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Quiz about Saints of Ireland
Quiz about Saints of Ireland

Saints of Ireland Trivia Quiz


A quiz about some of the many fascinating men and women who have evangelized Ireland or maintained their Catholic faith, often in trying times and difficult circumstances. Good Luck!

A multiple-choice quiz by jouen58. Estimated time: 7 mins.
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Author
jouen58
Time
7 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
173,104
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
15
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
9 / 15
Plays
1573
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
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Question 1 of 15
1. The principal patron saint of Ireland is, of course, St. Patrick; where in Ireland was he born? Hint


Question 2 of 15
2. This female religious was once even more venerated in Ireland than St. Patrick. She was known as the "Virgin Mary of the Gael", since the veneration paid her was matched only by that shown to the mother of God. Born in 450 near Dundalk, Louth, she met St. Patrick when he baptized her parents; they eventually became close friends. In about 470, she founded a double monastery at Kildare and became its abbess. She is buried alongside Patrick at Downpatrick. What is her name? Hint


Question 3 of 15
3. This 6th century Irish monastic is one of the three patron saints of Ireland. He was born in Donegal in 521 of parents who were of royal descent. He founded numerous monasteries, including the one at Kells, famous for its illuminated manuscripts. He travelled to Iona, off the coast of Scotland and founded a monastery which would become one of the greatest in Christendom. Who is he? Hint


Question 4 of 15
4. St. Ita was born in Waterford of royal lineage; when she reached marriageable age, she asked her father to allow her to become a nun instead. She founded a monastery in Limerick, as well as a boys' school. St. Ita is also known by this name, which is also the name of a legendary Irish heroine. Hint


Question 5 of 15
5. This 6th century monk is one of the most celebrated of Irish saints. Among his many achievements, he is believed to have possibly traveled to America some 900 years before Columbus. Who is he? Hint


Question 6 of 15
6. St. Dymphna is the patron saint of the mentally ill, epileptics, and those suffering from demonic possession. According to her legend, she was an Irish princess whose father began to display an incestuous interest in her following the death of her mother. To escape his attentions, she fled with her confessor, St. Gerebernus, and two companions. They settled in another country and founded an oratory, living as hermits. Eventually, Dymphna's father tracked them down and had Gerebernus and the two companions executed; he himself beheaded Dymphna when she refused to return with him. The site of the martyrs' graves eventually became the scene of numerous cures of people suffering from insanity and other nervous and/or mental afflictions. In what European country is Dymphna buried? Hint


Question 7 of 15
7. St. Gall was a 7th century monk and evangelist who is considered the apostle of this European country, where the celebrated monastery bearing his name became known as a center of medieval culture and learning. Hint


Question 8 of 15
8. Innumerable Irish Catholic boys (and men) bear the name of this 7th century monk, who was of royal descent, was said to have lived to the age of 120, and who is also known as Coemgen. Hint


Question 9 of 15
9. This Irish monk is the patron of gardeners and of cabdrivers (Parisian taxicabs are named for him). He is also invoked against venereal disease. Who is he? Hint


Question 10 of 15
10. St. Aidan, also known as Maedoc, was a 7th century monk who built a monastery at Ferns, in county Wexford, and was eventually ordained as bishop of Wexford. He seems to have been the Irish equivalent of St. Francis of Assisi in his love and concern for animals. Which animal is his usual symbol in art? Hint


Question 11 of 15
11. St. Kilian was a 7th century bishop and martyr who evangelized this German-speaking region, of which he is the official patron saint. Hint


Question 12 of 15
12. This 12th century archbishop of Armagh was a friend of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, in whose arms he died in 1146. Bernard declared him a saint at his funeral mass and the church formally approved his cult in 1190. He was the first Irish saint to be formally canonized. Ironically, he is best known for a series of spurious "prophecies" attributed to him which purports to foretell the history of the papacy from 1144 until "the end of time". Who is he? Hint


