Saint Joseph de Cupertino
Frère mineur (+ 1663)
La réputation de lévitation qui marqua la vie du saint explique qu'il ait été spontanément considéré comme le patron de tous les métiers liés à l'aviation et aussi des cosmonautes. Il a toujours été considéré comme le patron des étudiants et en particulier des candidats aux examens à cause des énormes difficultés scolaires qu'il rencontra jusqu'à son ordination. (Diocèse aux Armées françaises)
Martyrologe romain
Saint Joseph de Cupertino
Frère mineur, conventuel
(1603-1663)
Joseph, dit de Cupertino, petite ville des environs de
Salente, diocèse de Nardo, naquit de parents pieux, l'an de grâce 1603. Prévenu
de l'amour de Dieu, il passa son enfance et sa jeunesse dans une grande
simplicité et innocence de moeurs.
Délivré d'une cruelle maladie, par sa bonne Mère du
ciel, Joseph s'appliqua avec une nouvelle ardeur aux oeuvres de la piété et à
la pratique des vertus; et, pour s'unir plus intimement à Dieu, qui l'appelait
à une perfection plus élevée, il voulut revêtir les livrées du Séraphin
d'Assise. Après bien des difficultés, il parvint enfin à la réalisation de ses
désirs et entra chez les Pères Capucins, où, vu son ignorance des lettres
humaines, il fut d'abord reçu parmi les Frères-lais. Toujours ravi en Dieu, il
mettait un temps si considérable à exécuter des travaux de peu d'importance que
les supérieurs, le jugeant incapable de rendre aucun service à la communauté,
le renvoyèrent dans le siècle.
Il se trouva alors dans une bien triste position.
Aucun de ses parents ne voulait lui donner asile, sa mère le maltraitait, et
tous le considéraient comme un paresseux et un insensé. Enfin, sur les
instances de sa mère, les Frères Mineurs Conventuels consentirent à lui donner
l'habit de saint François, en le chargeant de soigner la mule du couvent.
Dans cet humble emploi, il se distingua tellement par
la sainteté de sa vie, et par son zèle pour la conversion des pécheurs, que ses
supérieurs s'aperçurent bientôt la valeur de cette âme extraordinaire. Ils
conçurent pour lui la plus haute estime, et le reçurent enfin dans 1a
communauté sous le nom de Frère Joseph.
Mais notre Saint n'était pas encore satisfait. Il ne
lui suffisait pas d'être religieux, il aspirait au sacerdoce. Ambition étrange,
et, selon toute apparence, présomptueuse et insensée! à peine savait-il lire,
et de toute l'Écriture, il ne put jamais expliquer qu'un texte : l'Évangile des
messes de la Sainte Vierge : heureuses entrailles qui Vous ont porté. Marie
cependant, contente de l'amour de Son serviteur, le seconda dans ses desseins.
Car, par une disposition merveilleuse de la Providence, dans tous ses examens,
il ne fut jamais interrogé que sur cet évangile, qu'il avait si bien
approfondi, et sur lequel il répondit de manière à satisfaire pleinement les
examinateurs les plus exigeants.
Ordonné prêtre, au mois de mars 1628, Joseph se sépara
complètement du monde. Il recherchait les emplois les plus humbles du couvent,
il pratiquait des austérités inouïes, ne mangeait que tous les 3 ou 4 jours, et
cela avec tant de modération, qu'il était facile de voir que son corps même
vivait d'une nourriture cachée, que les hommes ne connaissaient pas. En effet,
son corps, aussi bien que son âme, était soutenu par la sainte Eucharistie; et
après la messe qu'il célébrait tous les jours, avec une grande dévotion,
l'augmentation de force qu'il avait puisée dans la sainte communion se
manifestait par l'animation de ses traits et la vigueur de sa démarche. Comme à
saint François, les animaux lui obéissaient, les éléments étaient dociles à sa
voix; à son attouchement, les malades étaient guéris. En un mot, la nature
semblait n'avoir plus de lois en présence des désirs de Joseph.
Pour lui, les lois de la pesanteur étaient suspendues,
ou plutôt le centre qui l'attirait, ce n'était pas, comme pour nous pauvres
misérables, la terre, mais le ciel. Aussi était-il souvent élevé, à la vue de
ses Frères, à une distance considérable au sol, et là, il demeurait en
contemplation, tout absorbé en Dieu. Chaque fois qu'on récitait en sa présence
les Litanies de la Sainte Vierge, il s'élevait en l'air et allait embrasser
l'image de la Mère de Dieu.
