So You Want to Be a Saint Trivia Quiz

Answer: St. Genevieve

In the year 451 Attila the Hun and his army were marching on Paris. The people were panic-stricken. Genevieve promised them God would save the city if they all prayed for his help. As the army got closer the people started to disbelieve Genevieve. With the help of the Bishop she was able to persuade them to keep praying. Their prayers were heard. Attila and his army turned away.

Trouble came again in 486. King Childeric of the Franks blockaded Paris. According to legend Genevieve rowed out of the city at night, past the guards, and collected 11 boatloads of food and supplies from surrounding villages. She was able to avoid the guards and get back into the city with the food and supplies. When the siege was over, King Childeric, in admiration for her bravery, summoned her and told her he would grant her one wish. "Free your prisoners," she said. "Their only crime is that they loved their city." This he did.

The third time she saved Paris happened long after she was dead. In 1129 burning fever was ravishing the city. Bishop Stephen ordered her shrine carried through the streets. Thousands of sick Parisians who saw or touched the shrine recovered and the epidemic was broken.

Answer: Bees

None of the other monastery students liked working with the bees but they needed the honey to make mead. Modomnoc didn't mind the bees, though, so he took on their caretaking. He cleared a special spot for their hives in the far corner of the garden where they would not be disturbed. He spent hours with them--tending to them and talking to them. They seemed to listen, too. When he talked all the bees could be seen hovering around him. When it came time for Modomnoc to return to Ireland he said goodbye to everyone, including the bees, and boarded the boat. As the boat was underway a sailor happened to look back and saw a dark cloud approaching from shore. As it got closer and closer they realized it was a swarm of bees. Modomnoc asked that the boat be stopped because he knew the bees were too far out to sea to be able to return to shore on their own. They settled on the boat, much to the chagrin of the sailors. They were even more chagrined when they had to row back to shore to deliver the bees because the wind was blowing out and they could not use the sails. Modomnoc was kindly asked to disembark as well. The captain told him he was only being paid to transport one person, not one person and a swarm of bees.

The second time Modomnoc tried to return to Ireland, the abbot advised him not to say goodbye to the bees. Nevertheless the same thing happened as the boat was underway. The bees followed. This time Modomnoc was told to take the bees with him. They were obviously not going to stay without him there.

Modomnoc O'Neill settled in Bremore, County Dublin, Ireland. To this day the church there is known as "The Church of the Beekeeper."

Answer: St. Dominic Savio

From an early age, Dominic wanted to follow Christ. At age 4 he knew his prayers and was often found praying alone. At age 12 he entered a school for the priesthood under the tutelage of Fr. Don Bosco who would himself be canonized. One day some boys in the school were looking at dirty pictures. Dominic asked them what they were looking at. When he saw what it was, he rebuked them saying: "God did not give you eyes to look at such as this. If you do not see this is wrong, that is even worse. It means you are used to looking at these kinds of things." The boys did not answer. They knew he was right. Another time Dominic stepped between two boys who were fighting and held up a crucifix. He told them: "Before you fight, look at this and say 'Jesus Christ was innocent and He died forgiving his murderers. I am going to hurt Him by not forgiving my enemies.' Then you can continue fighting by hitting me." The boys stopped their fight, apologized and promised to go to confession.

Dominic Savio always said: "I can't do big things. But I want all I do, even the smallest thing, to be for the greater glory of God."

Answer: False

Dismas was the name given to the "good thief." He was the one who asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom. The "bad thief" who reviled Jesus as they both hung from their crosses was called Gestas. In reality, the names of the thieves are not mentioned in the Bible. Dismas was taken from the Greek for "sunset" or "death."

There is an apocryphal tale that the two actually met Jesus and His family earlier. In this tale the two set upon the Holy Family as they traveled to Egypt to escape King Herod's soldiers. They were going to rob Joseph, Mary and the child Jesus. Dismas, however, upon looking into Jesus' face, had a change of heart and tried to convince Gestas to leave them alone. At first Gestas steadfastly refused. It was only after Dismas offered him all the money he had on his person, said to amount to 40 drachmas, that Gestas agreed to let the Holy Family proceed peacefully on their journey.

Answer: Bernadette Soubirous

When Bernadette was 14 she was out gathering wood one day when she had a vision of the Virgin Mary in a cave near the Gave River. This was the first of 18 times Mary appeared to the child. At first the townspeople were skeptical of her claims, but they eventually came to believe and would follow her to the spot. Mary had told her to come to that cave every day for 15 days. During one of the visitations Mary told her to tell the priests to build a church on that spot. In the ninth visit Mary told Bernadette to dig in the ground at the mouth of the cave. A spring began to flow there. The spring was found to have miraculous powers. A church has been built there and to this day many thousands of sick people travel to Lourdes to bathe in or drink the water coming from this spring.

