For more than five and a half years, I have
devoted countless hours creating content for this channel that I thought was interesting
and important, trying to get to the essential teachings of the Church, the most practical advice
for life as a Christian. And that’s great. The Church is filled with interesting and important
things, essential teachings and practical advice, and you should know that stuff. But what
about all the stuff that isn’t practical, the stuff that you absolutely don’t need
to know, the things that are, in a way, completely useless to your everyday life? Does
anyone ever stop and marvel at that stuff? When you’re a part of a Church that’s been around
for 2000 years, there are a lot of historical facts that get overlooked through the years, and
I think they’re worth hearing as well. And so, for your viewing pleasure, here is 17
straight minutes of useless Catholic facts. the longest chapter in the Catholic
Bible, coming in at a whopping 100 verses, is Daniel Chapter 3. The reason I say the Catholic
Bible is because Protestant Bibles removed the canticle at the end of the chapter, making it only
30 verses in their’s. The longest chapter in the Protestant Bible, then, is Luke 1, at 80 verses.
48 out of the first 49 popes were named a saint. That’s a pretty good run. The one combo breaker?
Liberius, a man who was exiled by heretics for defending orthodoxy and is venerated as a saint
in the Eastern Church… so, he did alright for himself. I’m sure he was still a pretty good guy.
Speaking of popes, there have been 21 popes that have taken the name John, the most of any name.
Interestingly enough, though, two of those Johns were referred to as John the 23rd. The reason for
this discrepancy is that John XVI and the first John XXIII were both antipopes, and because of
a clerical counting error, John XX was skipped. The saints have long been revered for their
ability to intercede for the faithful, and thus, have been assigned patrons of certain
causes and groups of people. Nearly everyone has been accounted for, so those with sexually
transmitted infections can pray to Saint Fiacre of Breuil, those needing protection from rats
or mice should pray to Servatius of Tongeren, and unattractive people, although you’re all
beautiful to God, can pray to Saint Drogo Sebourg. The four Hebrew letters representing God’s
divine name—Y, H, W, H—are referred to as the tetragrammaton. There are no vowels in the ancient
Hebrew, and so no one knows how it was originally pronounced, but the latinization of the word,
coupled with a German pronunciation, is how we get the name Yehovah, or more commonly, Jehovah.
The windowed wall on the upper level of a large churches, sitting above an adjacent
roof, is called a clerestory. Their purpose was to admit light and fresh air.
Vatican City has the highest crime rate of any sovereign nation in the world, coming in at
around 150%, meaning that there are more crimes committed than actual citizens. This is pretty
understandable when you consider that there are only about 500 actual citizens in the whole city,
while five million tourists visit every year. Sometimes, even death won’t free you from a day
in court, as was the case for Pope Formosus. After his death in 896, his body was dug up,
placed in papal vestments, and seated on the thrown to face charges brought against him by
his successor. The trial was aptly named the Cadaver Synod, and unfortunately for Formosus,
he was found guilty of perjury and acceding the papacy illegally, nullifying his time as pope.
As popular as Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue is in Rio de Janeiro, it is not the largest
statue of Jesus in the world. For that, you will have to go to Bolivia to see the
Cristo de la Concordia, standing 132 feet tall. The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, a
compendium of the major teachings of the Church written for seminarians, is estimated
to have 1.8 millions words… about two and half times longer than the Bible.
The fifth word of the the fifth verse of the fifth book of the New Testament… is words.
the word cardinal can refer to a bird, a color, or high ranking Vatican official responsible
for electing and advising the pope. Which came first? The Church one. From the Latin cardinalis,
“hinge,” these men served ‘pivots’ of the Church. Wearing red to symbolize the blood of
Christ, cardinal came to reference a color, and then eventually, a red bird.
