Healing Saints Trivia Quiz

Answer: Saint Denis

Saint Denis was a bishop of Paris about 250 AD. Around 258 AD, he was beheaded on the hill Montmartre. Early books describe how he then picked up his own head, started preaching and walked for about three miles before succumbing. I bet he did not have a headache during this miraculous event. Saint Denis, venerated on October 9 by Roman Catholics, soon became patron saint of Paris and patron saint against headaches.
Saint Victor is the patron saint of Marseilles, Saint Blandina is the patron saint of Lyon, and Saint Reparata is the patron saint of Nice - three other major cities in France.
By the way, there is also a saint against hangovers: Saint Bibiana (venerated December 2), who was killed by being forced to drink molten lead.

Answer: Saint Lucy

Saint Lucy of Sicily is the correct saint to pray to for any eye disease. Born in 283, she was executed in 304 because of her Christian beliefs. The reason why she is patron saint against blindness is disputed. Some sources (written down more than thousand years after her death) imply one of the methods to torture her was that her eyes were gouged out, other sources (again arising centuries after her death) claim she blinded herself to dissuade a pagan lover.

Another theory is that her name refers to the light: Lucy is derived from the Latin word Lux, meaning light. And this latter explanation could also explain that she is venerated on December 13, the day that was the winter solstice at the time of her death. Saint Einhildis, Saint Elizabeth Rose and Saint Jodoc are three other saints venerated on December 13. None of these is associated with a patronage against some medical condition.

Answer: Saint Apollonia

Saint Apollonia was a Christian woman of high esteem in Alexandria (Egypt) around 250 AD. When one of the pagan leaders of the city predicted several calamities, the population was enraged and turned on the Christians. They invented some cruel tortures, such as pulling all Apollonia's teeth.

After that the mob demanded that Apollonia renounce the Christian faith and embrace the worship of the Roman deities, under threat of being burned at the stake. She declined and leapt onto the lit pyre. Thus wrote the Bishop of Alexandria a few years later in a letter that was copied by a contemporary Christian historian. Saint Apelles was a martyr in Turkey. Saint Apollo was an abbot in Egypt. Several saints are named Saint Apollinaris: a martyr from Ravenna (Italy), a bishop of Hierapolis in Turkey, a jailer in Rheims (France) and a bishop of Valence (France). None of these saints with similar names are known as patron saints against a specific ailment.

Answer: Saint Blaise

Saint Blaise was trained as a physician and appointed bishop of Sebaste (Armenia). Around 316 AD he was arrested during one of the last Christian persecutions of the Roman Empire. While in prison, Blaise treated some of his ill companions, among whom was a child about to choke on a fishbone in its throat. It was this act of healing that explains Blaise's principal patronage, the protection against any ailments of the throat (including also coughs, fever and whooping cough).
According to the hagiographies, Blaise was sentenced to be drowned in a lake. But he walked over the water and challenged the pagan soldiers to pursue him - which led to their death by drowning. Finally, Blaise was tortured with iron combs and beheaded.
Saint Severus is a patron saint of wool makers, as Saint Blaise also is. Saint Agatha is patron saint of breast diseases (including breast cancer). Saint Bernadine of Siena is the patron saint against lung diseases.

Answer: Saint John the Apostle

The Christian tradition is that Saint John the Apostle (also identified by some as the author of one or more of the gospel of John, three epistles in the New Testament and the Book of Revelation) was the only one of the twelve original apostles who did not die as a martyr.

But early Christian sources relate that this John did indeed suffer persecution. He would have been tortured by bathing him in boiling oil (in front of the gates of Rome), but would have shown no injury afterwards. This is of course the reason why he is invoked to protect against burns. Saint John the Apostle is venerated on 27 December in the Roman Catholic and Anglican tradition. John the Baptist is patron saint against spasms and epilepsy. John the Almsgiver is patron saint of the Knights Hospitaller. John Berchmans is the patron saint of altar boys and young people in general.

These are only a few of the dozens Saint Johns listed on the Catholic Calendar of Saints.