Ces transports aériens, ces vols dans l'espace furent
si habituels à notre Saint que les actes du procès de canonisation en
rapportent plus de soixante-dix survenus dans le seul territoire de Cupertino,
aussi peut-on affirmer sans crante, que durant la moitié peut-être de sa vie,
ses pieds n'ont point touché le sol.
Il mourut à Osimo, d'une mort digne de sa vie, le 18
septembre 1663, à l'âge de 60 ans et fut canonisé par Clément XIII en 1766.
D'après Nos Saints, par un Frère Mineur, p. 221-222
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_joseph_de_cupertino.html
Saint Joseph de
Cupertino
La vie de Joseph de Cupertino est assurément l’une des
plus extraordinaires et des plus déroutantes de l’hagiographie, mais que son
procès de canonisation se soit déroulé sous les yeux des Lumières, suffit à
garantir que l’Eglise s’est posé toutes les questions qu’on était en droit
d’attendre en pareil cas.
Le père de Joseph Désa, un menuisier de grande vertu,
avait si peu d’entendement dans les affaires que sa femme, pour se protéger des
agents de justice, dut se cacher dans une étable où elle accoucha (17 juin
1603). L’enfant fut baptisé à Notre-Dame-des-Neiges de Cupertino (diocèse de
Nardo), petite ville du royaume de Naples, entre Brindes et Otrante, où il
vécut toute son enfance sous la conduite énergique de sa mère, Françoise
Zanara. Si, comme le disent les actes de sa canonisation, dès sa plus tendre
enfance, à l’âge de cinq ans, il donna de tels signes de sainteté que, pour
être déjà vénéré comme un homme parfait, l’âge seul lui manquait, il n’en
n’était pas moins extrêmement maladroit, manuellement et intellectuellement.
Atteint d’une étrange maladie, il attribua sa guérison à la Sainte Vierge et,
résolu à consacrer sa vie à Dieu, il s’imposa de grandes mortifications.
A dix-sept ans, comme deux de ses oncles étaient
franciscains conventuels, il se présenta dans leur Ordre où il fut refusé pour
insuffisance intellectuelle. Les Capucins l’acceptèrent comme frère convers
mais, en extase continuelle, il se montra si malhabile dans les travaux qu’ils
le congédiairent pour manque d’esprit, d’aptitude et de santé. Sa mère qui
était fort humiliée et ne voulait plus s’occuper de lui, réussit à fléchir son
frère, Jean Donato, qui était franciscain conventuel et l’on reçut Joseph, sous
l’habit du Tiers-Ordre, au couvent de Grottella où il fut chargé de s’occuper
de la mule. Or, Joseph, toujours joyeux, fit preuve de tant d’obéissance et
d’humilité, de tant de piété et de pénitence, que ses supérieurs décidèrent de
le recevoir comme clerc.
Au mois de juin 1625, à Altamura, il reçut l’habit de
l’Ordre. Il arriva péniblement à lire et à mal écrire mais jamais à apprendre.
Le 3 janvier 1627, l’évêque de Narto, Jérôme de Franchis, qui lui faisait
passer l’examen d’admission aux ordres, ouvrit la Bible au hasard et lui fit
expliquer le passage Beatus venter qui te portavit (heureux le sein qui t’a
porté) ; à la surprise générale, Joseph fit un superbe commentaire et l’évêque,
le jour même, lui conféra les ordres mineurs puis le sous-diaconat (27 février)
et le diaconat (20 mars). L’année suivante, l’examen pour le sacerdoce, fait par
le sévère évêque de Castro, Jean-Baptiste Deti, se passa à Bogiardo. Joseph
était accompagné de jeunes moines savants dont les premiers firent si vive
impression sur l’évêque qu’il admit indistinctement tous les candidats ; Joseph
fut admis au sacerdoce qu’il reçut le 4 mars 1628, et devint ainsi le patron
des candidats aux examens.
Lors d’un voyage qu’il fit sur l’ordre de ses
supérieurs pour visiter les couvents du royaume de Naples, il se fit un peu
trop remarquer par un vicaire général qui le dénonça à l’inquisition
napolitaine. Déclaré innocent du crime d’imposture dont on l’accusait, il
venait de célébrer la messe à Saint-Grégoire-l’Arménien, il fut ravi en extase.
