

Answer · why

A) Constantine

Constantine called the council although he was not yet baptised himself: he put off his own baptism until he lay on his deathbed.