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Quiz about August Saints
Quiz about August Saints

August Saints Trivia Quiz


Each saint in the Catholic church has a feast day, on which his or her acts and miracles are celebrated in particular. Test your knowledge of those who are honored in the month of August; some are very famous, and some are more obscure. Good luck!

A multiple-choice quiz by CellarDoor. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
CellarDoor
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
315,093
Updated
Jun 29 23
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
611
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
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Question 1 of 10
1. St. Nicodemus, celebrated on August 3, was one of Christ's more unusual followers. A prominent man and a Pharisee, he visited Jesus by night and asked Him question after question until he understood. How did he respond to Jesus's crucifixion? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Blessed Mary MacKillop, whose day is August 8, took an unusual path to beatification. You might think that no one could argue with her goals of educating poor children and sheltering destitute women, but the local Catholic hierarchy felt otherwise. Which of the following statements is true? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. On August 11, Catholics honor St. Clare of Assisi, a devoted friend of St. Francis. She left a life of ease to follow in his footsteps, and founded an order of nuns who lead a life of poverty, fasting, and silence. By what fond name are these nuns commonly known? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. August 14 is the day of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a modern martyr. A Pole, he was a Franciscan friar and priest who was particularly devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1941, he died at the hands of the Nazis. Where? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. On August 19, Catholics honor Sarah, a Matriarch whose story is told in the Book of Genesis. She was childless for decades, well into her old age, and so she laughed out loud when the Lord promised He would give her a son -- Isaac, whose name means "laughter." Who was Sarah's husband? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. August 20 is the day of St. Bernard (1090-1153), a "honey-tongued" Doctor of the Church. A devoted Cistercian monk and preacher, he imposed a strict rule on his monks while still finding time to found the Knights Templar and preach in support of the Second Crusade. Name the French monastery where he was abbot for most of his life. Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. St. Rose, honored on August 23, often wore a crown of roses with metal spikes concealed underneath. A mystic and a virgin, she is more famed now for her harsh physical penances than for her ministry to the poor -- but it was the latter that made her beloved in her hometown. With what South American city is St. Rose associated? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Sadly, throughout history, the saints have too often been "honored" with murder rather than with prayers and charity. This saint, one of the Twelve Apostles, likely had enough of violence after the King of Armenia skinned him alive and then beheaded him. Yet today he is also famous for a massacre carried out on his feast day, August 24, when Huguenots were murdered for their faith throughout France. Who is this saint and martyr? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. St. Monica, honored on August 27, prayed every day that her son would repent of his sinful and dissolute ways, and turn to God. It must have worked: her son eventually became not only a bishop but also one of the greatest theologians in the history of the Catholic Church. Who is her son, whose feast day as a saint is August 28? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. The 29th of August commemorates the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, who preached of the coming of Christ and then baptized him in the river. He was beheaded on the order of Herod Antipas. Why? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. St. Nicodemus, celebrated on August 3, was one of Christ's more unusual followers. A prominent man and a Pharisee, he visited Jesus by night and asked Him question after question until he understood. How did he respond to Jesus's crucifixion?

Answer: He brought vast quantities of spices with which to anoint the body.

John 19:38-42 tells the story of Jesus's burial. After St. Joseph of Arimathea (another prominent man and secret disciple) had taken the body down, St. Nicodemus arrived with "a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds." (That's 45 kilograms!) Jesus was buried in a shroud of spices and linen.

Earlier, St. Nicodemus had visited Jesus in secret, and their exchange (John 3:1-21) became one of the more famous passages in the New Testament. Told that a man must be "born again" to enter Heaven, St. Nicodemus was confused, and asked just what that meant; when he doubted again, and asked how such things could be, Jesus preached a sermon with a tremendous climax. "For God so loved the world," Jesus explained, "that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life."
2. Blessed Mary MacKillop, whose day is August 8, took an unusual path to beatification. You might think that no one could argue with her goals of educating poor children and sheltering destitute women, but the local Catholic hierarchy felt otherwise. Which of the following statements is true?

Answer: She was briefly excommunicated from the Catholic Church by her bishop.

The first Australian ever to be beatified by the Roman Catholic Church, Blessed Mary MacKillop (1842-1909) was a woman who knew her own mind. When she realized there was an unmet need for schools, orphanages, and women's shelters throughout southern Australia, she consulted with her priest, Father Julian Woods, and founded an order of nuns to solve the problem.