Les inquisiteurs l’envoyèrent à Rome, près du général de son Ordre qui, après
avoir montré beaucoup de méfiance, fut si persuadé de sa sainteté qu’il voulut
le présenter au pape Urbain VIII. Lorsque Joseph se prosterna pour baiser le
pied du Pape, considérant qu’il était devant le vicaire du Christ, il entra en
extase et fut transporté jusqu’au plafond de la salle d’audience ; Urbain VIII
se tourna vers le père général et lui dit : Si frère Joseph mourait sous notre
pontificat, nous voulons servir de témoin à son procès de canonisation pour
déposer du prodige dont nous venons d’être témoin.
Joseph eut fort voulu qu’on le renvoyât dans son
couvent de Grottella, mais on l’envoya au couvent d’Assise où il eut fort à
souffrir du dédain du gardien (supérieur). Il perdit alors toutes les
consolations divines qu’ils connaissaient depuis l’enfance et fut assailli de
terribles tentations. Averti, le général de l’Ordre le fit revenir à Rome où il
retrouva plus abondamment les consolations divines. Pour avoir assisté à une
extase de Joseph, Jean-Frédéric, duc de Brunswick et de Hanovre, abjura le
protestantisme. Au prince Casimir de Pologne, second fils de Sigismond III,
qu’Innocent X avait fait cardinal et qui lui demandait s’il devait recevoir les
ordres, Joseph répondit : Ne le faites pas, vous seriez obligé de rentrer dans
le monde ; Dieu ne tardera pas à vous faire connaître sa volonté ; en effet, le
frère aîné du prince mourut et Casimir fut élu roi de Pologne. De retour au
couvent d’Assise où les esprits avaient changé, il fut reçu triomphalement par
les religieux et les notables de la ville ; lorsqu’il entra dans l’église,
voyant une image de la Vierge de Grottella, il s’écria : O ma Mère, vous m’avez
accompagné jusqu’ici ! puis, en extase, il s’éleva jusqu’à l’image.
En 1653, on parvint à prévenir contre Joseph Innocent
X qui chargea l’inquisiteur de Pérouse, Vincent-Marie Pellegrini de le tenir
enfermé au couvent des capucins de Petra-Rubea, puis dans celui de Fossombre.
Au matin du 7 janvier 1655, alors que les sacristains cherchaient les ornements
sacerdotaux pour qu’il célébrât la messe, il leur commanda de prendre les
ornements noirs car le Pape venait de mourir. Le nouveau pape, Alexandre VII
Chigi le fit libérer et conduire au couvent d’Osimo, dans la Marche d’Ancône,
où il mourut, un peu avant minuit, le mardi 18 septembre 1663. Il fut béatifié
par Benoît XIV, en 1753, et canonisé par Clément XIII, le 16 juillet 1767.
Prière pour les examens
O bienheureux Joseph de Cupertino, qui aimez à vous montrer favorable envers vos dévoués serviteurs, je viens implorer votre aide pour cet examen que je dois subir. Malgré mon travail, ma bonne volonté, je crains de me laisser troubler et de ne pouvoir répondre convenablement.
Rappelez-vous que vous vous êtes trouvé dans la même difficulté et que par l’obéissance et la puissante protection de votre père spirituel vous en êtes sorti heureusement.
Faites de même à mon égard. Accordez-moi l’assurance
dans mes réponses, donnez à mon intelligence la promptitude et la vivacité. Je
vous le demande pour l’amour de Jésus, de Marie et de saint François dont vous
fûtes l’enfant et le serviteur fidèle. En vous je me confie, très saint Patron
des examens, et je suis convaincu que mon espoir ne sera pas trompé.
Prière
Je suis mort au monde et ma vie est cachée en Dieu avec le Christ.
Le Seigneur a conduit le juste par les voies droites
- Et lui a montré le royaume de Dieu.
O Dieu, qui avez voulu attirer toute chose à votre Fils unique, Jésus-Christ, faites que, par les mérites et à l’exemple de votre séraphique confesseur Joseph de Cupertino, nous élevant au-dessus de toutes les cupidités terrestres, nous méritions d’arriver à celui qui, avec vous et le Saint-Esprit, vit et règne dans les siècles des siècles. -
Amen.
SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/09/18.php
Basilica of Saint Joseph from Copertino in Osimo,
Puglia, Italy
Bazylika św. Józefa z Copertino w Osimo, Puglia, Italy
Saint Joseph de Cupertino, la foi candide qui donne littéralement des ailes
Aliénor
Goudet | 17 septembre 2020
Malgré une maladresse prononcée et une simplicité
d’esprit handicapante, saint Joseph de Cupertino, franciscain italien né en
1603, possédait un amour tellement immense pour le Seigneur que celui-ci le
soulevait dans les airs lorsqu’il se laissait emporter par sa prière.