Question 13 of 15
13. St. Lawrence O'Toole was archbishop of Dublin in the latter half of the 12th century. During his tenure, the beginning of the "troubles" which were to afflict the Irish people for the next several hundred years, began with the subjugation of Ireland to English rule. Under which English sovereign, best known for his clashes with St. Thomas Becket, did Lawrence serve? Hint


Question 14 of 15
14. St. Oliver Plunkett was archbishop of Armagh in the mid 17th century; he was arrested and, ultimately, executed for alleged complicity in a plot against Charles II. What was the name of this plot? Hint


Question 15 of 15
15. Matt Talbot, though he has not been formally canonized as of 2004, has long been venerated as the patron saint of alcoholics. In what Irish city, which also gave us Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and James joyce, was Talbot born? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The principal patron saint of Ireland is, of course, St. Patrick; where in Ireland was he born?

Answer: He wasn't born in Ireland

That's right! The saint most closely associated with the Emerald Isle was born elsewhere, probably in Roman Britain, possibly even in Gaul or Scotland. Patrick was born c. 389 A.D., the son of a Roman official named Calpurnius. At about sixteen years of age he was kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland, which was then a pagan country. Several years later, he escaped and returned to Britain by way of Gaul.

He studied at the monastery of Lerins and was ordained at Auxerre in about 417. Fifteen years later, he was made a bishop by St. Germanus of Auxerre and was sent back to Ireland to propagate the Christian faith. Overcoming formidable opposition by virtue of his evangelization skills and miraculous works, he succeeded in bringing most of the Irish to Christianity, introduced education and the study of Latin, and founded the great cathedral at Armagh. Patrick died in 461 at Strangford Lough in what is now known as Downpatrick.

The well-known story about him in which he drove all the snakes from Ireland, is a symbolic legend, not a biographical fact (the snakes symbolized evil and paganism).

He authored the autobiographical "Confessio" and composed a prayer called the "Lorica", invoking divine protection; this prayer is known in English as "St. Patrick's Breastplate".
2. This female religious was once even more venerated in Ireland than St. Patrick. She was known as the "Virgin Mary of the Gael", since the veneration paid her was matched only by that shown to the mother of God. Born in 450 near Dundalk, Louth, she met St. Patrick when he baptized her parents; they eventually became close friends. In about 470, she founded a double monastery at Kildare and became its abbess. She is buried alongside Patrick at Downpatrick. What is her name?

Answer: Brigid

Brigid, also known as Bride, also founded a school of art in Kildare which became famous for its illuminated manuscripts. The "Book of Kildare", which was sadly lost around the 17th century, was said to have been of a quality similar to the "Book of Kells".

Many extraordinary and fantastic miracles have been attributed to Brigid; she was said to have typically hung her cloak upon a beam of light that came through a window of her home. Brigid died in 525 and is buried at Downpatrick with Ireland's other two patron saints, St. Patrick and St. Columba.
3. This 6th century Irish monastic is one of the three patron saints of Ireland. He was born in Donegal in 521 of parents who were of royal descent. He founded numerous monasteries, including the one at Kells, famous for its illuminated manuscripts. He travelled to Iona, off the coast of Scotland and founded a monastery which would become one of the greatest in Christendom. Who is he?

Answer: St. Columba

Columba's trip to Iona was originally an act of atonement. At one point he became embroiled in an armed dispute with King Diarmaid, whose men had killed a relative of his who had sought sanctuary with him. The ensuing conflict between his family and Diarmaid's men resulted in the Battle of Cuil Dremme, in which thousands were killed.

In remorse over this bloodshed, he left Ireland determined to atone for the lives of those killed by converting an equal number of pagans. While in Scotland, he evangelized the Picts and converted King Brude.

The monastery at Iona became celebrated throughout Europe and Columba's reputation for holiness and miracles brought many visitors there. Columba, who died in 597, is patron of Scotland (along with St. Andrew and St. Margaret of Scotland) as well as Ireland.
4. St. Ita was born in Waterford of royal lineage; when she reached marriageable age, she asked her father to allow her to become a nun instead. She founded a monastery in Limerick, as well as a boys' school. St. Ita is also known by this name, which is also the name of a legendary Irish heroine.