When her bishop protested that the rule of poverty she imposed on her order was too strict, she held firm even when he excommunicated her; after five months, he revoked his order, telling her he had been badly advised. Blessed Mary then took the wise precaution of traveling to Rome and securing papal backing for her order, the Sisters of Joseph of the Sacred Heart.
3. On August 11, Catholics honor St. Clare of Assisi, a devoted friend of St. Francis. She left a life of ease to follow in his footsteps, and founded an order of nuns who lead a life of poverty, fasting, and silence. By what fond name are these nuns commonly known?

Answer: The Poor Clares

St. Clare (circa 1193-1253) was only a teenager when she heard St. Francis speak, and her old life ended. She gave up her wealth, her belongings, and her marriage prospects, and insisted on becoming a nun. At her friend's urging, she soon reluctantly became an abbess, founding the Second Order of St. Francis.

The Poor Clares, as this Order of Poor Ladies is popularly known, set about a life of hard work, poverty, and penance, with much of the day spent in near-total silence. After St. Clare's hard personal penances resulted in chronic illness, she urged her nuns to an easier path, with their "sacrifice seasoned with the salt of prudence." She devoted herself to writing a Rule for her order that would make their lifestyle of poverty official; when this Rule was finally approved by the Pope, just two days before her death, it was the first time the Church had ever approved a Rule written for women, by a woman.
4. August 14 is the day of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a modern martyr. A Pole, he was a Franciscan friar and priest who was particularly devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1941, he died at the hands of the Nazis. Where?

Answer: At Auschwitz, a concentration camp

St. Maximilian worked hard in his 47-year lifetime; he published bulletins full of Marian devotion, traveled to Japan and India for missionary work, and wound up leading nearly 800 monks outside Kraków. But he is celebrated for the events of the summer of 1941, after he was arrested by the occupying Nazis (probably because of his pro-Polish, anti-Nazi writings) and taken to the death camp at Auschwitz.

In late July, several men from St. Maximilian's cell block were taken to be executed, as punishment for their blockmates' escape attempt. The saint volunteered to take the place of one of the men who had been selected, a man whom he knew to have a wife and children. "I wish to die for that man," he said, and so he did -- over two weeks of slow starvation, followed by a lethal injection. When he was canonized forty-one years later, the man he had saved was at the ceremony.
5. On August 19, Catholics honor Sarah, a Matriarch whose story is told in the Book of Genesis. She was childless for decades, well into her old age, and so she laughed out loud when the Lord promised He would give her a son -- Isaac, whose name means "laughter." Who was Sarah's husband?

Answer: Abraham

Sarah (like other Old Testament figures honored as saints, it is customary to call her "St. Sarah" only on her feast day) married Abraham when she was young and beautiful; back then, they went by the names Sarai and Abram. In fact, she was so lovely that her husband made her lie repeatedly on their travels: Abram worried that the local leaders would be so taken with her beauty that they would kill him to take his wife, and so he wanted to pose as brother and sister. (Genesis 12:10-20 and 20:1-18)

The birth of Isaac was the partial fulfillment of God's covenant with Abraham: God had promised to make Abraham "a father of many nations" (Genesis 17:5), and Isaac was to be the ancestor of the Jewish people. Unfortunately, his birth also set nations against each other: a jealous Sarah cast out Ishmael, Isaac's older half-brother and the ancestor of the Ishmaelites, and his mother (her servant). It was only through the intervention of an angel that the pair survived in the desert. (Genesis 21:9-21)
6. August 20 is the day of St. Bernard (1090-1153), a "honey-tongued" Doctor of the Church. A devoted Cistercian monk and preacher, he imposed a strict rule on his monks while still finding time to found the Knights Templar and preach in support of the Second Crusade. Name the French monastery where he was abbot for most of his life.

Answer: Clairvaux

St. Bernard of Clairvaux was an energetic man, and he left both the Cistercian Order and the Church different in his wake. A nobleman, he did not want to enter monastic life alone, and so -- in the first known exercise of his considerable persuasive powers -- he convinced four of his brothers and more than two dozen of his friends to join him in taking vows. Even when he had the leadership of hundreds of monks at Clairvaux, he kept busy in the world at large.

His support was vital to Innocent II's victory in a disputed papal succession; he also took an interest in the naming of bishops.

He urged monks to make mysticism a part of their daily routines, and preached and wrote on ways of loving God. For his eloquence, energy and holiness, there were some who venerated him before he was even dead!
7. St. Rose, honored on August 23, often wore a crown of roses with metal spikes concealed underneath. A mystic and a virgin, she is more famed now for her harsh physical penances than for her ministry to the poor -- but it was the latter that made her beloved in her hometown. With what South American city is St. Rose associated?

