Feast of St Joseph of Cupertino, September 18th

This is the Basilica of St. Joseph of Cupertino in Osimo, Italy, where St. Joseph's body is laid.
Close to the ceiling of the basilica is a painting of the saint levitating.

These pictures were borrowed from here, where you can also find a complete Life of St. Joseph.

St. Joseph, a saint of many miracles, is especially known for levitating while meditating on Our Lord or Our Lady. But, he was also noteworthy in his time for the fact that he was a notoriously poor student who only passed his examinations into the priesthood due to God's intercession. St. Joseph of Cupertino is, therefore, the patron saint of:

aviators,

astronauts,

pilots,

air crews,

paratroopers,

students,

anyone taking a test

Prayers to St. Joseph for Taking an Examination

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 favour 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.
St. Joseph of Cupertino, Pray for us.

Amen.

(Then, you must remember, when you succeed in the exams, to publicly thank St. Joseph of Cupertino ~ in the newspaper, for instance, or on the internet -- or you could wear a placard and walk down main street...  ;0)

Prayer to St. Joseph of Cupertino for Aviators

Dear ecstatic Conventual Saint who patiently bore calumnies, your secret was Christ the crucified Savior who said: "When I will be lifted up I will draw all peoples to myself." You were always spiritually lifted up. Give aviators courage and protection, and may they always keep in mind your greatly uplifting example.

Amen.

*This reminds me, incidentally, of a poem that is a favorite of mine, though I'm far from being an aviator. That last line just stays with me, every time I read it, and it somehow seems to link with St. Joseph, our flying saint, who did "touch the face of God".

High Flight

by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds...and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of...wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence.

Hov'ring there, I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew.

And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand,

And touched the face of God.


* Post reprinted from 9/18/08