Answer: Deirdre

Ita (a.k.a. Deirdre) was one of the most venerated of Irish saints and was said to have performed numerous extravagant miracles, notably one in which she made whole a man who had been beheaded. Among the pupils she taught at her school for boys was St. Brendan (see next question). From St. Ita, Brendan learned the three things God loves most:
1. True faith in God with a pure heart.
2. A simple life with a religious spirit.
3. An open hand inspired by charity.
He also learned the three things that God detests:
1. A face that scowls on mankind.
2. Obstinacy in wrongdoing.
3. Putting one's entire trust in the power of money.
5. This 6th century monk is one of the most celebrated of Irish saints. Among his many achievements, he is believed to have possibly traveled to America some 900 years before Columbus. Who is he?

Answer: St. Brendan

Brendan founded numerous monasteries throughout Ireland, notably one at Clonfert founded at about 559. He is best known for his numerous voyages, one of which he described in a work entitled "Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis" which tells of a seven year journey to a place he called the "Land of Promise".

Many subsequently believed this to have possibly been North America, but the claim was never taken seriously until 1976. In that year, a navigational scholar named Tim Severin constructed a curragh similar to that which Brendan would have travelled in and set out to sea, following the directions given in the "Navigatio". Severin found Brendan's directions and descriptions quite accurate; even the fantastic descriptions of "sea monsters" who lifted up Brendan's boat were borne out by the playful behavior of the whales Severin encountered, who swam around and sometimes under his boat. By June of 1977, Severin arrived at the island of Newfoundland.

While his journey did not prove that Brendan had traveled to North America, it lent much greater plausibility to the story, which had long been dismissed as a fantastic legend. Brendan is the patron of sailors and navigators, along with St. Erasmus (a.k.a. St. Elmo).
6. St. Dymphna is the patron saint of the mentally ill, epileptics, and those suffering from demonic possession. According to her legend, she was an Irish princess whose father began to display an incestuous interest in her following the death of her mother. To escape his attentions, she fled with her confessor, St. Gerebernus, and two companions. They settled in another country and founded an oratory, living as hermits. Eventually, Dymphna's father tracked them down and had Gerebernus and the two companions executed; he himself beheaded Dymphna when she refused to return with him. The site of the martyrs' graves eventually became the scene of numerous cures of people suffering from insanity and other nervous and/or mental afflictions. In what European country is Dymphna buried?

Answer: Belgium

St. Dymphna's story is mostly legendary and bears certain similarities to the legend of St. Barbara. Her martyrdom is supposed to have taken place at Gheel, in the province of Antwerp, where her grave and that of Gerebernus were discovered in the 13th century.

Many miraculous cures of insane, epileptic, and possessed individuals were said to have taken place here and a colony for mentally ill persons was founded; a miracle in itself given the almost total lack of understanding of mental illness at that time and for many years since. Today, Gheel boasts one of the finest mental health facilities in the world.
7. St. Gall was a 7th century monk and evangelist who is considered the apostle of this European country, where the celebrated monastery bearing his name became known as a center of medieval culture and learning.

Answer: Switzerland

St. Gall's initial efforts at evangelization in Switzerland were not very successful. It was when he established a hermitage on the Steinach River that he began to attract disciples by his learning and eloquence. The abbey of St. Gall, one of the most famous in the world, became famous for its manuscripts of Gregorian Chant, which were stolen when the abbey was raided in 1712; only a portion of them were subsequently returned. An order of Benedictine monks was established there in 1602 and a printing press was donated in the mid-1600s. St. Gall still boasts one of the finest libraries in Europe; the church was rebuilt in the mid 18th century.
8. Innumerable Irish Catholic boys (and men) bear the name of this 7th century monk, who was of royal descent, was said to have lived to the age of 120, and who is also known as Coemgen.

