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Religions - Christianity Quiz - Saints Alive 2 (Questions)

Another selection of Saints, those specially touched and blessed by God, for you to meet!

As you may know, there is a Saint for almost anything. We have chosen several of the most interesting/famous in this (and the previous) quiz to challenge you.

1. Occasionally in the Announcements or Small-Ads of a newspaper, you may see someone has taken out space to proclaim 'Thanks to St Jude': why so?
[ ] Jude is the patron saint of healing
[ ] Jude is the patron saint of lost causes and objects
[ ] Jude is the patron saint of babies and children, so this might be a sign of thanks for a 'miracle' pregnancy or survival
[ ] Jude is the patron saint of gamblers
2. By what method was St Sebastian intended to be martyred?
[ ] Burnt to death
[ ] Drowned
[ ] Shot full of arrows
[ ] Poisoned
3. An image of St Veronica usually appears in the sixth Station of the Cross in Catholic and other like-minded churches: what is she remembered for having done?
[ ] Cried over Jesus' feet and then dried them with her hair
[ ] Wiped His face while he was carrying the cross, and His image was ('miraculously') transferred onto the veil with which she did this
[ ] Pleaded with the Roman soldiers to let Jesus be given something to drink
[ ] Threw herself at His feet and prayed for a blessing to cure her illness
4. Which of the four Evangelists sums up Jesus' mission in the following words?
'God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have everlasting life.'
[ ] Matthew
[ ] Mark
[ ] Luke
[ ] John
5. Which female saint, a contemporary and trusted friend of Jesus himself, was for many years believed to have been a reformed prostitute?
[ ] St Hannah
[ ] St Emma
[ ] St Mary Magdalene
[ ] St Rachel
6. Consider the following facts, or apparent facts, about Jesus' earthly father Joseph:
He was a professional carpenter (which in those days may well have extended to making and repairing the wooden frames of buildings)
He was significantly older than Mary
He refused to annul his engagement to Mary (which he would have been entitled to do) after God made it clear to them that Jesus would be God's own Son, rather than Joseph's by more conventional means
He appears to have died at some point between the time of Jesus' Temple visit at the age of 13, and when Jesus began His adult ministry.
[ ] None of these is likely to be true
[ ] Some of them may well be true (you needn't specify which ones you believe may be so)
[ ] Only two of them are true (again, you needn't specify which)
[ ] All of them are credible and likely
7. When St Stephen became the first martyr (ie he was put to death, by stoning, for his faith), another future saint was present 'on the other side', holding the coats of the men that were casting the stones. Obviously he changed allegiances later. Who was he?
[ ] Polycarp
[ ] Anathasius
[ ] Scholasticus
[ ] Saul of Tarsus
8. Towards the close of the first Christian millennium, this Greek-born missionary and his brother spread their faith into what is now Russia, and created (or adapted) an alphabet specifically for the purpose of converts being able to read and feed on the scriptures. Who was he?
[ ] St Antonius
[ ] St Constantine
[ ] St Cyril
[ ] St Petersburg
9. His name means 'blessed'; he set up one of the biggest networks of religious houses (monasteries, abbeys etc) and their associated scholarship and good works. Who was he?
[ ] St Theodore
[ ] St Benedict
[ ] St Francis
[ ] St Bernard
10. This British saint was a lifelong vegetarian, who lived a humble llfestyle despite the importance of the work he was doing in the church in the early 13th century; he was mentored by St Edmund of Abingdon. His tomb/shrine in Sussex was wrecked in the Reformation, but his words live on in the famous devotional prayer:

'Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ
For all the benefits Thou hast given me,
For all the pains and insults Thou hast borne for me.
O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother,
May I know Thee more clearly,
Love Thee more dearly,
Follow Thee more nearly ...'

Who was this saint?
[ ] Aloysius of Arundel
[ ] Richard of Chichester
[ ] Samuel of Brighton
[ ] Ernest of Worthing

 

