The Life
Joseph Desa was born in 1603 in Cupertino, in Apulia (southern Italy). He was the son of a carpenter who died before his birth, leaving the family destitute. He was apparently a slow learner, suffered from seizures, and was known in his village as the Gaper — because he walked around with his mouth open. He was refused by the Franciscan Conventuals as unsuitable, accepted by the Conventual Franciscans as a lay helper, and then — after persistent prayer and evident virtue — was admitted as a novice and eventually ordained a priest.
He became famous for one thing: he levitated. This was not occasional or disputed or limited to private testimony. He levitated in public, repeatedly, for approximately fifty years, in front of witnesses that included Pope Urban VIII, the Duke of Brunswick, a Spanish admiral, and numerous Franciscan and papal investigators. He levitated in the middle of Mass, was transported across the church through the air, levitated to the top of trees. The investigations were thorough and produced abundant testimony. The levitations were eventually so disruptive to liturgical order that he was kept in solitary confinement for the last decade of his life by his superiors, who were embarrassed.
He was also slow, simple, and poorly educated. He failed his ordination examination twice; he passed on the third attempt because the examiner asked him about the only passage he had actually studied, by chance. He was not an intellectual. He had one thing: an intensity of prayer that apparently disrupted gravity.
He is the patron of air travel, pilots, and astronauts because he flew. He is the patron of students facing examinations because he barely passed his own. He died in 1663 and was canonised in 1767.
The Levitations — fifty years of aerial embarrassment
Joseph levitated during Mass — sometimes carrying another person who touched him. He levitated outside, flying to the tops of trees. He levitated in the presence of major dignitaries, including the Pope. His superiors eventually isolated him because the levitations were disrupting liturgical order, drawing crowds, and creating impossible logistical problems. He was moved from convent to convent to avoid public attention. The levitations did not stop. He is perhaps the most thoroughly documented case of levitation in the history of the Catholic Church, attested by dozens of witnesses including hostile investigators. The Gaper — simplicity as the condition of grace Joseph was known as the Gaper in his village — a slow, apparently simple young man who walked around with his mouth open and was refused by the first religious house that tried him. He failed his ordination examinations twice. He had no intellectual gifts. He had one thing: a capacity for prayer that was apparently total, in the sense that nothing held him to the ground while he was in it. The simplicity was not a problem to be overcome; it was possibly the condition that made the prayer possible. The Gaper became the Flyer because he was not weighted down by sophistication. Solitary Confinement — the embarrassment of miracles For the last decade of his life, Joseph was kept in effective solitary confinement by his superiors — moved repeatedly, kept away from public worship, prevented from celebrating Mass in front of crowds. The reason was not that his superiors doubted his sanctity but that his levitations were causing administrative chaos: crowds gathering, liturgies disrupted, the normal life of a Franciscan house made impossible. He accepted the isolation with apparent cheerfulness. The man who flew was grounded by his superiors and flew anyway. The Patronage of Students — failed and then passed Joseph's patronage of students facing examinations rests on the specific fact that he failed his ordination examination twice and passed on the third attempt only because the examiner happened to ask about the one passage Joseph had studied. The patronage is not of academic excellence; it is of the student who has done inadequate preparation and needs a miracle at the examination table. Joseph is the patron of the student who arrives at the exam having studied one passage and is asked about that passage. It has happened.
Walk in Their Footsteps
Pilgrimage sites connected to St Joseph of Cupertino
Ask St Joseph of Cupertino to Intercede
Bring these intentions to this saint in prayer:
Joseph failed twice and passed on luck. He levitated fifty years and was grounded by his superiors. He was the Gaper who flew. The patronage of air travel and of failing students is the same patronage: the person who is not supposed to be able to do what they are doing, doing it. The air traveller entrusts the improbable physics of flight to Joseph because Joseph knew what improbable flight felt like from the inside. The student entrusts the improbable exam result to Joseph because Joseph knew what it was to need a question you happened to have studied.
“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things.”
Joseph, who flew from prayer — keep me aloft today. Whether I am on an airplane in the physical sense, or an examination I am underprepared for, or a task that seems beyond my abilities — remind me that gravity is not the final word. The Gaper flew. The twice-failed candidate was ordained. The isolated mystic prayed through the confinement. God chose the foolish things. Be with the foolish things I am attempting today. Amen.