Two very different saints with something in common

A saint who shared the levitation experience with our Teresa, and who suffered for it - St Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663) - whose feast day is today. Teresa was embarrassed by her ecstasies - including levitation - but apart from that St Joseph was completely different from her. Born the son of a carpenter, Joseph was absent-minded and had such an ungainly appearance that he was given the nickname Boccaperta (“open-mouthed” or “the gaper”). He had no real academic ability, but managed to learn to read the Breviary and the Missal and get ordained as a Franciscan friar. He practised austerities, which soon led to him lifting off the ground up in the air – levitating. Accused by his fellow Franciscans of deception and fraud, they forbade him to say Mass in public or take any part in public ceremonies. But people came to consult him and, although wonders seemed to surround him, he felt God had deserted him. Tried by the Inquisition, they found him not guilty of any deliberate fraud, but transferred him from the Franciscans to the Capuchins. Here his levitations were still disruptive and they kept him in seclusion. Even on his deathbed, when he heard the bell announcing that they were bringing him communion for the last time – for the last time he levitated; he rose off the bed and floated out into the hall to meet the Blessed Sacrament. After his death on 18th September 1663, there was an immediate popular upsurge of veneration for him. When the cause for his canonisation was presented almost a century later, the “devil's advocate”, Prospero Lambertini, who was known to be most sceptical of supernatural events, declared that eye-witnesses reporting incidents about Joseph were trustworthy and that he was worthy of sainthood because of his extraordinary humility, gentleness and patience.Lambertini later became Pope Benedict XIV and beatified Joseph in 1753. He was canonised 14 years later in 1767 by Pope Clement XIII.

Intercessions:

Cancer: Brian Davis, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Jacqui, Sue B, Theresa K, Fr Jon B

Siena, Elara – sick children

Matthew – six-year old boy dying of bladder cancer

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David OCDS – housebound; Martin Gilham – unable to attend community meetings

Sophia – blind infant

Joy Smith OCDS – seriously ill

For an end to abortion and assisted suicide

Grace – troubling ailments, job difficulties, family (deceased mother and health of father)

Lucia – Overwhelmed by weariness.