The Flying Saint Joseph of Cupertino
The Flying Saint Joseph of Cupertino The trial over, Father Joseph was now in the bosom of his Heavenly Mother and his soul seemed to soar to Heaven more than ever, almost detached from his earthly body. When he heard the Names of Jesus and Mary, when organ music filled the church, when he heard a homily on God, he would become enraptured, sighing aloud, "O Love, O Love!" He desired the whole world to know and love Jesus and Mary. Upon meeting others who proclaimed love for God, Joseph’s heart would begin to swell with joy, and he was lost in ecstasy to the world. He would go up to religious pleading, "Would you die for Christ?" One of his greatest desires was to be a martyr for Christ, never realizing he was already a "Dry Martyr." When sharing God’s grief, over the sins that offend Him, Joseph’s sorrow would be so great that blood would gush from his mouth. His ecstasies became more frequent after he was ordained a priest. They were manifested with such close intervals, they were almost uninterrupted constant rapture. At the mention of God, Joseph would become impervious to pain. When he was subjected to needles piercing his flesh, repeatedly struck by blows from heavy iron rods, his body burnt by the flames of a torch, there was no reaction whatsoever. He would remain transfixed, his eyes heavenward, his body poised mid-air. During the flying Saint Joseph’s ecstasies, when the pupils of his eyes were pressed by an index finger, he never even blinked. Only when God released him, or under obedience to a Superior, was he able to come out of his heavenly encounters and feel pain or experience any effect upon his senses. In the history of the Church, rarely has it been documented in the life of another Saint or Mystic, the phenomenal amount of divine ecstasies, miracles of healing and supernatural occurrences that have been attributed to the flying Saint Joseph of Cupertino, a humble, holy friar who only felt worthy to serve his friends of the barnyard world. In the 17 years he spent at the Monastery of Grotella, Father Joseph levitated over 70 times. The most spectacular occurred when the friars of the Monastery were erecting a Calvary. The middle Cross that was to hold the Corpus, was over 36 feet high, and by far the heaviest of the three. Try as they may, 10 men could not lift the Cross. Upon seeing their plight, Joseph flew 70 yards, scooped up the cross, as if lifting a feather, and planted it in its appointed spot. It was Christmas Eve. As Father Joseph was processing up to the Altar, strains of bagpipes and flutes serenading the Baby Jesus about to be born, filled his heart with so much hope for the world, he began to dance and weep tears of joy. And then, with a loud cry, he flew through the air like a graceful bird to the main Altar, almost 8 feet away. He remained there for 15 minutes in a state of ecstasy, disturbing nothing, the candles never burning his vestments. Another time, on the Feast of St. Francis, our flying priest, vested for Mass, levitated up to the pulpit, close to 6 feet from the ground and remained there suspended, in an attitude of prayer, his knees bent, his arms outstretched like his Savior before him on the Cross. On Holy Thursday evening, Father Joseph was praying with the other friars of his Order before Our Lord Jesus Who was reposing in the Tabernacle, His Holy Sepulchre, high above the main Altar. Overcome with the sad reality that His Lord would suffer the ongoing agony of Gethsemane that evening and that of His Passion on the Cross the next day, and feeling the terrible emptiness in the church without His Presence until Easter Sunday, Joseph could no longer contain his grief and levitated, soaring high up to the ciborium which contained His Lord. Reference: Saint Joseph of Cupertino by Bob and Penny Lord Visit our other sites: New! CommentsHave your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below. |
