Pure Inspiration: The Flying Saint

    

I noticed in the current Summer 2009 issue of Pure Inspiration magazine there is an article entitled "The Flying Saint: Saint Joseph of Copertino" by William Hansen.

I first learned about Guiseppe Desa (1603-1663) of Italy upon reading the chapter about him in Eric J. Dingwall's 1947 book Some Human Oddities.

Hansen commented, "In Joseph we see divine grace abundantly manifest in an individual who, to all outward appearances, seemed dull of intellect and inept at performing even the most basic tasks . . . in his own reality he was intimately connected to an awe-inspiring, mystical force . . ."

Dingwall reported that he became determined to devote his life to religion at the age of seventeen and became a priest in 1628.

Here are two more excerpts from the article.

"In the middle of saying mass, Joseph would lift off the ground and hover over the alter, causing a great disturbance and frightening almost everyone attending his mass. "

"His fellow friars came to discover that when Joseph was under the spell of one of his ecstasies, no amount of physical pain could rouse him.  In their attempts to revive him, the friars took to pricking him with needles, striking him or even burning him — all to no avail. Interestingly, only the command of his superior could bring him back from his flights and ecstasies."

Some of the events described by Joseph's biographers are similar to those documented about other famous people associated with unexplained phenomena.  Edgar Cayce and medium Daniel Dunglas Home are two examples.