Joseph of Cupertino | |
|---|---|
_MET_DP-12357-001_(cropped).jpg) St. Joseph of Cupertino is lifted in flight, byPlacido Costanzi (17th century) | |
| Confessor | |
| Born | Giuseppe Desa 17 June 1603 Copertino,Terra di Otranto,Kingdom of Naples |
| Died | 18 September 1663(1663-09-18) (aged 60) Osimo,Marche,Papal States |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church (Franciscans) |
| Beatified | 24 February 1753,Rome, Papal States byPope Benedict XIV |
| Canonized | 16 July 1767, Rome, Papal States byPope Clement XIII |
| Majorshrine | Basilica of St. Joseph of Copertino, Piazza Gallo, 10, Osimo,Ancona, Italy |
| Feast | 18 September |
| Patronage | The City ofCopertino and the City ofOsimo, aviation, astronauts, mental handicaps, examinations, students |
Joseph of Cupertino (Copertino),OFM Conv. (Italian:Giuseppe daCopertino; 17 June 1603 – 18 September 1663) was anItalianConventual Franciscanfriar who is honored as aChristian mystic andsaint. According to traditional Franciscan accounts, he was "remarkably unclever", but experienced miraculouslevitation andecstatic visions throughout his life which made him the object of scorn.[1] He applied to the Conventual Franciscan friars, but was rejected due to his lack of education. He then pleaded with them to serve in their stables. After several years of working there, he had impressed the friars so much with the devotion and simplicity of his life that in 1625 he was admitted to their Order, destined to become apriest. His struggles in being ordained to the priesthood required two providential coincidences involving his exams.[2] These incidents have earned him the title of the patron of students, exam takers and the learning disabled, while his levitation has earned him the patronage of pilots and those traveling by air.[3]
He was born the son of Felice Desa and Frencesca Panaca in the village ofCupertino, in the Region ofApulia, then in theKingdom of Naples, now in the ItalianProvince of Lecce. His father having died before his birth, however, the family home was seized to settle the large debts he had left, and his mother was forced to give birth to him in a stable.
Already as a child, Joseph began to experienceecstatic visions which were to continue throughout his life, and made him the object of scorn. His life was not helped by his frequent outbursts of anger. He was soon apprenticed by his uncle to a shoemaker. Feeling drawn to religious life, in 1620 he applied to the Conventual Franciscan friars, but was rejected due to his lack of education. He then applied to theCapuchin friars in Martino, nearTaranto, by whom he was accepted in 1620 as alay brother, but he was dismissed as his continued ecstasies made him unfit for the duties required of him.
After Joseph returned to the scorn of his family, he pleaded with the Conventual friars near Cupertino to be allowed to serve in their stables. After several years of working there, he had so impressed the friars with the devotion and simplicity of his life that he was admitted to their Order, destined to become apriest, in 1625. However, he struggled greatly with the required academic studies. He could not comment on any scripture passage except one: "Beatus venter qui Te portavit" (Blessed be the womb that bore Thee), Luke 11:27. In his exam for ordination to the diaconate, the Bishop giving the exam opened the Gospels at random and requested that Joseph expand upon this only verse that he knew. He was able to expand upon it well and was ordained to the diaconate. Then when he was going to be tested to be ordained a priest, the Bishop questioned several of Joseph's fellow candidates, and when they replied excellently, the Bishop did not question the rest, including Joseph, assuming all the candidates were equally prepared.[4] This allowed Joseph to beordained a priest on 28 March 1628. He was then sent to the convent of Santa Maria della Grotella, just outside Cupertino, where he spent the next 15 years.[5]
After this point it was claimed that he began to levitate[6] while participating at theMass or joining the community for theDivine Office, thereby gaining a widespread reputation of holiness among the people of the region and beyond. He was deemed disruptive by his religious superiors and church authorities, however, and eventually was confined to a small cell and forbidden to join in any public gathering of the community.
As the phenomenon of flying or levitation was widely believed to be connected withwitchcraft, Joseph was denounced to theInquisition. At their command, he was transferred from one Franciscan friary in the region to another for observation, first toAssisi (1639–1653), then briefly toPietrarubbia and finallyFossombrone, where he lived with the Capuchin friars (1653–1657) and under their supervision. He practiced severeasceticism throughout his life, usually eating solid food only twice a week, and adding bitter powders to his meals. He passed 35 years of his life following this regimen.
Finally, on 9 July 1657, Joseph was allowed to return to a Conventual community, being sent to the one inOsimo, where he died on 18 September 1663. Joseph wasbeatified in 1753. On 16 July 1767, he wascanonized byPope Clement XIII.[7]
Much of what is known of Joseph comes from testimonies contained in canonization inquests (processi) posthumously conducted from 1664 to 1695, when numerous witnesses were still alive.[8] Inquests were used by his hagiographers, the earliest of which was composed by his confessor Roberto Nuti in 1678. Domenico Bernino, who claimed to witness an ecstasy, followed with his own work. By the time to Joseph’s beatification, hagiographies by Agelli and Pastrovicchi were also present.[9] Alleged eyewitness reports of Joseph's levitations are noted to be subject to gross exaggeration, and often written years after his death.[10][11]
Robert D. Smith in his bookComparative Miracles (1965) suggested that Joseph performed feats similar to agymnast. Smith noted that some of his alleged levitations "originate from a leap, and not from a prone or simple standing or kneeling position, the witnesses mistook a leap of a very agile man for levitation."[12]
Skeptical investigatorJoe Nickell concluded that:
Joseph's most dramatic aerial traverses were launched by a leap—not by a simple slow rising while merely standing or kneeling—but, moreover, I find that they appear to have continued as just the sudden arcing trajectories that would be expected from bounding. They were never circuitous or spiraling flights like a bird's. Invariably, Joseph's propulsions began with a shout or scream, suggesting that he was not caused to leap by some force butchose to.[11]
Carlos Eire, a historian ofEarly Modern history, finds it difficult to consign testimony of Joseph’s levitations to lies or mass hysteria. According to Eire, the levitations are so extreme trickery or illusionist contraptions are ruled out given the setting. The quantity and status of eyewitnesses, which included members of the upper class, make their accounts seem more credible, and Eire finds the evidence the testimony is genuine to be compelling, though admits the question of whether anyone actually flew cannot be addressed by historians.[13]
Saint Joseph of Cupertino is the patron saint of the city of Cupertino, the city of Osimo, aviation and pilots, astronauts, mental handicaps, examinations, and students.
The sanctuary of Santa Maria della Grottella, outside Copertino, where Joseph was stationed for over fifteen years