When Bernadette was old enough she joined the Sisters of Notre Dame. She never wanted to capitalize on her fame, saying that she was only the instrument through whom the Blessed Virgin Mary chose to speak to the people of Lourdes.

Answer: True

Isidore was born in Madrid, Spain in the year 1070. Unlike a lot of saints Isidore was not a priest and he was not martyred. He was a farmhand. He worked in the fields for a wealthy Spaniard. While he worked, though, he was in total communion with God. And he attended Mass every morning. The other workers did not like that he was frequently late to work because he was in church. But it has been reported that angels would help him in the fields and he would be three times more productive than the other workers. It was also said that he could not see anything go hungry--be it farm animals, birds or beggars. Any time he gave some of his master's food to one of these, the sack would miraculously refill.

Isidore is one of the "five saints of Spain" along with St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis Xavier and St. Phillip Neri.

Answer: Healing

There are many "healing" wells situated in the British Isles. Little is actually known of St. Madron. The well and hermitage site is known for its healing powers. In 1640 a young crippled boy named John Trelille was brought to the St. Madron's Well. He was bathed in its waters and then slept on the "bed of St. Madron," a stone seat. The boy was completely healed and went on to fight in the English Civil War.

It is the custom of people who come to the well for healing to hang a piece of clothing on a willow tree there. Ideally the clothing should have been worn around the afflicted site first. This custom takes place at other wells in Great Britain, leading to the wells being called "cloutie wells" (clout meaning cloth.) Alternatively, sick persons can sleep either on the stone seat or make a bed of grass inside the hermitage.

Answer: Fish

It is said that the river was soon full of fish and they all appeared to be listening to him.

St. Anthony was originally an Augustinian priest. He joined the Franciscan order in 1220 after the bodies of five Franciscans who had been killed, beheaded and mutilated in Morocco were brought to his monastery on their way to burial. Upon seeing these five who were martyred for their faith, St. Anthony joined the Franciscan order in the hope that he too would be called to shed his blood for his faith. Instead he died of natural causes at the age of 36.

Answer: St. Christopher

There was a Christopher who was martyred under Emperor Decius. Mentions of a St. Christopher go back to the 6th Century. While almost nothing is known today of this Christopher, a story which is no doubt make-believe has been handed down. In the story Christopher was 18 feet tall.

He decided he would serve the greatest king so he went into the service of the man who was reported to be the greatest king. One day he saw the king cross himself at the mention of Satan. If the man was afraid of Satan, he could not be the greatest king. Christopher left him to go serve Satan.

He met a man who professed to be Satan. One day Christopher saw the man avoid a cross that was standing along a road. If Satan was afraid of the cross of Christ, he could not be the greatest king.

He left the man who claimed to be the devil to serve Christ. He found a hermit monk who told him that if he wanted to serve Christ, he would have to serve others. So Christopher stationed himself beside a raging river and decided he would serve those who wanted to cross the river by carrying them across.

This he did. One day a child asked to be carried across. Christopher picked him up with ease, placed him on his shoulders and began to cross the river. As he went, though, the child got heavier and heavier. The child grew so heavy that Christopher barely made it to the other side. When they were both safely on shore Christopher told the child: "I do not think the whole world could have been as heavy on my shoulders as you were." To which Christ replied: "I am Christ your King, whom you are serving by this work. As you carried me I had the world's sins on my shoulders."

Answer: Rosary beads

According to tradition, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Dominic in the church of Prouille, France. At the time he was despairing over the difficulty he was having converting Albigensian heretics and other sinners of his area. She told him that praying and teaching the rosary prayers, what she called the "Angelic Psalter," would help him bring the people to Christ.

The physical rosary itself consists of 50 beads in groups of 10 (called decades) with a larger bead between each group of 10. The rosary also has a crucifix on the end with one large bead, three small beads, another large bead and a small medal before connecting with the decades.

To pray the rosary, Catholics start by reciting the Apostles' Creed while holding the crucifix, followed by an Our Father on the first large bead, a Hail Mary on each of the three small beads, a Glory Be on the next large bead, the Fatima Prayer on the medal. There are five Mysteries. The first Mystery is recalled followed by the Our Father. Hail Mary is prayed on each of the 10 beads in the decade. Then the Glory Be and Fatima Prayers are said. This is repeated for each Mystery. The rosary prayer concludes with the Hail Holy Queen and the Sign of the Cross.

Answer: Wales

Cadoc was the son of Gwynllyw, a robber chieftain who commanded 300 men. One day his band stole a cow belonging to an Irish monk. To Gwynllyw's surprise the monk showed up in his camp demanding the cow back. Gwynllyw was so astonished by the monk's bravery that he asked the monk to raise and teach his son, Cadoc.

Cadoc became a monk himself. One time when food was scarce he noticed a well-fed mouse come out of a hole in the corner of his room. Figuring the mouse must know where there was a source of food; Cadoc tied a thread to the mouse's leg. When the mouse returned to his hole, Cadoc was able to follow the thread which led to a hitherto unknown underground storage room full of grain.