Answer: St. Kevin

Kevin was born in 616 at the Fort of the White Fountain at Leinster and early on displayed a remarkable piety. A famous legend of him tells that he once remained in prayer for so long a period that a bird built its nest upon his clasped hands. After living as a hermit for several years, he founded a monastery at Disert Coemgen (the source of his nickname); later, he founded a more permanent community at Glendalough, where he enshrined many relics obtained during a pilgrimage to Rome.

He was held in such great esteem during his lifetime that King Colman of Ui Faelain entrusted him with the upbringing of his son.
9. This Irish monk is the patron of gardeners and of cabdrivers (Parisian taxicabs are named for him). He is also invoked against venereal disease. Who is he?

Answer: St. Fiacre

Fiacre (also spelled "Fiachre") actually spent most of his life in France, where he lived as a hermit on a plot of land in Brie, given to him by St. Faro. Here, he tended a garden and built a hospice for travelers. He became legendary for his charity and miraculous cures.

His patronage of cabdrivers arose from the fact that the first Parisian coach-for-hire service was located near the Hotel Ste. Fiacre.
10. St. Aidan, also known as Maedoc, was a 7th century monk who built a monastery at Ferns, in county Wexford, and was eventually ordained as bishop of Wexford. He seems to have been the Irish equivalent of St. Francis of Assisi in his love and concern for animals. Which animal is his usual symbol in art?

Answer: A stag

According to legend, a stag was being hunted and appealed to St. Aidan for protection. The saint made the stag invisible, so that the hunters were forced to give up their pursuit. Aidan is also credited with having repelled invasions by the Saxons with his prayers and miracles.
11. St. Kilian was a 7th century bishop and martyr who evangelized this German-speaking region, of which he is the official patron saint.

Answer: Bavaria

Kilian's story bears certain remarkable similarities to that of John the Baptist. Whilst evangelizing Bavaria, he converted one Gosbert, duke of Wurzburg. Gosbert had married a woman named Geilana, who was the widow of his brother. Kilian convinced Gosbert that marriage to his late brother's wife was invalid and that he should set Geilana aside. Fearful of losing her husband and position, Geilana took advantage of her husband's absence to have Kilian and his companions seized and beheaded. Ironically, some 800 years later, an Englishman named Sir Thomas More would also lose his head for maintaining that a king's marriage to his brother's widow was not only valid, but indissoluble.
12. This 12th century archbishop of Armagh was a friend of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, in whose arms he died in 1146. Bernard declared him a saint at his funeral mass and the church formally approved his cult in 1190. He was the first Irish saint to be formally canonized. Ironically, he is best known for a series of spurious "prophecies" attributed to him which purports to foretell the history of the papacy from 1144 until "the end of time". Who is he?

Answer: St. Malachy

Malachy O'More was a native of Armagh and was appointed by St. Celsus to succeed him as archbishop upon his death. Celsus' family objected to this, as it violated the hereditary succession the family had observed for years. Upon Celsus' death, they disregarded his stated wishes and installed his cousin Murtagh who, in his turn, willed the see to Celsus' brother Niall. Upon Murtagh's death, armed conflict broke out between supporters of Niall and Malachy.

The latter eventually obtained the archbishopric and restored the historical Book of Armagh and the crozier of St. Patrick, which Niall had made away with. Malachy is credited with restoring unity and discipline to the Irish clergy and with renovating the Catholic faith in Ireland. Malachy met St. Bernard while on a pilgrimage to Rome and the two became fast friends until Malachy's death at Clairvaux in 1148 while visiting Bernard.

The so-called "Prophecies of St. Malachy", were "discovered" 449 years after Malachy's death and were probably created at the conclave of 1590 to lend support to one of the papal candidates.

They are almost unanimously believed to be a forgery.
13. St. Lawrence O'Toole was archbishop of Dublin in the latter half of the 12th century. During his tenure, the beginning of the "troubles" which were to afflict the Irish people for the next several hundred years, began with the subjugation of Ireland to English rule. Under which English sovereign, best known for his clashes with St. Thomas Becket, did Lawrence serve?