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Religions - Christianity Quiz - Saints Alive 2 (Answers)
1. Occasionally in the Announcements or Small-Ads of a newspaper, you may see someone has taken out space to proclaim 'Thanks to St Jude': why so?
[ ] Jude is the patron saint of healing
[x] Jude is the patron saint of lost causes and objects
[ ] Jude is the patron saint of babies and children, so this might be a sign of thanks for a 'miracle' pregnancy or survival
[ ] Jude is the patron saint of gamblers
Jude is traditionally associated with loss (and rediscovery). So far as we know, there is no patron saint of gambling (Answer 4) which is not an activity particularly consistent with Christian values.
2. By what method was St Sebastian intended to be martyred?
[ ] Burnt to death
[ ] Drowned
[x] Shot full of arrows
[ ] Poisoned
Apparently he survived this onslaught and was later put to death by other means, but this story seems to have inspired a vast number of disturbing classical artworks.
3. An image of St Veronica usually appears in the sixth Station of the Cross in Catholic and other like-minded churches: what is she remembered for having done?
[ ] Cried over Jesus' feet and then dried them with her hair
[x] Wiped His face while he was carrying the cross, and His image was ('miraculously') transferred onto the veil with which she did this
[ ] Pleaded with the Roman soldiers to let Jesus be given something to drink
[ ] Threw herself at His feet and prayed for a blessing to cure her illness
Answer 1 refers to another woman whom Jesus encountered at an earlier point.
4. Which of the four Evangelists sums up Jesus' mission in the following words?
'God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have everlasting life.'
[ ] Matthew
[ ] Mark
[ ] Luke
[x] John
... in Chapter 3, verse 16 of his Gospel. There is a very famous musical setting of this text in John Stainer's (Victorian) cantata The Crucifixion.
5. Which female saint, a contemporary and trusted friend of Jesus himself, was for many years believed to have been a reformed prostitute?
[ ] St Hannah
[ ] St Emma
[x] St Mary Magdalene
[ ] St Rachel
Mary of Magdala may or may not have had a chequered past, but Jesus' acceptance and friendship with her was a practical example of how God would still love and accept anyone, however evil they might previously have been, as and when they had come to Him with a genuine change of heart. Plenty of other saints had been sinners; you may have recognised an echo of the repentant Mary Magdalene's behaviour in Question 3, Answer 1.
6. Consider the following facts, or apparent facts, about Jesus' earthly father Joseph:
He was a professional carpenter (which in those days may well have extended to making and repairing the wooden frames of buildings)
He was significantly older than Mary
He refused to annul his engagement to Mary (which he would have been entitled to do) after God made it clear to them that Jesus would be God's own Son, rather than Joseph's by more conventional means
He appears to have died at some point between the time of Jesus' Temple visit at the age of 13, and when Jesus began His adult ministry.
[ ] None of these is likely to be true
[ ] Some of them may well be true (you needn't specify which ones you believe may be so)
[ ] Only two of them are true (again, you needn't specify which)
[x] All of them are credible and likely
Most Christians broadly accept all of these as being true. We can only infer from the Gospels that Joseph was dead before Jesus 'went on the road', by his otherwise surprising absence from the stories: Mary turns up at various key points later on, while Joseph is unmentioned and conspicuous by his absence.
It seems Jesus had younger (half-) brothers and possibly sisters; had Joseph died, of old age or whatever, when (say) He was in his upper teens, Jesus would (of course) have followed his obligations, by default, to carry on Joseph's business and see that the younger ones were provided for.
There is also the 'Glastonbury legend' whereby the young Jesus (say, as a student-age 'carpenter's apprentice') may have travelled abroad with Joseph of Arimathea (who later gave his tomb for Jesus' use): this Joseph was a prosperous, well-connected man of the world who may have known Joseph of Nazareth through the building trade, and may have had his own trading interests as far afield as Britain; he may have brought the young Jesus on a trip to see the Cornish mines where tin, copper and possibly lead were sourced. We know that traceable British west-country lead was used in Pompeii; British copper may well have been in use for practical and ornamental fittings elsewhere across the Roman Empire. If this in turn is true (which it at least could be, in Jesus' 'gap'), then, as William Blake puts it in that famous poem Jerusalem, it becomes possible that 'those feet in ancient time walked upon England's mountains green' etc.
7. When St Stephen became the first martyr (ie he was put to death, by stoning, for his faith), another future saint was present 'on the other side', holding the coats of the men that were casting the stones. Obviously he changed allegiances later. Who was he?
[ ] Polycarp
[ ] Anathasius
[ ] Scholasticus
[x] Saul of Tarsus
Saul, after his conversion at Damascus, became St Paul. He had perhaps 'travelled' the furthest of any Saint, after being vehemently anti-Christian to this earlier extent; another astonishing example of Jesus' influence turning someone's life completely round.
8. Towards the close of the first Christian millennium, this Greek-born missionary and his brother spread their faith into what is now Russia, and created (or adapted) an alphabet specifically for the purpose of converts being able to read and feed on the scriptures. Who was he?
[ ] St Antonius
[ ] St Constantine
[x] St Cyril
[ ] St Petersburg
The Cyrillic alphabet takes its name from him; more recently he has been canonised as one of the Patron Saints of Europe.
9. His name means 'blessed'; he set up one of the biggest networks of religious houses (monasteries, abbeys etc) and their associated scholarship and good works. Who was he?
[ ] St Theodore
[x] St Benedict
[ ] St Francis
[ ] St Bernard
The Benedictine Order, its 'Rule' of living, and indeed the famous liqueur originally made by its Brothers at Fecamp in Normandy, all trace back to St Benedict. Among much else he has become the Patron Saint of students.
10. This British saint was a lifelong vegetarian, who lived a humble llfestyle despite the importance of the work he was doing in the church in the early 13th century; he was mentored by St Edmund of Abingdon. His tomb/shrine in Sussex was wrecked in the Reformation, but his words live on in the famous devotional prayer:

'Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ
For all the benefits Thou hast given me,
For all the pains and insults Thou hast borne for me.
O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother,
May I know Thee more clearly,
Love Thee more dearly,
Follow Thee more nearly ...'

Who was this saint?
[ ] Aloysius of Arundel
[x] Richard of Chichester
[ ] Samuel of Brighton
[ ] Ernest of Worthing
His prayer was famously incorporated into the musical Godspell (under the title Day by Day).