Answer: Lima, Peru

St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617) was the daughter of a prosperous family of Spanish colonists in Peru. She took a personal vow of virginity at a young age, refusing her parents' attempts to marry her off. She is said to have disfigured herself with lye in order to deter her suitors, and this was only one of her self-punishments, which ranged from bulimia to her famous thorny crown.

She cared for the sick (especially for children and the elderly) in between her penances; given their physical toll, it is no wonder that she died young, at 31.
8. Sadly, throughout history, the saints have too often been "honored" with murder rather than with prayers and charity. This saint, one of the Twelve Apostles, likely had enough of violence after the King of Armenia skinned him alive and then beheaded him. Yet today he is also famous for a massacre carried out on his feast day, August 24, when Huguenots were murdered for their faith throughout France. Who is this saint and martyr?

Answer: St. Bartholomew

St. Bartholomew is thought to have been the same man as Nathaniel, a companion of St. Philip described in the Gospel of John. (Nathaniel would have been his given name, while Bartholomew -- Bar-Talmai in Hebrew -- gave the name of his father.) He was described n glowing terms by Jesus Christ Himself, as "an Israelite ... in whom there is no guile" (John 1:47).

If only the 16th-century French Catholic leadership had followed his example. Eager to destroy the threat they thought was posed by the Huguenots -- Calvinist Protestants -- they pretended to offer peace, suggesting that the Huguenot leader, Prince Henry of Navarre (later King Henry IV of France), marry the Catholic Princess Marguerite de Valois. A few days after the wedding, on St. Bartholomew's Day 1572, there was blood instead of peace, as thousands of the bridegroom's followers were murdered. (Henry was spared when he pretended to convert to Catholicism.) It is hard to fathom why an offering of martyrs might please the martyred St. Bartholomew.
9. St. Monica, honored on August 27, prayed every day that her son would repent of his sinful and dissolute ways, and turn to God. It must have worked: her son eventually became not only a bishop but also one of the greatest theologians in the history of the Catholic Church. Who is her son, whose feast day as a saint is August 28?

Answer: St. Augustine of Hippo

St. Monica (332-387) had a difficult life. A devout Christian from an early age, she was married to a man named Patricius who shared neither her faith nor her values: he was, in fact, a violent alcoholic who would probably have been a poor husband for anyone. Nevertheless, her options were few and she was determined to show him Christian love, and he was finally baptized not long before his death.

With her son, St. Augustine (354-430), St. Monica had a more difficult task. He had been a pious boy, but as a teenager, his prayer was, "Lord, make me chaste, but not yet!" He took a concubine and was a father by the age of twenty. Drawn to Manicheism, which taught that the power of evil was equal to the power of God, he left Algeria for Italy without telling his mother when he was going. She followed him there, and it was her friend, the bishop St. Ambrose, who eventually brought St. Augustine into the fold of Christianity. She died a happy woman soon after her son's baptism, fulfilled even though she had not yet seen him as Bishop of Hippo or as a theologian honored for such seminal works as "Confessions" and "On the City of God."
10. The 29th of August commemorates the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, who preached of the coming of Christ and then baptized him in the river. He was beheaded on the order of Herod Antipas. Why?

Answer: Herod's stepdaughter asked for St. John's head on a platter.

St. John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus Christ, and was very close to Him in age; a beautiful passage in Luke 1, the basis for part of the Hail Mary prayer, tells of a meeting between their pregnant mothers.

When he grew to manhood, St. John preached of the coming of the Messiah, which would have been unpopular enough with Herod Antipas -- but he also preached against Herod's marriage to Herodias, who was both his niece and his brother's wife. (And not, note, his brother's widow.) Herodias demanded that St. John be arrested, and her husband agreed. The prophet's fate was sealed when Herod, boggled by his stepdaughter's exotic dance, promised her anything she wanted; prompted by her mother, she asked for St. John's head on a platter. (Matthew 14:3-11)

St. John the Baptist is a popular figure in art and takes three roles: a cherubic child playing with the infant Jesus; a desert prophet dressed in camel hide; and a martyr, in gruesome detail. August 29 is only one of his feast days: his birth is commemorated on June 24.
Source: Author CellarDoor

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor gtho4 before going online.
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This quiz is part of series Monthly Saints:

Each saint in the Catholic church has a feast day, on which his or her acts and miracles are celebrated in particular. This series of quizzes goes through their lives according to their special days, month by month.

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