Did you know there was a saint that could FLY? He's also the "Patron Saint of failing students."
He was slow, clumsy, and considered unintelligent. He could barely read. But when he prayed, he literally flew.
He would go into such ecstatic trances during Mass that he would levitate off the ground. It happened so often (over 70 recorded times) that his superiors had to ban him from public choir because he was distracting the other monks by floating around the ceiling.
As a child, he was slow, distracted, often staring into the distance. The townspeople called him “Boccaperta”, the gaper. They thought he was useless. God thought otherwise.
He tried joining the Capuchins, but was expelled for incompetence. Even the Franciscans didn’t want him. Until one house reluctantly accepted him as a servant. He was sent to the stables. There, in humiliation, he began to pray and do penance.
Despite his lack of learning, Joseph had a deep love for the Blessed Virgin and the Eucharist. When it came time for his priestly exams, he was asked the only passage he knew, and passed. They ordained him. The dunce became a priest. But the real miracles were just beginning.
Once, during a procession, he saw a crucifix, and soared into the sky. Another time, he flew to the high altar in front of the Spanish ambassador’s wife.
They investigated him. But Joseph lived a life of deep humility, obedience, and poverty. His miracles brought no profit, only suffering. He begged God to take the gifts away. Instead, he was transferred, hidden, moved from place to place.
He spent the last 35 years of his life in solitude, under obedience, away from the public. He died whispering the names of Jesus and Mary. The man once called a fool had become a living tabernacle of the Holy Spirit.
St. Joseph of Cupertino is the patron saint of students, test-takers… and astronauts.
Why astronauts? Because he was the first man in history seen leaving the ground without wings. He literally defied gravity for love of God.
He’s proof that Heaven doesn’t care about your IQ.
It cares about your heart.
Sancte Ioseph a Cupertino, Ora pro nobis!