There are 5377 bishops alive in the world, but as of the recording of the
video, only two are over the age of 100. Congrats to Laurent Noël and Antônio Afonso
de Miranda who both turned 100 last year. Before the the Motion Picture Association in
America issued ratings for movies, it was the Catholic Legion of Decency. Their ratings were
so well-respected that films were actually submitted to this Catholic organization before
publication for fear of being condemned publicly. Notre Dame football has a career record
of 9 and 11 playing on January 1, including a 1 and 7 record since 1995. This is
interesting, one, because Notre Dame is one of the most decorated programs in football history
and so one would expect them to play well in the biggest bowl games, but also because January
first in the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, whom Notre Dame is named after.
The ancient synod of Elvira decreed in 314 that baptized women were not to associate
with hairdressers or men with long hair, lest she be denied communion. This canon was never
included in any ecumenical council and does not appear in the current code of canon law.
Everyone knows that Charles the great or “Charlemagne” was the first holy
Roman Emperor, but did you know that there were two other Charleses in his line:
Charles the Bald, and Charles the Fat. (5:00) While we commonly say that meat is forbidden
on Fridays during lent, the actual designation, as defined by the United States Conference of
Catholic bishops, is warm-blooded, land animals. If you’ve got a hankering for alligator tail
or frogs legs during lent, there’s no reason to abstain, although you should probably still limit
your portions… It’s still a season of fasting. The Nicene Creed recited at mass most
Sundays did not actually come from the Council of Nicaea in 325. Although a creed
WAS recited at the original council of Nicaea, it was later edited and officially adopted
by the Council of Constantinople in 381, becoming what we know today as the creed
from mass, and more appropriately referred to as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.
Except, that’s not entirely true either, as the creed was updated two hundred years
later in the West, much to the ire of the Eastern Church. What changed, you ask? The words
“and the son” were added, indicating that the Spirit came from both the Father AND the son.
If you believe that the Trinity consists of the Father, Son, and Mary and that the son is a
result of marital union between the other two, you are a part of a group known as
Collyridianism… and you’re a heretic. St. Catherine’s head is on display in her
hometown of Siena. It’s important to note that Catherine wasn’t beheaded a martyr, someone
just thought it was a good idea, after her death, to sever her head from her body to put on display.
Speaking of relics, it’s probably assumed that the Vatican has the most relics of any city in the
world, and this is correct. What you might not know is that second on the list is the ancient
and holy city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Before Pope Francis, the last pope to take
an original name rather than simply adding a number to the name of a previous pope, was
Pope Lando in 913, who just used his birth name. The last pope to simply stick with
his birth name was Adrian VI in 1522. Before taking a religious name, Mother
Teresa of Calcutta’s name was Agnes. If you’re in France and want to pray in the
chapel where St. Joan of Arc prayed… tough luck. Because in 1966 it was moved to the campus
of Marquette University in Milwaukee Wisconsin. A traditional Roman cassock has 33 buttons
on it, one for each year that Jesus lived. The most plentiful letter in the Catechism
is the letter t, occurring 41,289 times. 22,216 of those are the word “the.”
Al Smith was the first Catholic nominated for president in US history. He lost in a
landslide to Herbert Hoover, winning only won 7 states. Oddly enough, 6 of those states
were in the deep south where few Catholics lived. The 1917 Code of Canon Law stated that when
explorers discovered new lands, the territory would be placed under the jurisdiction of the
diocese from which the expedition originated. Since the astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission
launched from Orlando, then Bishop William Borders considered himself the bishop of the moon. He
even informed Pope John Paul II of his authority. The uniforms worn by the Swiss Guards that
protect the Vatican were actually designed in 1914 in an attempt to look more medieval.
Pope Leo X once owned an elephant named Hanno as a pet, a gift he received from
King Manuel the Fortunate of Portugal. Leo loved the elephant very much; he sat by
his side when the elephant died, and later wrote a poem in his honor. As a replacement,
King Manuel tried to send Leo a rhinoceros, but the boat carrying the animal sank on its way.
