Calendar Saints - The Month of April Quiz

Answer: Hugues

For those of you puzzled by the orthography of some names: I've chosen the French orthography each time, although the correct answer (Hugues) is far better known by his English orthography.
Hugues of Grenoble was born in 1053 in Chateauneuf. In 1080 he was elected Bishop of Grenoble. After having failed a radical reform in his bishopric, he quit his job and entered a Benedictine abbey. But the Pope needed Hugues as the Bishop and summoned him to resume his office.
Hugues was a friend of Bruno of Cologne, and maybe also a pupil of his. When Bruno and six of his companions past through the south of France, Hugues offered them a piece of land in a remote Alpine valley. There Bruno founded the abbey "La Grande Chartreuse", the original abbey of the Carthusian order. The Abbey is closed for visitors, and most of the valley is free of any motorised traffic - all in order to keep the quiet the monks need.
Guillaume is the French version of William. Let's mention here Saint Guillaume de Bourges, better known in English speaking countries as St. William of Bourges. Guillaume was born a nobleman, and entered the order of the Cistercians. Aspiring no more than humility and prayer, he yet was chosen Archbishop of Bourges.
There have been many Saint Louis. The most famous of them is King Louis IX of France, who participated in two Crusades but did not reach his final goal (to liberate Jerusalem once more).
At least six Charles are canonized. The best known of these is Saint Charles Borromeo, one of the patron saints of learning. He became Bishop of Milan in 1563 and founded several seminars.

Answer: Saint Isidore of Seville

Saint Isidore was born around 560. He dedicated his life to studying, and is believed to be the first one to compile an encyclopaedia in 20 volumes. He died in 636, on April 4th.
Most paintings show Saint Isidore holding a very large book. But believe it or not: he is also occasionally shown with a laptop. Furthermore, one of the personnel of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida wrote an invocation to Saint Isidore to help out with any sort of computer problem - whether it be malfunctioning hardware or software, or even the arrival of spam.
Saint Jerome (name day September 30) is patron saint of libraries and librarians.
Saint Gregory (name day September 2) is patron saint of teachers.
Saint Gabriel, the Archangel who delivered divine messages to various people, was appropriately chosen the patron saint of all those who work in the communication sector. His name day is September 29.

Answer: She founded the Grey Nuns in Canada

Marguerite was born in Quebec in 1701. She married Francis d'Youville in 1722 and became a widow in 1730. She spent time in various charitable activities and founded in 1737 the Sisters of Charity, a Canadian religious order commonly known as the Grey Nuns. She directed the General Hospital in Montreal, one of the various investments of the Grey Nuns.
The leprosy colony in Hawaii is associated with Father Damien, a Belgian priest canonized in 2009.
The hospital in Lambarene was founded by Albert Schweitzer, laureate of the Nobel peace prize 1952.
It was the Albanian nun Mother Teresa who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, a congregation which amply supplied medical care for the poor living in the slums of Calcutta.

Answer: Martin I

Martin I was elected Pope in 649 AD. His life before this election is not documented, and we only know he had previously been a papal legate at Constantinople.
At that time, large parts of Italy belonged to the Byzantine Empire. It was customary that the Byzantine Emperor chose the new Pope or at least approved his appointment. However, this was not the case with Martin I.
To make things even worse, Pope Martin I took opposite sides to the Byzantine Emperor in the question of Monothelitism : did Christ have a will of His own, or was he only subject to His Father? This might seem non-essential today, but then it was a discussion on which tempers got very hot. Emperor Constans II had Martin I arrested, condemned for treason and exiled to the Crimean peninsula, where the Pope died in 653.
The Calendar of Saints placed Martin I on November 12th, the day after the feast of Bishop Martin of Tours. This led to confusion, so in 1969 Pope Martin I was assigned a feast day on April 13th, instead of November 12th.
Alexander VI was the Papal name of Rodrigo Borgia, who held the office from 1492 until his death in 1503. Historians have a negative view on his papacy.
Urban II (born 1035) was Pope from 1088 until his death in 1099. He was the Pope who started the Crusades.
Gregory I, also known as Gregory the Great (born 540) was Pope from 590 (or 574, sources differ) until 604. This Pope was canonized in 1606 and was given a feast day on March 12th. However, his feast day was moved to September 3rd in 1969.

Answer: Bernadette

Bernadette Soubirous was born in Lourdes, France, in 1844. She was a miller's daughter. In 1858, on February 11th, she went out to gather firewood. Suddenly she saw a beautiful Lady dressed in blue and white, coming out in a dazzling light. On later occasions this Lady identified herself to Bernadette as Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary asked Bernadette to uncover a well in a grotto near Lourdes, which well is the source of holy water. Furthermore Mary asked Bernadette to convince the local prelates to build a church on the same spot. Ever since, Lourdes is a major pilgrimage, and many ill people state they have been cured by the holy water.
The other people I've mentioned had other visions, no Marian apparitions.
Ezekiel was a prophet around 600 BC. He is venerated as a Saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, some Lutheran Churches, and the Armenian Apostolic Church, but not in the Roman Catholic Church nor in the Anglican Church. His best known vision is that of God Himself riding a chariot.
Daniel was another prophet, a contemporary of Ezekiel's. He is best known for interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dreams. The vision for which Daniel is famous, is that of an Apocalyptic future: four strange beasts, representing (according to various exegetes) four different Empires.
Constantine the Great had a vision of the Cross, accompanied by the words "With this sign you'll conquer". This happened shortly before the decisive battle at the Milvian Bridge. Constantine then ordered that the cross should be depicted in all the standards of his army, and indeed he won the battle. Shortly afterwards, he recognised Christianity as a legal religion, thus ending the period of persecutions.

