80 Fun Facts About Saint

Which country is Saint Patrick the primary patron saint of?

Brigid of Kildare and Columba are the island's other two patrons.

By his own account, how did the teenage Patrick first arrive on the island he evangelised?

He was sixteen when Irish raiders seized him from his home in Britain.

Legend says Patrick used which plant to explain the Trinity?

The snake-banishing story is a legend too; Ireland never had snakes.

Saint Nicholas, whose gift-giving legend became Santa Claus, was bishop of which city?

It lies in modern Turkey; his relics were later carried off to Bari in Italy.

What did Saint Nicholas famously drop through a poor man's window on three nights?

The gifts provided dowries so the three daughters would not be forced into prostitution.

Saint Valentine's feast day has been observed on 14 February since at least which century?

The Roman martyrology now lists just one Valentine for that day, a martyr buried on the Via Flaminia.

Besides lovers, Saint Valentine is patron of epilepsy sufferers and which trade?

His flower-crowned skull is on display in a Rome basilica.

Which religious order did Francis of Assisi found?

He was canonised in 1228, less than two years after his death.

Francis of Assisi is credited with staging the first what, in 1223?

It took place in the village of Greccio.

Francis of Assisi's feast day, 4 October, is also observed as what?

Churches bless pets on the day because of his patronage of animals and the environment.

Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431 at roughly what age?

The charges included heresy and wearing men's clothes; she was canonised in 1920.

Which pope canonised Joan of Arc?

It happened in 1920, almost 500 years after her death, and she was named a patron of France two years later.

Saint George is said to have been a soldier in which emperor's guard?

He was executed in 303 for refusing to renounce his faith; the dragon came much later.

Saint George's Day falls on which date?

England, Portugal, Georgia, Ethiopia and the city of Moscow all claim him.

Saint Christopher, patron of travellers, legendarily carried whom across a river?

The boy grew impossibly heavy because he bore the weight of the world; the saint was dropped from the general calendar in 1970.

Anthony of Padua, invoked for lost objects, was born in which city?

His reputation for finding lost things traces to a stolen book returned to him in Bologna.

What was Saint Peter's original name?

Jesus gave him the name Cephas, Aramaic for rock.

Under which emperor was Saint Peter crucified in Rome?

Tradition places the martyrdom on Vatican Hill.

Mother Teresa founded which religious congregation in 1950?

It began serving the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta.

Where was Mother Teresa born?

The city was then part of the Ottoman Empire; she was ethnically Albanian.

In what year was Mother Teresa canonised?

She had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170 in which building?

Four knights loyal to Henry II did the deed on 29 December.

Saint Lucy, whose feast falls on 13 December, is patron of people with what?

Medieval accounts say her eyes were gouged out before her execution in Syracuse in 304.

Saint Andrew is traditionally shown on what shape of cross?

The saltire became Scotland's flag; early texts say he was tied, not nailed, to an ordinary Latin cross.

Saint David is the patron saint of which country?

His famous miracle raised a hill under his feet so a crowd could hear him preach.

Catherine of Siena helped persuade which pope to move the papacy back from Avignon to Rome?

She was made a Doctor of the Church for her writings.

Thomas Aquinas's best-known work, left unfinished at his death in 1274, is called what?

The Dominican friar tried to reconcile Aristotle with Christian teaching.

Augustine of Hippo was baptised in 386 by which saint?

Hippo Regius is in modern Algeria; his mother Monica is a saint too.

Saint Jude is the Catholic patron of what?

He is usually shown holding a club.

Saint Cecilia, whose feast is 22 November, is the patron of whom?

The story goes that she sang in her heart to the Lord while musicians played at her wedding.

Saint Sebastian survived being shot with arrows and was finally killed how?

He went straight back to warn Diocletian about his sins; today he is popular with athletes.

Ignatius of Loyola turned to religion after a cannonball shattered his leg at which 1521 battle?

He went on to found the Jesuits and write the Spiritual Exercises.

Ignatius of Loyola added which fourth vow for members of the Jesuits?

The Society of Jesus was founded in Paris and became a spearhead of the Counter-Reformation.

Thérèse of Lisieux, the 'Little Flower', died of tuberculosis at what age?

Her memoir The Story of a Soul made her famous and John Paul II named her a Doctor of the Church in 1997.

Bernadette Soubirous reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1858 in which French town?

The lady identified herself as the Immaculate Conception; the visions were declared worthy of belief in 1862.

Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was killed how?

He was a deacon in Jerusalem; his feast on 26 December is the one in Good King Wenceslas.

Good King Wenceslas of the carol was a real ruler of which land?

He was murdered by his brother Boleslaus the Cruel and posthumously declared a king.

Saint Blaise, whose throat blessing falls on 3 February, was a bishop and what else?

He is invoked for objects stuck in the throat and is also patron of wool combers.

Saint Florian, patron of firefighters, was martyred how?

The soldiers refused to burn him after he taunted them, so they threw him in the River Enns.

When ordered to hand over the Church's treasures, Saint Lawrence presented what instead?

The Roman deacon was martyred in 258; legend has him roasted on a gridiron.

Isidore of Seville, sometimes called the patron saint of the internet, is famous for compiling what?

The Etymologiae preserved extracts of classical books that would otherwise be lost.

Carlo Acutis, canonised in 2025, was known for building a website cataloguing what?

The London-born teenager died of leukaemia at fifteen in 2006.

Kateri Tekakwitha, canonised in 2012, was the first saint from which people?

The 'Lily of the Mohawks' survived the smallpox that killed her family.

Who was the first person born in what became the United States to be canonised?

She founded the first US congregation of sisters and the first Catholic girls' school, in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Padre Pio, canonised in 2002, belonged to which order?

