Saints

Question: Which of the following “villains” of mainstream Christian tradition had a wife who is recognized as a saint in Eastern Orthodoxy?

Answer: Although his wife is never named in the Gospels, Pontius Pilate was married, by broader tradition, to a Claudia Procles, who is said to have had a vision of the Crucifixion and subsequently attempted to stop it. She is venerated as a saint both in the Eastern Orthodox churches and also in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church of the Oriental Orthodox communion.

Question: Which of the following saints is the patron saint of Armenia?

Answer: St. Gregory the Illuminator is credited with converting Armenia to Christianity c. 300 AD.

Question: Which of the following synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Roman Catholic theology and was named a “Doctor of the Church” a century after his death?

Answer: St. Thomas Aquinas synthesized the theology of the Western church with the thought of Aristotle and his later commentators and also with Scholastic and Neoplatonic thought.

Question: Which of the following saints was “The Apostle to India”?

Answer: According to tradition, St. Thomas established the first Christian community on the Subcontinent in the mid-1st century.

Question: Which of the following ideals of human perfection in Confucian and Daoist traditions embodies the moral traits commonly associated with saints?

Answer: The shengren (also sheng) is the highest ideal of human perfection. The term sheng also may be translated "saint" or "saintly," and the shengren​ may be correctly understood to be a "saintly person" as well as a "sagacious person."

Question: St. Kateri Tekakwitha holds which distinction?

Answer: Kateri Tekakwitha became the first North American Indian to be made a saint when Pope Benedict XVI canonized her in 2012.

Question: This saint inspired a Catholic religious order and the ecumenical ceremony of the Blessing of the Animals.

Answer: St. Francis of Assisi inspired the Blessing of the Animals.

Question: This saint who became renowned for his ministry to the lepers of Molokai on Hawai’i became a leper himself.

Answer: St. Damien became a leper after spending time with lepers in Hawai’i.

Question: Which of the following saintly figures of Hindu tradition was considered during his lifetime to be an incarnation (avatar) of both the god Krishna and his beloved Radha in one body?

Answer: Chaitanya was considered to be an incarnation of both Krishna and Radha.