Saint Patrick's Day Quiz 2014

Here are questions a good Irish American should be able to answer. See if you have the right stuff for this St. Patrick's Day. To make it easy on you, these are true or false questions: (Answers are below)

1. ___Saint Patrick was kidnapped from Britain.
2. ___Saint Patrick's Breastplate is a coat of arms with a shamrock.
3. ___Trinity College is one of the oldest Catholic Universities in the world.
4. ___The Book of Kells is a beautifully decorated book of poetry.
5. ___Frank McCourt was born in Limerick.
6. ___The potato famine occurred in the late 1800s.
7. ___The Commitments is a famous movie about Irish Folk Music.
8. ___Saint Brigid was known for her generosity.
9. ___William Butler Yeats is a famous Irish Catholic poet.
10. ___Peat was burned to heat homes in Ireland.
11. ___Joseph Kennedy served as Ambassador to Ireland.
12. ___Jean Kennedy Smith served as Ambassador to Ireland.
13. ___The native tongue of Ireland is English.
14. ___The Hebrides are Irish islands.
15. ___There are no Mosques in Ireland.
16. ___The largest Christian Church in Northern Ireland is the Catholic Church.
17. ___Bing Crosby won an Academy Award for Best Actor for Going My Way.
18. ___St. Columba waged a battle that killed thousands over a literary dispute.
19. ___In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift suggested that the poor Irish might sell their children as food for the rich.
20. ___An estimated 1 million Irish died from the potato famine and another 1 million emigrated.
21. ___"Let's match-make America" is a line from the movie, the MatchMaker --given by  Milo O'Shea. 
22. ___When David Kelly talked about a "vulgar business" in the MatchMaker, he was talking about the fee for his genealogy research.

Copyright 2014, Sporting Chance Press

Answers below:

1. T--Saint Patrick was kidnapped from Britain.
2. F--Saint Patrick's Breastplate is a coat of arms with a shamrock. It's a prayer.
3. F--Trinity College is one of the oldest Catholic Universities in the world. It was established by the English queen as a Protestant institution.
4. F--The Book of Kells is a beautifully decorated book of poetry. Reproduces the Gospels.
5. F--Frank McCourt was born in Limerick. McCourt was born in NY, but his Irish parents returned to their native land and McCourt grew up in Limerick. McCourt passed away in 2009.
6. F--The potato famine occurred in the late 1800s. It occurred from approximately 1845-1849.
7. F--The Commitments is a famous movie about Irish Folk Music. The movie is about soul music sung by an Irish band.
8. T--Saint Brigid was known for her generosity.
9. F--William Butler Yeats is a famous Irish Catholic poet. Yeats was a Protestant who became a Nationalist--loved by almost all Irish.
10. T--Peat was burned to heat homes in Ireland.
11. F--Joseph Kennedy served as Ambassador to Ireland. Ambassador to the UK, Roosevelt wanted him to take the less-sensitive Irish job at the time just before WWII, but he pushed for the UK job.
12. T--Jean Kennedy Smith served as Ambassador to Ireland.
13. F--The native tongue of Ireland is English. It is Irish or Irish Gaelic.
14. F--The Hebrides are Irish islands. Scotland.
15. F--There are no Mosques in Ireland.  There are at least 12 mosques or Islamic prayer centers in Ireland.
16. T--The largest Christian Church in Northern Ireland is the Catholic Church. True--there are more Protestants, but those are from different churches.
17. T--Bing Crosby won an Academy Award for Best Actor for Going My Way.
18. T--St. Columba waged a battle that killed thousands over a literary dispute. Columba copied a manuscript containing Psalms without permission of its owner Saint Finian. When Columba lost the legal battle for his copy, he put together an army to retaliate. The loss of life was horrific and it brought shame and remorse to Columba who was essentially exiled from Ireland. The Irish loss was the Scots gain -- Columba became a great missionary to Scotland and established great monasteries there.
19. T--In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift suggested that the poor Irish might sell their children as food for the rich. He was being sarcastic, but seriously mocking some of the days thinkers.
20. T--An estimated 1 million Irish died from the potato famine and another 1 million emigrated. There are different estimates, but the losses were huge.
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 21. T--""Let's match-make America" is a line from the movie, the MatchMaker --given by  Milo O'Shea.  Milo O'Shea passed away in 2013.
22. T--When David Kelly talked about a "vulgar business" in the MatchMaker, he was talking about the fee for his genealogy research.  David Kelly passed away in 2012.

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David Kelly: Rest in Peace

I suppose here in the states we may see just a few bits of an Irish actor and come to love him. David Kelly was certainly someone who fit the bill for me.

I have a few Irish movies that I watch over and over again. I can't say they are the best Irish films. They might be flawed, stereotypical and cheesy, but I love them nonetheless.

My mother was born in Scotland of Irish parents. She lost both parents at an early age and ended up being raised by her brother over here. Her link to home was letters from her sisters and movies that gave her a sense of what her mother and father's people may have been like. One of her favorite movies was The Quiet Man and I suppose I started watching that on TV at a very young age. I still love it.

One of my favorite Irish films is The Commitments. I have watched The Commitments so many times in the last ten years that I am surprised I have not warn out the disc--although I have a VHS version in reserve as well.

I like the Boys and a Girl from County Clare although by film standards, it can hardly be rated among the great ones. But for me, the price of admission is in a few shots that I sometimes pause at just for the view. There is a scene where Bernard Hill comes out of his farmhouse in the morning with a cup of coffee and you see a breathtaking scene of the farm and sea. I hope it is Ireland! There is another scene where Hill drives into town on a damp foggy evening on his tractor. One of the boys in the first bit of film who is playing the violin resembles myself at that age--so of course I love that scene as well. I was not often barefoot in Chicago like the boy, but the rest of the outfit was pretty close to my wardrobe.

My Kelly Movies

The Matchmaker was recommended to me by a local librarian. In this movie, Kelly appears a few time as a souvenir shopkeeper who also does a bit of genealogy. His role adds a little extra humor to the film. In addition to Kelly, the film is carried by Milo O'Shea and David O'Hara --Janeane Garofala is the lead and does a nice job as well. Maria Doyle Kennedy helps to tie the story and the characters together in her roll as the woman who runs the Inn where most of the action takes place.

In Waking Ned Devine, Kelly has a key role as an Irish island inhabitant who is picked by his pal played by actor Ian Bannen to claim a lottery prize that was won by Ned Devine. Devine it turns out passed away in his home when the winning numbers were called. Bannen's character, his wife in the film-actress Fionnula Flanagan, and Kelly make quite a trio of long-time friends that spend half the film showing off their quirky humor and culture -- and the other half trying to carry out their plan to fool the lottery people and snag the money. In this role, Kelly is able to show a sweet and fun-loving character that surrenders nothing to age.

Many Americans would also remember Kelly as Grandpa Joe in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I am not a big fan of either Charlie movies, but it was interesting to see Kelly in it.

According to press reports, Kelly was best known in Ireland for his role in a miniseries "Strumpet City" and for his stage work in Dublin in the 1950s and 1960s. He's kept busy for the past 50 years having dozens of TV/movie roles in Ireland and British TV--some lasting through series runs.

Like so many people in our lives, in films, music and stage, David Kelly will be missed and never replaced. A man who was skinny beyond skinny, he was a man who made the heart beat and the soul sing.

Image: David Kelly says "goodbye Kitty" and goodbye to all of us in Waking Ned Devine.
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