St. Joseph of Cupertino

The Flying Friar: The Extraordinary Life of St. Joseph of Cupertino

On September 18 the Church remembers one of its most unusual saints: a poorly educated Franciscan who could barely read, was dismissed as slow-witted, and yet became famous for rising into the air during prayer. St. Joseph of Cupertino (Giuseppe Desa) is the patron of students facing exams, people with learning difficulties, aviators, astronauts, and air travelers. His story is a reminder that God often works most powerfully through those the world overlooks.

 Born in a Stable

Joseph was born on June 17, 1603, in Cupertino, a small town in Apulia in the Kingdom of Naples. His father, a carpenter named Felice Desa, had died leaving debts; creditors seized the family home, and his mother Francesca gave birth in a stable. Childhood was harsh. Joseph was awkward, absent-minded, and given to sudden trances that earned him the nickname “Bocca Aperta” (open-mouthed). His mother treated him severely. He failed as a shoemaker’s apprentice and was rejected by religious orders because of his lack of education and clumsiness.

The Capuchins accepted him briefly as a lay brother and then dismissed him. Eventually the Conventual Franciscans at Grottella took him on as a stable hand. There his humility, obedience, and love of penance won him a place. He was admitted to studies for the priesthood in 1625.

 The Exam That Changed Everything

Joseph was a poor student. He could read only with difficulty and struggled with theology. At his examination for the diaconate the bishop opened the Gospel at random and asked him to comment on the one passage Joseph knew well: “Blessed is the womb that bore thee.” He answered beautifully. For the priesthood exam, the first candidates performed so well that the bishop admitted the rest without further questioning—including Joseph. He was ordained on March 28, 1628.

That providential exam is why students still invoke him. A traditional prayer asks him to obtain the same favor: that examiners ask only what the student knows.

 The Flying Friar

After ordination, Joseph’s life became a succession of ecstasies. The mere mention of God, a holy picture, church bells, or the Passion of Christ could lift him into rapture. Witnesses—hundreds of them, including skeptics, scientists, and even Pope Urban VIII—reported seeing him rise from the ground during Mass or prayer. At least seventy such levitations were documented at Grottella alone. He once soared to the high altar during Christmas carols and knelt in mid-air. Another time he flew with a large cross. Lambs and birds gathered around him.

These phenomena drew crowds and suspicion. Superiors moved him from convent to convent and eventually kept him in near-isolation so that community life would not be disrupted. For decades he could not celebrate public Mass. He accepted the restrictions with obedience, calling himself “Brother Donkey.”

He also showed gifts of healing, reading hearts, and infused knowledge that allowed him to answer deep theological questions despite his limited schooling. He practiced severe fasting and penance for most of his life.

 Final Years and Death

In 1657 Joseph was sent to the convent in Osimo, where he spent his last six years in greater seclusion. He died there on September 18, 1663, at age 60, after a short illness, having received the sacraments. His body rests in the Basilica of St. Joseph of Cupertino in Osimo. He was beatified in 1753 by Pope Benedict XIV and canonized on July 16, 1767, by Pope Clement XIII.

 Why He Still Matters

Joseph’s patronage makes sense. Students and those with learning disabilities see in him someone who succeeded not by natural brilliance but by trust. Pilots and astronauts see the man who literally left the ground. His life teaches that holiness does not require worldly gifts. It requires love of God, humility, and perseverance.

A simple prayer many students use before exams:

> O Great St. Joseph of Cupertino, who while on earth did obtain from God the grace to be asked at your examination only the questions you knew, obtain for me a like favor in the examinations for which I am now preparing. In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Joseph of Cupertino never pretended to be clever. He simply loved God so completely that gravity itself seemed optional. That is the kind of saint worth knowing—especially the day after his feast.