Joseph of Cupertino

Sometimes I have a dream. It is always the same dream. I find myself flying over a field of lush grass with sporadic clumps of hardwood trees. I am like a bird in flight yet I have no wings. I can rise higher, like Icarus, into the clouds by performing a peddling motion with my legs. I have had this same dream for as long as I can remember. I have often heard it said that dreams can be interpreted. I have a vague recollection of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dreams in the book of Genesis. I have often wonder if this dream of flight has any subtle or hidden meaning. Am I looking for something? Perhaps wanting to fly away to some utopian paradise that does not exist? My twin brother has the same dream. He peddles just like I do over the same field.

                                              St. Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663)

    Joseph Desa was his name. He was born at Copertino, or Cupertino in Italy in 1603. He was a poor youth who took to wandering at an early age. In his early twenties he turned to the Franciscan monastery for assistance and he was eventually ordained a priest. It was said that he was so pius that he became inspired by Christ's miracles, especially the ones having to do with levitation. Joseph was said to have been able to master the art, or magic, or whatever power enabled him to accomplish it. One time he was seen by witness' levitating through the air inside of the church. Another time he was in the garden and his fellow brothers were astonished to see him fly into an olive tree and kneel down on a large branch where he proceeded to make annoying shrieks and morbid guttural sounds. This incident among others caught the attention of the Holy Inquisition who tried him in 1634 for attracting great crowds. Why they found this conduct offensive is not known, but they found him innocent of the charges that had been brought against him. He died in September 1663 at the age of 60. He became a Saint in 1767.

     Did Joseph of Cupertino really levitate and fly across fields and churches as the legends say, or were these super-human feats the mere product of some writers imagination? It has been written that most of the stories involving this Saint were told years after his death when all or most of the witness' were dead. It is hard to say. I have never seen a person jump up in the air and fly away. However, just because I have never seen it happen doesn't mean it never happened before, or it can't happen. I am limited by my own experiences and keep an open mind about things. Perhaps Joseph Desa did take to the air like a thunderbird in the sky. Perhaps, just maybe, it was a dream...and dreams are real.