Pass the smelling salts

On the 4^th of October 1630, on the feast of St Francis, St Joseph of Cupertino suddenly rose from the ground and hovered ecstatically over his village witnessed by everyone there. It was the start of a series of events that made him the most spectacular levitator of his age or any other age. 

From that moment on, his levitating became increasingly frequent, accompanied more often than not by ear-piercing shrieks. His fame spread, and peasants, nobles, and church dignitaries descended upon Cupertino to see their hero in action.

 Certain things triggered him: the Mass—in particular the Consecration, the spoken name of Jesus or Mary, prayer, sacred music, the beauty of nature; any one of these things and off he would go, flying like a manic balloon. On one occasion, hearing a fellow friar speculate on how beautiful Heaven must be, Joseph emitted a loud whoop and flew to a nearby tree, resting on a branch too slender to hold all but a weightless body.

When in ecstatic trance and not on a tree, ie within arm’s reach, the curious would prod and prick him, press on his eyeballs, do just about anything to get a response; all to no avail. Joseph remained oblivious until the trance ended, and he again touched ground. 

One such curious person was Luisa de Sandoval Padilla, the wife of Juan Alfonso Enrique de Cabrera, a member of Philip IV’s Royal Council. She begged for an audience with Joseph. Under pressure and most reluctantly, Joseph agreed, but on entering the church where she, her husband and their retinue awaited, his eyes lit upn a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. With a loud whoop, Joseph ascended, flying twelve feet over their heads. There he hovered in ecstasy, before flying back to the door of the church and out. Luisa Sandoval Padilla and her ladies fainted on the spot, and had to be revived with smelling salts. 

Perhaps his most spectacular feat, amongst the many recorded, occurred in a more pastoral setting. On seeing a young lamb, Joseph froze, momentarily overcome. Confronted by a symbol of the Good Shepherd, Joseph responded in the only way possible. He picked the baby lamb up, ran around the garden with it on his shoulder, tossed it into the air, flew after it, caught it, and was found cuddling the lamb in bliss high on a nearby tree. 

It didn’t have to be sheep. On hearing another friar praise the Virgin Mary, Joseph hurled himself upon him. Both screamed simultaneously as they rose in the air, one in blind terror, the other in ecstasy. 

An ecstasy during Pentecost mass was so intense and powerful that Joseph flew up ‘quickly and impetuously, gyrating like a lightning bolt around the chapel, blasting out a very strange booming scream that shook the whole monastery with its vehemence.’ 

Most of his trances and levitations took place while celebrating Mass, which meant that his masses could last between two to five hours as he ascended, descended, hovered, flew, sometimes hurling himself backwards. On other occasions he ‘froze;’ his body and even his clothes stiff, inanimate, but all the time glowing.

There were eyewitness accounts of him venerating the veil of the Virgin Mary at Assisi. “He knelt in front of the precious relic, but on moving forward to kiss it, he jumped and flew backwards for eight long paces, and then he reversed that same flight to kiss it, after which he once again as before he flew back eight paces. Then he took to a new flight over the table where the reliquary was resting, and there he froze into a state of ecstasy, arms outstretched, his two hands positioned directly on the flames of two lighted torches.”

Not only could he levitate himself, as indicated earlier, he was able to levitate the unwilling. A notable madman, Baldasare Rossi was brought to him bound to a chair. Joseph grabbed him by the hair and both ascended high into the air accompanied by Joseph’s usual booming scream. When they descended Baldasare Rossi walked away cured.

The church was at a loss as to what to do with him for these dramatic and frightening levitations lasted for some 38 years.They were seen as disruptive, terrifying the faithful who at the same time flocked from every part of Italy and beyond to see him. At last Pope Urban VIII secluded Joseph in an obscure monastery, allowing him to worship in proper reverence and without the attendant circus show. 

And yet, a greater mystery remains. How has such a notable figure slipped into such total obscurity? Why is he not the best known of saints? And what would have been the results of a union between him and Christina the Astonishing? A marriage made in Heaven.