Saints At Your Service Trivia Quiz

Answer: St. Christopher

According to his perennially popular legend, Christopher was originally named Offerus, a name which means "bearer" in Latin (alternately, he is sometimes called Reprobus, which has a quite different meaning). Physically powerful and fearless, he was nonetheless simple-minded and ugly. He resolved to serve only the one who was more fearless and powerful than himself. At one point, he unwittingly entered the service of the Devil himself, who dazzled him with feats of magic, but was disillusioned when he saw his master turn pale and tremble at the sight of a roadside cross. Eventually, he made the acquaintance of a Christian hermit who, thinking that he had come to arrest him, declared his willingness to die for Christ. Impressed by the man's bravery, Offerus volunteered his services to him and was put to work carrying travelers across a nearby torrent. One day he was accosted by a small child, who asked to be carried across. Despite his strength, Offerus found the child's weight almost impossible to bear. When they made it to the other side, Offerus remarked upon the child's great weight, and was told that it was because He carried the sins of mankind. Upon relating the story to the hermit, Offerus discovered that his passenger had been none other than the Christ child, whereupon he embraced Christianity and his name was changed to Christ-Offerus (Christopher), meaning "Christ-bearer".

Christopher has long been venerated as the patron of travelers on account of his popular (albeit probably apocryphal) legend, and St. Christopher medals have adorned the automobiles of Catholic motorists practically since the invention of the motor car.

Answer: She was pregnant.

Felicity was eight months pregnant, and was afraid that she would be unable to join her companions in martyrdom, as the law prohibited pregnant women being sent into the arena. During her imprisonment, however, she gave birth to an infant daughter, who was adopted by a fellow Christian. We are not told any details about the baby's father (it does not appear to have been Revocatus). Perpetua herself was the mother of an infant son, whom she was permitted to nurse in prison, and was very protective of Felicitas. The two were exposed to wild beasts in the arena, but they survived the attack, only to be dispatched by the gladiators at the insistence of the crowd.

The story of Perpetua and Felicity is very well-documented, since Perpetua and Saturus each kept a journal of their imprisonment, both of which have survived (Perpetua's description of their ordeal in prison, and her anxiety for her child, are hauntingly vivid). Moreover there exists a written eyewitness account of their actual deaths. These accounts were so popular in the early church that they were occasionally read at Mass in place of the Scriptures, a practice which was condemned by St. Augustine.

Answer: Horses

Guy was born and died in poverty, and is known as "The Poor Man of Anderlecht". He was raised by pious, albeit poor, parents, and became known for his concern for the poor and sick. He spent so much time in the local church that the pastor made him its sacristan; since he was basically homeless following the deaths of his parents, this enabled him to live in the church, and he spent many hours- sometimes entire nights- in prayer. He regarded his poverty as the will of God, but at one point was talked into a business venture by a merchant from Brussels. It is unclear whether the merchant was a con artist or was actually trying to help him, but in the end the venture failed, and Guy lost what little money he had. This convinced him even more that he was meant to live in poverty, and he resolved to make a pilgrimage on foot to Rome as a penance for his brief bout of covetousness. His pilgrimage eventually took him to the Holy Land, and he returned to Anderlecht seven years later. The arduous journey had exhausted him, and he died shortly afterward.

The location of his unmarked grave was lost for years until it was accidentally dug up by a horse in 1076. Some of the locals recalled his reputation for sanctity, and miracles were reported at the site of his newly-discovered grave. His feast day is September 12th, and celebrations in and around his home town typically featured horseback riders and other horse-related events, in honor of the one that uncovered his grave.

Answer: Angels

According to the legend, Isidore's employer, the wealthy Juan de Vargas, and his fellow laborers objected to his attendance at daily mass, and accused him of shirking his duties. They noted, however, that his work always seemed to get done in his absence.

His employer investigated one day, when Isidore was at Mass, and discovered that angels were performing his chores in his absence. There were no further complaints from that point on (similar stories have been related about St. Guy, St. Zita, and St. Germaine). Isidore and his wife had one child, a son who died at an early age.

They took this as a sign that they were meant to remain childless, and took a mutual vow of chastity. Despite their own poverty, they shared what they had with those less fortunate. Following his death in 1130, he was venerated as a saint, and miracles were reported at his grave.

He was canonized in 1622; since his death, many Spanish monarchs have prayed for divine guidance and assistance in times of trouble to the poor farm hand of Madrid.

He was named the patron of Madrid, and is also the patron of farmers.

Answer: A sickle

Notburga appears to have been an indomitable woman, and something of a character. On one occasion, Count Henry objected to her leaving her chores in order to attend Mass on a church feast day (a not uncommon complaint among servant-saints). She had been clearing a field with a sickle, and when Henry raised his objections, she threw it up into the air, declaring that the Lord would decide the matter.

The sickle remained suspended in the air long enough for Notburga to attend Mass; when she returned, it obligingly fell back into her hand. According to another version, Henry told her she could not leave off her work until the moon appeared; in this version, the sickle hung high in the sky, giving the appearance of a crescent moon. Notburga was said to have performed many miracles, before and after her death in 1313.

She is the patroness of the Tyrol, and of peasants.

