Q 01/05

Which phenomenon, reported by witnesses during her raptures, embarrassed Teresa of Avila when it happened at prayer?

A) Levitation

B) Stigmata

C) Bilocation

D) Prophecy

Answer · why

A) Levitation

Levitation was reported during her raptures, sometimes in the middle of Mass. She treated it as an embarrassment and asked her fellow nuns to hold her...

Q 02/05

Teresa of Avila died on the very night in 1582 that Catholic lands skipped ten days by adopting which calendar?

A) Julian

B) Gregorian

C) Coptic

D) Alexandrian

Answer · why

B) Gregorian

Gregorian reform meant Thursday 4 October was followed directly by Friday 15 October. That is why her death is dated to either day and her feast falls...

Q 03/05

Which 20th-century ruler kept a relic of Teresa of Avila's hand until he died, after his troops seized it in war?

A) Benito Mussolini

B) António Salazar

C) Francisco Franco

D) Miguel Primo de Rivera

Answer · why

C) Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco kept the hand after his forces took it from Republican troops in the Spanish Civil War. The relic is now kept in the Spanish town of ...

Q 04/05

Which Italian sculptor carved the marble Ecstasy of Saint Teresa as the altarpiece of the Cornaro family's chapel?

A) Michelangelo Buonarroti

B) Antonio Canova

C) Alessandro Algardi

D) Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Answer · why

D) Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Gian Lorenzo Bernini also designed the chapel around it, with marble members of the Cornaro family watching from theatre boxes. He was free for the jo...

Q 05/05

In 1970 Teresa of Avila became the first woman given which title, held by saints whose writings shaped doctrine?

A) Doctor of the Church

B) Father of the Church

C) Defender of the Faith

D) Patron of Europe

Answer · why

A) Doctor of the Church

Doctor of the Church had been an all-male honour until Teresa received it. Within that company she is known as the Doctor of Prayer.