Answer: Henry II

Lawrence was the son of Murtagh, chief of the Murrays. Much of his work during his term as archbishop of Dublin consisted of tireless and, ultimately, fruitless negotiation between the deposed King Dermot Mc Murrogh of Leinster, the Earl of Pembroke, who invaded Ireland after Dermot's flight and proclaimed himself king after Dermot's death, and the rebel leader Rory O'Conor. Ultimately, King Henry came to Ireland in 1171 and obtained the submission of most of its cheftains.

The Irish church was subsequently made to adopt the English form of the Catholic liturgy. Lawrence continued to negotiate between the King and Rory O'Conor; at one point, Henry became angry at his petitioning on O'Conor's behalf and forbade Lawrence to return to Ireland. Lawrence traveled to Normandy to beg the King to reconsider, which he did; however Lawrence fell ill and died in France before he was able to return.
14. St. Oliver Plunkett was archbishop of Armagh in the mid 17th century; he was arrested and, ultimately, executed for alleged complicity in a plot against Charles II. What was the name of this plot?

Answer: The Titus Oates (popish) Plot

Titus Oates was a nefarious character; an ordained Anglican minister, he was dismissed from at least three positions for drunkeness, theft, and sodomy. At one point, he joined the order of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), but eventually abandoned the order and returned to London.

At this time, rumors were rampant about a Catholic plot to assassinate King Charles and put his brother James, a Catholic (the future James II) on the throne. The fabricated plot which Oates and his friend Israel Tonge, an anti-Catholic clergyman, detailed to the King, claiming to have special knowledge and evidence of, might have come to naught had not the King turned the matter over to the anti-Catholic Earl of Darby. Darby took seriously the alleged plot, which Oates and Tone claimed involved the collusion of Louis XIV of France and which would allegedly result in a Protestant bloodbath, and had Oates appear before the king's council.

In proceedings which bore an eery similarity to the later Salem witch trials and the Mc Carthy hearings, Oates accused over 500 religious and several Catholic noblemen and women of various charges against the crown.

He was eventually given an army and allowed to round up suspects. About 15 people were executed, of which Plunkett was the last. He was immured in Dublin Castle and eventually sent to Newgate Prison. After a farcicial trial on charges of treason, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, the last Catholic martyr to suffer there. Oates fell from grace in 1681, when King Charles, who had never actually believed the charges, had him arrested; upon the accession of James II, he was retried, pilloried, whipped, and imprisoned. Eventually he was released and retired on a small pension, but his reputation was ruined and he died in disgrace in 1705.
15. Matt Talbot, though he has not been formally canonized as of 2004, has long been venerated as the patron saint of alcoholics. In what Irish city, which also gave us Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and James joyce, was Talbot born?

Answer: Dublin

Born in 1856, Talbot became employed at a wine bottling factory at age 12 and got his first taste of alcohol. By the following year, he was already considered a hopeless alcoholic. He rarely attended school and led a shiftless and wretched adult life until the age of 28, when he sought the help of a priest. Under the priest's guidance, Talbot took the Pledge and for the next three months managed to remain sober, despite terrible temptation. Eventually he learned to find fulfillment in prayer, work, and penance and, less than a year later, took the Pledge for life.

He remained sober for 41 years, until his death in 1925 at the age of 68. On his way to Sunday Mass, Talbot collapsed and died of heart failure; after his death, he was found to have been wearing chains under his clothing as a penance.

As of 2004, Talbot has been declared Venerable by the Catholic church, the first stage in canonization. Alcoholics have adopted him as their patron (previously, the rather obscure St. Bibiana, or Vivian, was the patroness of alcoholics, largely because her name, in Latin, means "to drink") and have sought help at the numerous "Matt Talbot Houses" which follow the twelve-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous which, ironically, Talbot himself had followed even though AA had yet to come into existence.
Source: Author jouen58

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