Answer: Defender of the Faith

An apologist is one who makes "apologies" in the original sense of the word: he gives reasons for his behaviour, so he will be free of blame. The Dutch and German translation of "apologies" is based upon this original meaning. For example, in German we have the word "Entschuldigung" - literally the equivalent of the English "free of blame".
The English word "apology" has shifted in meaning to an admission of guilt, which is in fact contrary to the initial meaning: initially an apology explained why someone did something, and why he believes that his behaviour indeed was appropriate.
Apollonius was a Roman senator converted to Christianity. When he was prosecuted for being a Christian (strictly speaking for not honouring the Roman pantheon), he delivered an eloquent oration on the intricate qualities of Christianity. His eloquence didn't save him from execution, as the Emperor at that time (Commodus) was a fervent pagan. So the sentence was already fixed before the pleadings.
Apollonius was beheaded in 185.
The other options are three of the beatitudes (Matthew 5: 3-12): "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. (...) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (...) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

Answer: A bear

St. Gerold was a nobleman born about 900 AD. One day, he left his wife and children and packed some utensils on a donkey. Where the donkey refused to go any further, he decided to build a hermitage. Meanwhile, a group of hunters pursued a bear in the vicinity. When the bear came to St. Gerold, the nobleman convinced the hunting party to leave them alone. Out of gratitude, the bear helped St. Gerold with the construction work.
This is one of the instances of a miracle taking place during the lifetime of a saint. A miracle is an event which contemporary science can't explain.
St. Gerold died in 978 and donated the land on which his hermitage was built to the Abbey of Einsiedeln, Switzerland (roughly 80 km or 50 miles from St. Gerold).
The other animals are attributes of well-known other saints. The cow is the companion of St. Bridget of Ireland, and the eagle is shown in many paintings and statues of St. John the Evangelist. St. Bernard of Clairvaux is sometimes depicted with his emblem, a beehive.

Answer: Canterbury

Saint Anselm was born in Aosta, Italy in 1033. At the age of twenty-seven, Anselm entered monastic life and dedicated himself to a profound study of theology and metaphysics. He died in 1109, on April 21st.
Anselm succeeded to his friend and mentor Lanfranc as Archbishop of Canterbury soon after King William II Rufus bettered his life. Rufus had refused to have someone nominated for the archbishopric, until Rufus became seriously ill. In later years, there was much tension between Saint Anselm and King Rufus, especially over financial matters: Rufus demanded large contributions from the Church for state business.
Saint Anselm of Canterbury is in theological circles best known for his proof that God exists. Anselm wrote two important books on this subject.
One might expect that a Roman Catholic Archbishopric like Toronto would have a patron saint - after all, it is the principal Roman Catholic Archbishopric of Canada. Alas, my research was not successful at this point.
Melbourne has chosen Saint Patrick (name day March 17th) as patron saint, although he really belongs to Ireland.
Singapore has adopted Saint Peter and Saint Paul as their patron Saints. They have their name day on June 29th, but they can also be celebrated on other dates.

Answer: Saint George

England has several patron saints. The most prominent of them is Saint George, although his hagiography shows no link with England.
Saint George was a Roman soldier and a true Christian under the reign of Diocletian, a pagan Emperor. George scolded Diocletian for his paganism, and was subsequently arrested, tortured and beheaded.
Medieval and Renaissance artists frequently depict Saint George fighting a dragon near Trebizonde (nowadays Trabzon, Turkey). He would do so to free a captive princess (symbolising the Christian Church).
Other patron saints of England are Edward the Confessor (name day October 13th) and Edmund the Martyr (name day November 20th). Edmund was King of East Anglia, Edward was King of the whole of England.
The other options I gave are patron saints of Europe.
Saint Edith Stein (venerated August 9th) was victim of the Holocaust.
Saint Jadwiga (also known as Saint Hedwig) was Queen of Poland from 1384 until 1399. She is patron saint of queens and of a united Europe and is venerated October 16th.
Saint Cyril and Methodius (name day: February 14th) were two missionaries in Eastern Europe in the Ninth Century. They developed the Cyrillic alphabet. Several Eastern European countries have this duo as their patron saints: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and most of the countries evolved from former Yugoslavia.

Answer: Mark

The Evangelists were Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Saint Mark is celebrated on April 25th and is (among others) patron saint of Venice and of notaries.
Saint Mark wrote the second gospel, probably at the request of Roman converts to Christianity, around or before 60 AD. This gospel comes second in the Bible, but according to the majority of theologians the Gospel according to Mark was written before the Gospel according to Matthew.
The four Evangelists each have an emblem taken from a chapter out of Revelation. Mark is shown with a lion, perhaps because his Gospel starts with St. John the Baptist preaching in the desert (where lions roam, at least according to popular belief).
I haven't found the specific reason why Mark was chosen the patron saint of notaries. St. Mark was evidently a writer of great importance, but there are many other saints with the same talent.
As to the patronage of the Italian city of Venice: it is a common belief that Venice holds the relics of St. Mark. The main church of Venice was named after St. Mark, and so was the famous square in front of this church.
St. John the Evangelist is celebrated on June 24th. St. Matthew has his feast day on September 21st. St. Luke is venerated October 18th.