Joseph of Cupertino

(1603–63)

   Mystic and Saint.

   Joseph was born Joseph Desa in humble circumstances in south-east Italy. He joined the Franciscan Order as a stable-boy and lived a life of extreme asceticism. Despite his awkwardness and poor education, he was ordained in 1628. He became notorious for swooning in ecstasy and levitating when immersed in prayer. The religious authorities, disturbed by these phenomena, kept him in isolation and he was even, on one occasion, brought before the Inquisition. Many eye-witnesses testified to these events. John Frederick of Brunswick, the Lutheran patron of the philosopher leibniz, was so impressed that he converted to Roman Catholicism. Joseph was canonised in 1767.

   The Catholic University of America, New Catholic Encyclopaedia (1967).