Osimo, 1661. Après une longue après-midi d’étude
infructueuse, quand la cloche du monastère sonne l’angélus, Sergio émerge enfin
de la bibliothèque, soupirant et traînant des pieds. Du haut de ses 17 ans, il
est le plus jeune frère du monastère à préparer l’examen d’admission aux ordres
mineurs.
Depuis quelques temps, l’angoisse l’empêche de trouver
sens aux écrits de la Bible. Peut être est-ce un signe. Se pourrait-il qu’il se
soit trompé en entendant l’appel de Dieu ? C’est alors qu’en se dirigeant vers
le réfectoire, il s’arrête devant les cuisines, reconnaissant la voix du père
Giani.
– Cela fait deux jours que nous lui avons donné à
manger, mon père, dit un frère cuisinier.
– Attendons jusqu’à demain, répond le père supérieur.
Nous verrons bien si le moine volant est aussi vertueux qu’il le prétend.
Sergio sait qu’ils parlent du père Joseph qui leur a
été envoyé par le pape pour vivre son exil ici. Toute l’Italie a sans doute
entendu les rumeurs du franciscain volant à présent. Ce n’est pas la première
fois que les supérieurs le font jeûner pour le mettre à l’épreuve. Ce
comportement est indigne des serviteurs de Dieu. Quel intérêt de tourmenter un
pauvre fou ?
Une idée lui vient alors. Il demande la permission de
dîner dans sa cellule pour étudier un peu plus longtemps avant les vêpres. Bien
entendu, le père Giani ne peut refuser face à cette assiduité. On lui donne
alors une assiette pleine et un petit cruchon d’eau. Sergio s’enfonce jusqu’au
bout du corridor des cellules, jusque-là où se trouve le placard à balai qui
sert de chambre au père Joseph. On ne l’enferme plus depuis longtemps, car il
fait preuve d’une obéissance déconcertante.
Le jeune moine pousse la porte, s’attendant à trouver
le prêtre endormi ou en prière. Mais il se fige. Les yeux fixés sur la
statuette de la sainte Vierge perchée au bord de la minuscule fenêtre, le père
Joseph est en effet en prière… un mètre au-dessus du sol ! Cela ne dure
qu’un court instant avant qu’il ne redescende et ne se tourne vers son
visiteur. C’est un vieil homme avec beaucoup de cheveux gris, les joues creuses
et un regard perdu.
– C’est pour moi ? demande-t-il.
Incapable de répondre, Sergio se contente de hocher la
tête. Un sourire illumine le visage du vieux moine. Il lève les mains au ciel
et demande à Dieu de bénir la nourriture et le petit frère qui la lui amène
avant de saisir l’assiette. Il mange goulûment avec les mains, comme un enfant
qui ne sait pas se tenir à table.
Quand la parole revient enfin à Sergio, l’assiette est
déjà vide. Le jeune franciscain tremble de tout son corps, à la fois de peur et
de fascination. Malgré lui, les mots lui échappent.
– Mon père, dit-il, pourquoi Dieu vous a-t-il choisi ?
Ces mots font rire l’homme chétif.
– Jésus a eu pitié du sot que je suis et a bien voulu
que je sois son instrument.
– Alors pourquoi vous a-t-il fait sot ?
– Dieu aime et choisit toutes ses créatures. Même les
sots.
Sergio baisse les yeux tandis que le père Joseph vide
le cruchon. Même rejeté de tous et traité comme un âne, il ne fait aucun doute
que cet homme est un élu de Dieu. Alors que Sergio, lui, n’est que doute et
incertitude. Que pourra-t-il apporter de plus à ce monde d’élus et d’hommes
bien plus brillants que lui ?
– Moi je ne suis qu’une clochette qui attire
l’attention, reprend soudainement le père Joseph. Toi, petit frère, tu es
beaucoup plus nécessaire que moi.
À ces mots, Sergio lève la tête. Le doux regard du
père Joseph se pose sur lui et le vieux moine lui sourit.
– Tu es un berger qui mènera ses brebis à Dieu. On a
besoin de toi tout le long du chemin alors que mon tintement, lui, est
éphémère. Lorsqu’il cessera, c’est à toi que viendront les âmes.
Puis, comme le ferait un petit enfant, il porte son
index à ses lèvres.
– Garde mon secret, s’il te plaît. Je me ferai
disputer si le père Giani apprend que j’ai prié trop fort.