Answer: St. Benedict the Moor

Despite his name, Benedict was not actually Moorish; he was called "Il moro", a term typically applied to people of color in Italy, regardless of their ancestry. He was a slave until the age of 18, after which he was granted his freedom, but voluntarily remained in his master's employ. Eventually he became a Franciscan lay brother.

He joined a community of solitaries until Pope Pius IV disbanded such communities. He then became a cook at St. Mary's, a position which he greatly enjoyed. He was the object of bigotry and scorn throughout much of his youth, which he bore cheerfully. Eventually he came to be highly regarded for his holiness and charity. Unlike the other saints mentioned in this quiz, Benedict belonged to a religious community, and was briefly made its superior and novice master, despite the fact that he could neither read nor write and over his own objections.

He was soon relieved of this post, however, and happily returned to his work in the kitchen, in which position he remained until his death in 1589.

His reputation for holiness and miracles attracted visitors from around the world, and upon his death the King of Spain (Philip III) paid for the construction of a tomb for the humble and obscure cook from Messina.

Answer: St. Marguerite of Louvain

Marguerite was employed as a waitress at an inn owned by a relative (possibly a cousin) named Aubert. She was known for her piety and planned to take vows as a Cistercian. Eventually, Aubert and his wife- possibly influenced by Marguerite's own example- decided to sell the inn, give the money to the poor, and enter a religious community.

When word got out about the sale of the inn, however, Aubert and his wife were murdered by thieves who were after the money they had received. Marguerite was out at the time, but returned as they were leaving with the money, and suffered the same fate.

Her body was thrown into the river Deel, but was recovered supposedly after heavenly voices and a vision of angels revealed its location. She was buried along the river bank, but after miracles were reported at her grave, her body was transferred to St. Peter's church in Louvain. Venerated in her hometown since her death in 1225, Marguerite's cult was confirmed by the church in 1905.

Answer: Dante Alighieri

Dante mentions Zita in Canto XXI of the "Inferno", where he designates a disreputable character from the city of Lucca, who is in Hell for barratry, as "...one of the elders of St. Zita". Zita had become so identified with Lucca by that time that her name was interchangeable with the city's (Dante was about fourteen at the time of Zita's death, so he was well acquainted with her reputation).

In addition to her charitable works and piety, Zita was renowned for numerous miracles, many of which seem to have occurred in response to her absent-mindedness and impulsive generosity. Angels were said to have retrieved her bread from the oven before it burned, and performed some of her tasks while she was at church.

They also seemed to replace food she had given away to the poor, and on one occasion returned her master's valuable coat, which she had impulsively given to a freezing beggar, who turned out to have been Christ in disguise. Zita is the patron saint of servants (along with St. Martha); as such, her popularity extended even to England, where she was known as St. Sitha (or Citha).

Answer: Elizabeth I

Although Elizabeth was initially tolerant of Catholicism, she became increasingly hostile to the Roman Church and its adherents after numerous attempts on her life by certain Catholic factions. By the final years of her reign, Catholicism had been outlawed and the practice of the faith was considered treason. Ralph Milner was by all accounts a simple, decent man; he had numerous Catholic acquaintances and found them more congenial than his Protestant friends, which influenced his decision to convert. Milner seems to have been well-liked, even by his jailers, and his imprisonment was a lenient one; he was actually permitted to come and go as he pleased. During one of his absences from prison, however, he took the opportunity to aid the refugee priest, Father Dickenson.

When Dickenson was arrested, Milner was taken into custody as an accomplice. Despite his advanced age, and the fact that he was the head of a large family (he and his wife had eight children together), he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Apparently even the judge who passed sentence was moved to compassion by the old man, and offered him his freedom if he would but visit a single Protestant church.

This Milner steadfastly refused to do, and thus his sentence was carried out on July 7, 1591.

Answer: Shepherdess

Germaine was born with a deformed hand and suffered from scrofula, a disease which caused sores to break out on her neck. Under the pretext of protecting her own children from the disease, her stepmother banished Germaine from the house, putting her to work in the fields tending the sheep, and making her sleep under the stairs in the barn, on a bed of straw, leaves, and vine branches.

The other villagers in Pibrac treated her with contempt and derision, partly because of her physical appearance and partly because of her extreme piety and cheerfulness, which her ill-treatment could not diminish. Even her father seems to have had little affection for her, and raised no objections to her stepmother's abuse. Gradually, however, Germaine's holiness and good nature won over her neighbors, and certain seemingly miraculous events caused her to become highly regarded.

When she attended Mass, she would plant her staff into the ground, and her flock would gather around it. Despite the presence of wolves in the nearby forest, not a single sheep was ever lost.

She was also seen to miraculously cross a stream which had become swollen with torrential rains in order to make her way to church. Although her stepmother never softened toward her, her father was eventually moved to rein in his wife's abuse, and even invited her to take a room in the house. She declined this, however, as she had become used to her makeshift bed in the stable, and it was here that she was found dead one morning in 1601 at the age of twenty-one. She was almost immediately venerated as a saint, and she was buried in the parish church. The discovery of her apparently intact body in 1644 led to further veneration. She was canonized by the Church in 1867, nearly 300 years after her death.