ST JOSEPH OF CUPERTINO; FEAST DAY 18th SEPTEMBER
ST JOSPEH OF CUPERTINO
PATRON SAINT OF AVIATORS AND ASTRONAUTS
FEAST DAY 18 SEPTEMBER
St Joseph of Cupertino, (1603-1663), is so wonderful that I have reproduced almost the entirety of his story by John Zmirak and Denise Matychowiak in “The Bad Catholics Guide to Good Living”:*
“This Italian saint made a huge impression in his day and has remained a favourite ever since, for his simplicity, sanctity and sheer oddity. If God usually confers holiness through the ordinary things of life, sometimes He also lets slip the mask and reveals his bizarre sense of cosmic humour. Just think of the Dodo, the platypus, Australians (?!) – and Joseph of Cupertino….
Born in a stable, Joseph was given to long, ecstatic visions during class time. He’d get lost in a mystic rapture and stare with gaping mouth at the mysteries of grace enacted before his eyes- while his classmates backed away nervously and reported him to the teacher. He was soon declared a ‘special needs’ child and expelled. His exasperated mother and embarrassed uncles found a task they thought even Joseph could perform: they packed him off to be a cobbler’s apprentice.
Joseph dutifully crafted hundreds of beautiful left shoes, all size twelve, and then applied to the Franciscans, an order that valued simplicity. But he was too ignorant even for them. Capuchin monks took him on as a lay brother-basically a warm body who would do cleaning up- but even that was too taxing for Joseph. He’d be found, standing still for hours at a time, mop in hand, watching sacred dramas that only he could see. The creeped-out friars showed him the door. In time, through the magic combination of prayer and pestering, he won the right to mop up the stables of a Franciscan convent near Cupertino. There the brothers finally began to recognize his holiness and just leave him alone when he was in ‘the Zone.’ Within a few years they ordained him a priest and began turning to him for answers to tricky theological questions-the kind that could get you into trouble with the Inquisition. (Eventually, Joseph would find himself hauled up before this tribunal, which judged him too dumb to be dangerous). While Joseph hadn’t learned enough in school to think his way out of a wet paper sack, he received supernatural answers that stunned the order’s scholars and won him acclaim. His rigorous, self-punishing penances-he would eat only twice a week-convinced folks he must be sincere.
But that didn’t make him any easier to live with. Joseph’s ‘ecstasies’ began to happen more often-and mischievous friars figured out how to trigger them. As the Catholic Encyclopedia reports:
‘Everything that in any way had reference to God or holy things would bring on an ecstatic state: the sound of a bell or of church music, the mention of the name of God or of the Blessed Virgin or of a saint, any event in the life of Christ, the sacred Passion, a holy picture, the thought of glory in heaven, all would put Joseph into contemplation. Neither dragging him about, buffeting, piercing him with needles, nor even burning his flesh with candles (?!) would have any effect on him-only the voice of his superior would make him obey. These conditions would occur at any time or place, especially at Mass or during Divine Service. Frequently he would be raised from his feet and remain suspended in the air.’”
The authors commented: “You can imagine how hard it might be to pay attention in Mass with Jim Carey floating above your head. Flocks of groupies began to invade the convent to see the ‘show'. The friars decided to lock Joseph up out of sight. So the poor mystic spent most of his remaining years in his cell, which he turned into a chapel. Through it all he stayed simple and happy, never complaining, absorbed in the programming that came into his personal satellite dish. Because he spent so much of his time airborne, the Church has made St Joseph the patron saint of aviators”, (and astronauts, by the way).
*(Cross road, 2005).
This wonderful saint is a reminder of the beauty in every human being, an inner beauty that comes from the soul. St Joseph was not a person who was renowned for his intelligence, his physical prowess or his socially advantageous attributes. He was not even a person who melded into the background and conformed to the popular notions of how one should behave. He was a person of simplicity, gentleness and true goodness, one who was respectful of the world as God's creation, and all His creatures, engaging with life on it's terms, as Christ had said (Matt 18:3): "Unless you be converted, and become as little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." St Joseph is one whose attributes appeared to be disabilities, but, in fact, the way he engaged with the world was just different. In today's designer-baby culture, would St Joseph of Cupertino even be allowed to exist?
PERSONAL ASIDE:
As a child, I believed that the name of this delightful saint was “St Joseph of Cappucino”, a name that actually bears some relevance because the origins of the Cappucino lie in the Capuchin order, to which St Joseph briefly belonged.
The Capuchin monks, in welcoming guests into their monasteries, used to make coffee for the guests, (and themselves), by warming the milk and whisking it into a froth with a small whisk – the origins of the cappuccino.
Perhaps a nice way to honour this saint is to toast his memory and reflect upon his gifts of simplicity and faith, while drinking a well-made cappuccino.
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