Answer: Saint Drogo

Saint Drogo (1105-1186) would have been born into Flemish nobility. His father was deceased before his birth, and his mother died at childbirth. From a very young age Drogo made pilgrimages and distributed his possessions among the poor. Although his life is not well documented, Drogo has a great number of patronages, including protection against deafness, broken bones, hernia, and disfiguring diseases. For some obscure reason he was also chosen as patron saint of coffee, a drink that was not known in Flanders at the time of his life.
Don't conclude from the list of patronages of Saint Drogo that drinking coffee can cure broken bones. There is no proof whatever that coffee consumption has any positive effect on bone fractures, and one study revealed that older women drinking coffee had a slightly higher risk on breaking something.
Saint Donatus is one of the patron saints of winemakers. Saint Arnulf is one of the many saints of brewers. Saint Catherine del Ricci is patron saint of tobacco manufacturers and tobacco merchants.

Answer: Saint Emerentiana

Saint Emerentiana is, since 1969, no longer venerated in all of the Catholic world, but she still appears on regional calendars of the saints (such as in Italy, where she was stoned to death near Rome around 304 AD). The traditional depiction of Saint Emerentiana is a young girl carrying a bunch of stones in her lap, in front of her stomach. I found no specific reason why she was chosen as the patron saint against stomach diseases, colic or abdominal pains, but the way in which she usually is shown in Christian art may be part of the reason. Saint Dymphna is the best known patron saint against mental afflictions. Saint Gertrude is also active in this area, but she is also patron saint of cats. (Do cats contribute to mental sanity? That's open to debate). Saint Philomena is better known as patron saint against infertility, but she can also be invoked against mental illness.

Answer: Saint Fiacre

Saint Fiacre was an Irish monk whose main interest was in the study of healing herbs. He established a hermitage, maybe even an abbey, in Ireland, but could not find the quiet contemplation he wanted, as vast crowds gathered at his doorstep to be healed of various ailments. In search of a more quiet environment, he moved to France, and built a hermitage with a great garden for cultivating (medicinal) herbs. Any man who came to Saint Fiacre with some ailment, was soon miraculously cured, but Fiacre shunned the presence of women (his reasons are not clear).
Saint Fiacre became patron saint of gardeners as a result of his cultivating medicinal herbs, and he also was invoked against various ailments. His shyness towards women may give an explanation as to why he is especially associated with protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Saint Fiacre is also patron saint of cab drivers, because a Parisian hotel named after him started renting cabs in the Nineteenth Century.
Saint Brendan is an Irish patron saint of sailors, but is not listed as patron saint against seasickness: that would be Saint Elmo. Saint Patrick, the best known patron saint of Ireland, can be invoked against snake bites. Saint Columba is patron saint of bookbinders and can also be invoked against floods.

Answer: Saint Rita of Cascia

Saint Rita (1381-1457) was married at an early age to a despotic husband named Paolo Mancini. She suffered his temper without complaining. After her husband was killed, Rita's two sons were keen to take revenge. But Rita tried to dissuade them, and before the sons could become murderers and thus mortal sinners, they died of natural causes. Rita then entered an Augustinian monastery, not without controversy: the order would only accept virgins, and some of the sisters already in the monastery were siblings of Mancini's murderers.

When Rita at last entered the convent, she soon developed a mysterious wound in her forehead, resembling a crown of thorns. This wound would continuously bleed during fifteen years. In January 1457, as Rita lay dying, a member of her family visited her.

She asked him nothing but a single rose from the family garden. And behold, he found indeed one single blooming red rose, in spite of the harsh weather. Saint Rita was soon chosen as patron saint against any wound (because of the wound on her forehead) and against desperate causes (think about the single rose in bloom in a cold January). Saint Rose of Lima is one of the patron saints of florists. Saint Restituta was a martyr, but she did not get an office as patron saint. Saint Relindis was an abbess in Maaseik (today Belgium), but she neither is associated with any patronage.

Answer: Saint Roch

Saint Roch was born in Montpellier in a noble family. He distributed his wealth among the poor and went on pilgrimage to Rome. As he passed a village with many victims of the plague, he decided to stay there tending to the sick, and many miraculously survived.

When he was struck himself by the plague, he retired into a forest waiting for his death. But a stray dog came to his aid, feeding him and licking his wounds, and Roch recovered. Roch' work for the plague victims explains how he became a patron saint against the plague, and the dog licking his wounds is an explanation why Roch also became patron saint against skin diseases. Saint Bartholomew the Apostle is patron saint against nervous diseases. Saint Paulina is patron saint against diabetes. And Saint Servatus of Tongres is the patron saint against all foot and leg problems.