He bore the stigmata for decades at the monastery of San Giovanni Rotondo.

Óscar Romero, canonised in 2018, was assassinated in 1980 while doing what?

The Archbishop of San Salvador had spoken out against the death squads.

Roughly how many saints did Pope John Paul II canonise, more than his predecessors of five centuries combined?

He also beatified 1,344 people and was himself canonised in 2014.

Which step must a candidate pass to be venerated locally before full canonisation?

Pope Alexander III's 1173 decretal was a milestone in reserving such judgements to the papacy.

Where was Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, actually born?

Irish pirates captured him at sixteen and he spent six years as a slave shepherd in Ireland before escaping; he never was formally canonised.

Which two Latin works, the main sources for his life, did Saint Patrick write?

His feast day, 17 March, is believed to be the date of his death.

A 14th-century legend says Saint Nicholas slapped which heretic at the Council of Nicaea?

The story is first attested a thousand years after the council.

In the Catholic canonisation process, what title comes immediately before 'Blessed'?

The ladder runs Servant of God, Venerable, Blessed, Saint; each of the last two steps normally needs a miracle.

Which category of candidate can be beatified without a proven miracle?

For everyone else, one miracle is required for beatification and ordinarily a second for sainthood.

The first undoubted papal canonisation, in 993, was of Udalric (Ulrich), bishop of which city?

Pope John XV performed it; before that, saints were generally proclaimed by local bishops and popular acclaim.

How soon after a candidate's death may a cause for sainthood normally be opened?

Popes can waive the wait, as they did for Mother Teresa and John Paul II.

Which pope declared Francis of Assisi the patron saint of ecology on 29 November 1979?

In 2013 Jorge Bergoglio became the first pope to take the name Francis.

In the Golden Legend, in which city did Saint George slay the dragon?

The dragon story is a medieval addition, absent from his earliest lives.

What happened to Saint Valentine's feast day in 1969?

His skull, crowned with flowers, is displayed in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome.

When do the Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate All Saints?

In the West the day is a Solemnity for Catholics and a Principal Feast for Anglicans.

According to the traditional list, who is the patron saint of accountants and tax collectors?

He was a tax collector before becoming an apostle; Genesius, an actor who converted mid-performance, is patron of actors and comedians.

Which saint, famous for reportedly levitating, is patron of astronauts and aviators?

Thérèse of Lisieux and Our Lady of Loreto are also invoked by aviators.

Which saint is listed as patron of hairdressers?

Veronica, whose veil took the imprint of Christ's face, is claimed by photographers.

Thomas More, Yves and Genesius are patron saints of which profession?

Francis de Sales looks after journalists and writers; Cosmas, Damian and Luke look after doctors.

The Alpine rescue-dog breed is named for a mountain-pass hospice founded by which 11th-century monk?

The hospice's most famous dog, Barry, is credited with saving between 40 and 100 lives.

Which archangel is listed as patron of television workers?

Michael shares police officers with Jude; Raphael turns up as patron of nurses, doctors and travellers.

On what date do Western Christians celebrate All Saints' Day?

It honours all the saints of the Church, known and unknown. The evening before is All Hallows' Eve, better known as Halloween, and All Souls' Day follows on the 2nd.

Which Roman building did Pope Boniface IV consecrate to Mary and all martyrs around 609?

That first feast fell in May. Pope Gregory III later dedicated an oratory to all the saints in Old St Peter's, and November 1 became the date.

Which emperor made All Saints' Day a holy day of obligation throughout the Frankish Empire in 835?

He was Charlemagne's son. Two years later Pope Gregory IV extended the feast to the whole Western Church.

What collective name is given to the three days of Halloween, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day?

October 31 to November 2 is a time for remembering the dead, with graves visited and candles lit across much of the Catholic world.

What is the All Saints' and All Souls' observance called in the Philippines, where it is a public holiday?

Families camp out overnight at cemeteries. France, Poland, Portugal and Spain also make November 1 a public holiday.

What is the traditional All Saints' Day custom in countries such as Poland and France?

Polish cemeteries glow with thousands of candles on the night of November 1.

Benedict of Nursia wrote his famous Rule at which monastery in the mountains of central Italy?

He had earlier founded twelve communities at Subiaco, east of Rome, and Paul VI declared him a patron saint of Europe in 1964.

Martin of Tours is best remembered for cutting what in two to share with a beggar?

A Roman cavalryman born in present-day Hungary, he later became bishop of Tours and his shrine drew pilgrims bound for Santiago.

Boniface, the English monk known as the 'Apostle to the Germans', was martyred in 754 where?

Fifty-two companions died with him, and his remains were returned to Fulda, still a pilgrimage site.

Brigid of Kildare's feast on 1 February was originally which pagan festival marking spring?

Weaving Brigid's crosses is the day's main custom, and it has been a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland since 2023.

Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross founded which reformed religious order?

A papal decree formalised the split from the old order in 1580; her Interior Castle imagines the soul as a castle of seven mansions.

Which pope commissioned Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible, later known as the Vulgate?

Jerome broke with earlier Latin versions by working from the Hebrew rather than the Greek Septuagint for the Old Testament.

On which Hebridean island did Columba found his famous abbey around 563?

He crossed from Ireland with twelve companions, and the abbey became a base for converting the pagan northern Picts.

Saint Agnes of Rome, martyred in 304 at about 12 or 13, is traditionally depicted with which animal?

The lamb plays on her name and symbolises innocence; her skull is kept at Sant'Agnese in Agone in Rome.

Saint Monica is venerated chiefly for her prayers for the conversion of which son?

He described her piety and their life together at length in his Confessions, and legend has her weeping for him every night.