Cadoc prayed for his father's conversion to the faith for many years. Finally it happened. Gwynllyw had a dream one night in which an angel told him he would find a white ox on Stow Hill. The next day Gwynllyw went to that place and found a rare white ox as had been foretold in his dream. He was so impressed that he allowed his son Cadoc to baptize him then and there. Gwynllyw and his wife Glwadys later went on to found a double monastery at Newport, Monmouthshire in Wales.

Answer: It bore fruit

Even though St. John Kolobos had to walk several miles each way to get water, he faithfully watered the stick twice a day for three years. During his walks to and from the well he had lots of time for prayer and reflection. He learned patience. He learned understanding.

He became a better monk and a better person. In the third year the walking stick suddenly sprouted fruit. It became known as the "Tree of Obedience." St. John Kolobos, also known as St. John the Dwarf, died in the year 405 AD.

Answer: All of these

The early morning prayer time was called matins. Vigils or nocturnes were the night prayer times and lauds were the daylight prayer times. The vigils are now part of the matins.

There is a story that Colman had trouble staying awake for the vigils. One night he spied a mouse in his room. He told the mouse: "Everyone in this monastery has to work. It is the same for you. I see you have no trouble staying awake this late. Your job can be to wake me up if I am asleep when the vigils time comes." The mouse seemed to listen to him and understand. The next night he put the mouse to the test. He pretended to be fast asleep when it was time for vigils. Sure enough the mouse climbed onto his bed, scampered up and lightly nibbled at his ear. It continued to nibble his ear until he opened his eyes. Thereafter Colman did not have to worry about sleeping through vigils.

Colman also had a rooster. He told the rooster that his job would be to make sure all the monks were awakened for the early matins. This being a natural job for roosters, it had no trouble crowing in the early morning until all the monks appeared.

Colman's third pet was a fly that was buzzing around his room one night. Whenever Colman was reading and got called away to attend to a visitor or some other business, he would point to the spot on the page where his reading was interrupted and the fly would land on that spot. The fly would stay there until Colman came back.

Flies do not live very long and one day the fly died. Shortly after that the mouse died and the rooster died. Colman was very sad. He wrote of his sorrows to his friend, Saint Columba. Columba wrote back these sage words: "You were too rich when you had them. That is why you are sad now. Be happy you had the riches. How much sadder to have not had them in your life."

Answer: His cape

Martin never wanted to be a soldier. He wanted to be a monk. The Romans had a law, however, that sons of veterans were required to serve in the Roman army. He was conscripted against his wishes but got lucky and was assigned to a ceremonial unit. When he saw the poor beggar with tattered clothes near the gate at Amiens that cold day, Martin was moved to remove his fine cloak and, with a swipe of his sword, cut it in two.

He gave one half to the beggar to help keep warm. That night Martin had a dream in which the beggar revealed himself to be Christ Himself.

When he awoke the next morning he sought out a priest to baptize him into the Christian faith. He also decided that, as a Christian, he could not fight for the Romans. He continued in his role as a member of the honor guard for two more years at which time Frankish nomads invaded the Roman Empire. Martin's unit was called to fight.

It was Roman military practice in those days to give soldiers money before battle to bind them closer to the Empire.

When Martin was called up to receive his money he refused, saying: "I will not take your money and I will not fight. You can put me in front of the Army on the battlefield tomorrow, without weapons or armor. I will not draw sword against anyone. I am a soldier of Christ." The commander was furious at what he perceived as an act of cowardice. He told Martin that he would indeed be placed at the front of the army, without armor and without weapons. In the meantime Martin was kept under guard. The next morning the nomads inexplicably sent word that they wished to negotiate for peace. At this turn of events, Martin was released from his cell and from the army. He went on to become a monk who zealously went about converting pagans.

Answer: St. Nicholas

Nicholas was born in Patara of Lycia somewhere around 300 AD. This area is now part of Turkey. His parents were rich and when they died in an epidemic, Nicholas determined to use his inheritance to help other people. One story that is told concerns a man with three daughters. The man lost all his money and was therefore unable to provide a dowry for his daughters to marry. If they could not marry, they would have been forced to work in taverns or even houses of ill-repute. When Nicholas became aware that the first daughter was of marrying age, he went out in the dead of night to where the man lived and threw a bag of gold through the window. He did the same when the second daughter came of age. When it was the third daughter's time the father was on the watch to see who the anonymous benefactor was. He saw Nicholas throw the third daughter's dowry through the window. He immediately ran out to thank Nicholas, who swore him to secrecy. This may be how St. Nick became associated with Santa Claus.

Nicholas went on to become a bishop. As a clergyman, he had a special concern for sailors and ships. There are many seaside churches around the world named for St. Nicholas. In many it is the custom for sailors to carve intricate ships from wood or whalebone and leave them in the church in gratitude for a safe journey.