When the Saints Go Marching In | 10 Question Religion Multiple Choice Quiz

Answer: Francis of Assisi

St. Francis' Feast day is October 4.

Born at Assisi, Italy, in 1182, Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. Answering the Lord's call to "serve the master rather than men" and to "rebuild my house; it is falling down", he shed his wealth (and his clothes) and left his father's home to follow Christ as a poor man. Joyful, simple, a lover of people and nature, Francis soon attracted companions who shared his love of Christ and the Gospels.

Answer: Anthony of Padua

St. Anthony's feast day is June13.

St. Anthony isn't just a seeker of lost stuff - he is a seeker of lost souls; by demonstrating the love and grace of God in his life of faith, he inspired conversion in the hearts of those who came to hear him preach.

Legend says that when he preached in Rimini, Italy, he grew so fed up with the hard-heartedness of its citizens that he went to the town's riverbank and preached to the fishes instead.

Answer: Peter

St. Peter's feast day is June 29.

Known as Simon, Christ gave him the name of Cephas, or the Rock, and told him "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church". He added: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven".

According to tradition, Peter was crucified on the Vatican Hill upside down because he declared himself unworthy to die in the same manner as the Lord. He was said to have been buried on Vatican Hill, and excavations under St. Peter's Basilica unearthed his probable tomb. His relics are now enshrined under the high altar of St. Peter's.

Answer: Maximilian Kolbe

St. Maximilian Kolbe's feast day is August 14.

Arrested for aiding Polish refugees and sent to Auschwitz in 1941. In the summer of 1941, in reprisal for one prisoner's escape, ten men were chosen to die. Father Kolbe offered himself in place of a young husband and father. The prisoners were taken to Block 13 and their slow starvation began in darkness. But there was no screaming-the prisoners prayed the rosary and sang! By the eve of the Assumption four were left alive. The jailer came to finish Kolbe off as he sat in a corner praying. He lifted his fleshless arm to receive the bite of the hypodermic needle. It was filled with carbolic acid. They burned his body with all the others. He was the last to die, enduring two weeks of starvation, thirst, and neglect. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

Answer: Brigit of Kildare

St. Brigit's feast day is February 1.

Her prayer to have her beauty taken from her was granted; her beauty was returned after she professed her vow to the church. She was early Irish Christian nun, abbess, and founder of several monasteries of nuns.

Another tale says that when Saint Patrick heard her final vows, he mistakenly used the form for ordaining priests. When told of it he replied, "So be it, my son, she is destined for great things."

Answer: Thomas More

St. Thomas More's feast day is June 22.

He was a literary scholar, eminent lawyer, gentleman, father of four children and chancellor of England. An intensely spiritual man, he would not support the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Nor would he acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church in England, breaking with Rome and denying the pope as head.

Prior to his execution, St. Thomas had been locked up for a year in the Tower, and so he would not have shaved. He went to the scaffold with a beard. And one of his last earthly acts was to joke about it! Blindfolding himself, he laid his head down on the chopping block but pulled his beard aside, telling the hangman, "I pray you let me lay my beard over the block lest ye should cut it. This hath not offended the king."

One of my favorite quotes from him is "If honor were profitable, everybody would be honorable."

Answer: Bernadette Soubirous

St. Bernadette's feast day is April 16.

She is the patron saint of Lourdes, France and of bodily ills. In a small grotto, she received numerous visions of the Virgin Mary, who told her to pray for sinners, do penance and build a chapel in that spot. Our Lady told Bernadette to dig in the mud. When she did, a spring of water began to flow. Over the next few days, it continued to grow larger and larger. Many miracles happened when people began to use this water. The Marian shrine at Lourdes went on to become a major pilgrimage site, attracting over five million Christian pilgrims of all denominations each year.

In the first and most widely recognized Marian apparition of modern times, a personal message was delivered also to Bernadette-She would not find happiness in this world, but only in the next.

She died in 1879 after a prolonged and painful illness. Though her body was buried for 30 years, it was found to be incorrupt when exhumed.

Answer: Jude

St. Jude's feast day is October 28.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, which has helped many children with terminal illnesses and their families, was founded in 1962 by comedian and actor Danny Thomas.

St. Jude has proven to be a true friend and a beacon of hope to those who call on him--always willing to help and seek help no matter how desperate the need. And in today's tumultuous times, we need him more than ever!

Answer: Joan of Arc

St. Joan of Arc's feast day is May 30.

She is the patron of soldiers and of France.

When she refused to retract the assertion that it was the saints of God who had commanded her to go to war, she was condemned to death as a heretic, sorceress, and adulteress, and burned at the stake on May 30, 1431. She was nineteen years old. About 30 years later, she was exonerated of all guilt and she was ultimately canonized in 1920.

Answer: Pope John Paul II

St. Pope John Paul II's feast day is October 22, the date of his Papal ordination.

He is patron of World Youth Day.

Pope John Paul II traveled extensively and met with believers from many divergent faiths. At the World Day of Prayer for Peace, held in Assisi on October 27 1986, more than 120 representatives of different religions and Christian denominations spent a day together with fasting and praying.

While on his deathbed, tens of thousands of people assembled and held vigil in St. Peter's Square and the surrounding streets for two days. Upon hearing of this, the dying pope was reported to have said: "I have searched for you, and now you have come to me, and I thank you."