The Saint of the Day After Tomorrow

Today's Saint is St Robert Bellarmine, who was a great Saint. However, because I am shallow I am moving straight onto the Saint of the day after tomorrow, St Joseph Cupertino, simply for the reason that he could fly.

Not only am I shallow but lazy, so here is the info on St Joseph Cupertino, which again, I have shamelessly nicked from someone else's blog. He is a Priest, so I believe he will not sue.

Born in a stable in 1603, he was mocked for walking about somewhat spacey. It was not thought that he was very bright or as we would say today, all there.

Later, it was discovered that this was not due to mental dullness but because, even as a child, he received ecstatic visions that left him in speechless wonder.

He applied at 17 for admittance to the Friars Minor Conventuals but was rejected because of his lack or learning. However, the Capuchins accepted him as lay brother. When it became evident that his spiritual ecstasies made him unsuitable for work, and he seem incompetent in everything he was given to do, they dismissed him.

His mean mother did not want him around but he was not discouraged and remained prayerful and devout. Eventually he was accepted as a servant and then as an oblate at the Franciscan monastery of Cupertino. He worked in the stables, which seemed all that he was good for doing. Filled with humility, he gave himself to the work. A high ranking clerical visitor remarked about his cheerfulness and then was shocked to find out that his sole work was the stables, considered among the worse jobs in the community. Discovering that he wanted to be a cleric, the Franciscans relented and he was given a habit and admitted to priestly formation. Joseph found his studies very difficult, and yet his examiners found that he could give intricate answers to questions. Virtually illiterate, he had been given the gift of spiritual knowledge and discernment to explain eternal truths.

As a priest, this humble man was seen to levitate during the celebration of the Mass seventy times. It was reported by observers that he once rose some thirty feet into the air during the singing of Christmas hymns, and remained kneeling there in prayer. His ecstatic trances could be triggered by God’s name, sacred music, worship bells, the mention of the Virgin Mary or other saints, pondering the life of Christ, holy images, reflecting upon heaven, etc. He would then enter a rapture and rise physically heavenward.

It became somewhat of a problem. People shouted, pinched, burned, stuck, and beat him but he could not be awakened from these trances. However, in holy obedience, he would immediately awaken from them when his superior commanded.

People came in droves to see him and to receive his blessing and go to confession to him. The community did not like the attention and so for 35 years he was kept hidden. He was forbidden to attend choir, go to the common refectory, walk in procession, or say Mass in the church. He was given a private chapel in his room.

Eventually he was brought before the Inquisition and moved from religious house to house, exchanged between the Capuchins and the Franciscans. While the faithful were drawn to him, Church leaders were uncertain what to make of him. He died in 1663.

The other monks became so desperate to keep his peculiar traits under control that early on lead weights were chained to his ankles to try to keep him from levitating during Mass.

He is the patron saint of pilots and all who take air transportation.