The Douay Catechism of 1649 was written and compiled by Rev. Henry Tuberville DD at the English College of Douay. This catechism is based on the more comprehensive Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent that is dated 1566 or earlier.
Like many catechisms and other writings of the Church, this Douay Catechism is in Q&A format which is a derivative of the Socratic dialogue.
The questions are short and simple and the corresponding answers are also short. Sometimes they are one sentence although it can be a paragraph. Depending on the nature of the question, the answer typically includes at least one scriptural reference.
It contains a total of 1,132 questions organized into 25 chapters. Overall, it has more material than the Baltimore Catechism first released in 1885, the 1941 edition containing a total of 499 questions organized into 38 “Lessons” (chapters).
The latter covers merely the Creed, the Commandments and Sacraments and Prayer whereas this catechism covers more of the basics: amongst other topics, the Cardinal Virtues (chapter 12), the Seven Deadly Sins (chapter 18), Sins that Cry to Heaven for Vengeance (chapter 20) and the Four Last Things (chapter 21).
There is even a relatively longer chapter that covers the ceremonies of the Mass (chapter 22), separate from the sub-section that covers the Eucharist (chapter 11).
In other words, this catechism aims for breadth but also brevity, so the questions and answers are short and simple and do not necessarily have depth. As such, it is still an easily accessible and valuable reference text.
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