St. Joseph of Copertino book

St. Joseph of Copertino book...
St. Joseph of Copertino (Cupertino in Spanish), who lived from 1603 -1663, is one of the truly unusual saints of the Church. He was born in a stable and was so poor in school that he passed his exam for the priesthood only because the bishop asked the one question he was prepared for. Nonetheless, he developed great wisdom and knowledge of holy things. He performed severe penances, such as wearing a heavy chain around his waist and fasting seven times a year for forty days each! But he was most famous for his ecstatic flights or levitations, of which seventy are recorded in the acts of his beatification. He levitated almost daily at Mass--sometimes for two hours. People flocked to him because of his kindness, and so many attended his Masses that the church could not contain them. St. Joseph worked numerous miracles and, like St. Francis of Assisi, even spoke with animals. On one occasion he raised to life a flock of sheep that had been killed by enormous hailstones. Although he could smell the stench of sin in wrongdoers, he himself exuded a lovely bodily perfume. He performed exorcisms by reciting the litany of Loreto. And the devil even said of him: "Friar Joseph is the worst foe we have." This biography, portraying one of the great saints of the Franciscan Order, was written in 1753, at the time of his beatification. It is based on the Acta Sanctorum and the official documentation from the process for his beatification. Canonized in 1767, St. Joseph of Copertino is the Patron of Students and of those who fly.

135 pgs Item# B381