It is forbidden for a priest to absolve a sexual sin in the confessional if he was
involved in the act in question. Physically attacking the pope incurs a
penalty of automatic excommunication. In the United States, there are 7
additional holy days of obligation beyond one’s requirement to attend mass on
Sunday. Assuming that mass is about an hour, those doing the bare minimum will
spend only .67% of their lives at mass. Even though there is a general rule
against married men becoming priests, around 125 converts to the Catholic
faith have been given an exception. Normally, the sacraments
are reserved to Catholics. But in the case of grave danger, a Protestants
unable to reach their minister, and in agreement with the teachings of the Catholic Church, can
receive the Eucharist and be validly anointed. St. Bede the Venerable is the only
English-born doctor of the Church. St. Anslem, the far more famous English monk
of Canterbury, was actually born in Italy. Although Waldensians were excommunicated in
the 13th century by the Catholic Church, they somehow managed to stay in existence until
the present day, living now in Italy, Germany, Uruguay, and the United States.
Before becoming one of the world’s biggest action stars, Tom Cruise was just a 14-year old boy
attending a minor seminary run by the Franciscans. Although he only attended the school for one year
and never showed serious aspirations of becoming a priest, it does make you wonder what the world
would have been like it he had stuck with it. The movie Sister Act turned out
nothing like originally intended. Bette Middler was first cast for the lead, her
name was supposed to be Terri, not Deloris, and the first draft of the script made it a bawdy
satire, not a family friendly classic. So many rewrites and changes went into production that the
original writer didn’t want to put his name on it and is instead credited with a pseudonym.
The image of Hell freezing over is often used to describe something that is never going
to happen. And yet, in Dante’s Divine Comedy, written in 1472, Satan is found in the deepest
circle of Hell, encased in waist high ice. Speaking of mythological works of literature,
the Lord of the Rings series is not just an epic high fantasy novel, it’s also packed
full of Catholic imagery and themes, like how the three main characters—Frodo,
Gandolf, and Aragon—represent the threefold ministry of Christ—priest, prophet, and king.
There are only two UN-recognized countries in the world without laws for divorce.
Vatican City, and the Philippines. The next time a pope takes the name Sixtus,
he will be referred to as Sixtus the Sixth. Unfortunately, this sounds interesting only in
Romance languages, as he would be referred to as Sixtus a hatodik in Hungarian, Sixtus den sjette
in Norwegian, and sikstus alssadis in Arabic. At the end of mass, the celebrant and servers
reverence the altar before walking down the aisle while music plays, and that seems pretty
normal. And yet, there is technically no such thing as a “recessional” in the Roman Rite. The
Missal simply says, “After making a
profound bow with the ministers, he withdraws.” If the priest
has to be somewhere… he’s free to just bounce. The Church has an official Book of Blessings
used to bless various objects and people. Some blessings are often used, like the blessing
of a house or advent wreathe, but some are a bit more unique, like the Order of blessing
an athletic event, tools or other equipment, fishing gear, or new church doors.
Pope John Paul II canonized 482 saints in his time as pope. That comes to a
canonization every 20 days for more than 26 years. The first woman to receive a doctorate in
computer science was Sister Mary Kenneth Keller, a sister of charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He thesis focused on "constructing algorithms that performed analytic differentiation on
algebraic expression, written in CDC FORTRAN 63.” There are more Catholics in Brazil than
Italy, France, and Poland… combined. The southernmost Catholic Church is the
aptly named Chapel of Our Lady of the Snows in Belgrano II Base, at Bertrab
Nunatak. For those unfamiliar with the area… that’s on the continent of Antartica.
St. Francis Xavier was the first Christian to make it to Japan, helping the Jesuits convert more
than 100,000 to the faith in just a few decades. Eventually, priests were expelled
and Christians were persecuted, but Christianity survived for
more than 300 years underground. They say that everything is bigger in Texas,
the state is also home to what it claims to be the smallest Catholic Church in the
world. Seating only 20 people, the church building of St. Martin’s in Warrenton,
Texas is only 192 square feet in area. Compare this to St. Matthew Catholic Church in
Charlotte, NC, the largest parish in the United States in terms of congregation. As of 2017,
they reported having 10,500 families, more than 13 percent of the entire population of Charlotte.
