This GCSE RE quiz on Catholicism will test your knowledge of Jesus and some key Catholics. At any one time there will of course be many ‘key Catholics’ active, from the current Pope downwards; but looking back over virtually two millennia of the Church, plenty of past as well as present figures stand out. The Church itself recognises its own inspirational people by beatifying them, i.e. making them Saints, for which there is an established procedure; they fetch up, effectively, ranked alongside the Disciples and Apostles (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul et al.).
It was St Teresa of Avila, who lived in the interesting times of the Reformation (the Protestant schism from Catholicism), who made the famous observation that ‘Christ hath no body now on earth but ours: no hands (etc.)’, i.e. that since Jesus’ resurrection, God’s only active agency ~ through the power of the Holy Spirit ~ is the collective and individual deeds of believers.
Such people, however humble, would profess to be touched and sustained by God’s grace; the label ‘saint’ essentially means ‘one who is sacred, holy or set apart’ within the wicked and wayward world. Their lives and work can be a blessing to other beings such as the sick and marginalised, or even animals (cf. St Francis of Assisi), and the rest of us can recognise and draw inspiration from their piety, dedication, patience, generosity etc.
This quiz will invite you to look at a variety of historical and more recent Saints, identified and honoured by the Church for having conducted their earthly lives in sacrificial accordance with the principle of ‘What would Jesus do?’ and usually in a sense of particular and close harmony with Himself through prayer and study. In accordance with our framework, these seem best to fit the definition of ‘some key Catholics’!