ABSTRACT
The Catechism is essentially a testing of the learner in his knowledge of Christian doctrine. The Catechism of the Prayer-book is drawn up, as were all the shorter Catechisms, on the supposition that the shorter a book is, the easier it is to learn. Elementary is confused with elemental. There is no doubt that the Prayer-book Catechism was used in the schools. The Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer, it must be understood was an absolute minimum, and might therefore be rigorously required from all. In 1527, Colet included a Cathechyzon in his Coleti AEditio or Accidence, and in 1547 Erasmus’s Catechism had been ordered to be in the possession of every boy in Winchester College. The Warden or deputy was every Sunday and holyday to read some portion of it proving every article by scripture and ‘to exercise the scholars at such time therein.’