Most people use Roman Catholic and Catholic as synonymous terms, but not every Catholic is
technically Roman. There are 23 autonomous, particular eastern Catholic churches in union
with Rome that have never been Roman or Latin. Every two or three years, Catholic teenagers
from around the world gather for World Youth Day, an international celebration consisting of
prayer, confessions, shows, music, and of course, mass with the pope. In 1995, 5 million
attended the papal mass in Philippines, a record held until 2015, when 6 million
people attended, also in the Philippines. The earliest baptismal fonts were
simple, rectangular holes in the ground. The reason? They were meant to look like
tombs, the place where one died and raised with Christ through the waters of rebirth.
At this point, you’ve been watching this video for more than 14 minutes. Clearly you’ve either fallen
asleep or you’re actually enjoying it. If you’re still awake, why don’t you go ahead and subscribe
to the channel, maybe even click that notification bell? Thanks. Already, back to the useless stuff.
Before the Eucharistic Prayer begins, there is a dialogue between the priest and congregation known
as the preface. Throughout the liturgical year, there are a total of 156 options.
The Big Bang theory is a cosmological model of the observable universe from the
earliest known periods through its subsequent large-scale evolution. It’s also the result of
the work of a Catholic priest, Georges Lemaître, who was the first to suggest that the expanding
universe could be traced back to a single point. Modern Western music notation has
the Catholic Church to thank for its organization and structure, as it
was the Church’s desire for uniformity that a comprehensive system was developed.
In remembrance of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert, Catholics devote 40 days in lent to doing penance.
Only… there are 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Besides that, Ash Wednesday is not a
holy day of obligation… no one has to get ashes. The dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Cathedral
in Florence, is the largest masonry structure in the world, consisting of over 4 million bricks.
The base of the dome begins 177 feet above ground and rises another 108 feet. If
you think that’s incredible today, think about building it in the 13th century.
No wonder it took 140 years to build. The maximum alcohol percentage of wine used
at mass is 18%. If it’s higher than that, the mass is invalid, and your
congregation might turn into invalids. The first instance of a bishop wearing a
pectoral cross comes in the 13th century, although it was not widespread at that point.
Each season of the liturgical year has its own Marian hymn: Alma Redemptoris
Mater for from Advent until February 2, Ave Regina Caelorum from February
2 until the Easter Vigil, Regina Caeli for Easter, and Salve
Regina from Pentecost until Advent. Where did these hymns come from, you ask? It’s
hard to say for sure, but many believe that the Salve Regina and possibly the Ave Regina Caelorum
were written by Hermanus Contractus, also known as Herimann the Lame since he was born with a
cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida. The Lectionary Cycle of readings at mass covered
a large part of the Bible, but not nowhere close to all of it. 96.3% of Mark is read throughout the
years, but 6.3% of the book of Numbers and none of 1 Chronicles, Judith, or Obadiah. All told, if
you were to attend mass every day of the year, you’d get 13.5% of the Old Testament and 71.5%
of the New Testament, meaning… that you should probably do some reading on your own.
Technically speaking, you can’t spell Catholic without CHAOTIC
Despite being a global Church, the first non-European cardinal to vote
in a papal conclave was James Gibbons, the archbishop of Baltimore, in 1903. Today 66 of
the voting cardinals are from outside of Europe, accounting for 52% of the votes.
And finally, wrapping up this useless time together, the Salvator Mundi painting by Leonardo
DiVinci was sold at an auction in 2017 for 450 million dollars. With that amount of cash, you
could buy 1.5 million moderately priced chalices, 16 million Study Bibles, or 36 billion hosts
for mass. That’s a lot of potential holiness in one painting, and this has been a lot of
useless Catholic information. I hope you’ve learned something new that you can share at a
socially distanced cocktail party in the future.
This was a neat video.