Le père Joseph meurt le 18 septembre 1663 en récitant
les Litanies de Sainte Vierge Marie. Il est canonisé le 16 juillet 1767 par le
pape Clément XIII. Presque autant que ses lévitations, c’est de sa grande
humilité, sa piété et son obéissance dont on se souvient aujourd’hui.
SAINT JOSEPH DE CUPERT1NO.
J’étudiais l’autre jour une des intelligences les plus
hautes, les plus subtiles, les plus larges, les plus étendues et les plus
profondes : sainte Catherine de Gênes. Belle, spirituelle, admirée, ardente,
elle avait beaucoup reçu de l’ordre naturel, avant de recevoir encore plus de
l’ordre surnaturel. Elle était parée des parures de la femme avant d’être
transfigurée des transfigurations de la sainte.
Voici aujourd’hui un spectacle qui fait contraste avec
celui-là. Ceux qui disent que tous les saints se ressemblent prouvent seulement
qu’ils ne connaissent ni les uns ni les autres. Le même esprit enveloppe et illumine
les diverses natures, et c’est cette unité et cette variété qui réalise, dans sa
réalité étymologique, le nouvel univers.
Si jamais homme fut doué pauvrement, ce fut saint
Joseph de Cupertino. Toutes les splendeurs naturelles lui firent défaut. Il
s’appelait lui-même frère Ane, et il
fut en effet parmi les hommes ce qu’est l’âne parmi les animaux. Incapable de
passer un examen, peut-être même de soutenir une conversation ; incapable en
même temps de soigner une maison, ou de toucher une assiette sans la casser;
dépourvu des aptitudes de l’esprit et de celles de la matière, il semblait
également inapte à être un savant, et à être un bon domestique. Il avait l’air
d’un esclave à peu près inutile, d’une bête de somme qui rend peu de services.
Et cependant nous savons son nom ! Comment se fait-il qu’il ait trouvé place
dans la mémoire des hommes ? A force de ne pas chercher l’estime des hommes,
il l’a rencontrée dans sa forme la plus haute, et non-seulement l’estime, mais
la gloire ! La chose du monde la plus invraisemblable pour lui, c’était la
gloire. Elle est tombée sur lui ; elle l’enveloppe à jamais. Pendant que ceux
qui courent après elle rencontrent quelquefois ou l’oubli ou la honte, elle
s’est assise sur le front de Joseph, et a écrit devant son nom ce petit mot
singulier et mystérieux : Saint. Joseph est devenu saint Joseph. Quelle chose
étrange que cette force de faire des saints et de les déclarer tels, force dont
l’Église a le monopole, et qu’on ne pourrait contrefaire sans un ridicule trop
terrible pour être affronté! Prenez le vieil invalide le plus chauvin qui
existe, et essayez de lui faire dire : Saint Napoléon Ier. Jamais il n’osera.
Il le voudrait qu’il ne pourrait pas. Ses lèvres se fermeraient.
Joseph naquit á Cupertino le 17 juin 1603. Fils d’artisans,
chétif, maladif, méprisé de tout le monde, moqué par ses camarades, et même,
chose assez rare, rebuté par sa mère, travaillé d’un ulcère gangréneux, il
passa son enfance entre la vie et la mort, dans une espèce de pourriture. Un
ermite le frotta d’huile et le guérit.
Au moment de sa naissance, on saisissait, à cause des
dettes de son père, le mobilier de sa famille, et il naquit dans une étable, où
sa mère s’était réfugiée.
Quand, après avoir échappé è d’horribles maladies, il
voulut embrasser la vie religieuse, ce fut une série d’échecs et de déceptions.
Il sollicite son entrée en religion et ne l’obtient pas. Plus tard, il commence
un noviciat ; il ne l’achève pas ; il rentre dans le monde. Puis il rentre au
couvent. Repoussé de partout, il a l’air lui-même de ne savoir ce qu’il veut ni
ce qu’il fait.
Ce fut chez les Franciscains qu’il se présenta
d’abord. Il avait dix-sept ans. Deux de ses oncles appartenaient á l’Ordre et
semblaient pouvoir aider son admission. On le refusa cependant, parce qu’il
n’avait fait aucunes études. Tout ce qu’il put obtenir, ce fut d’entrer chez
les Capucins, en qualité de frère convers. Mais ce fut pour essuyer des
rebuffades horribles.
L’incapacité naturelle et la préoccupation surnaturelle
semblaient s’unir pour le rendre inapte à tout. Son incapacité naturelle
éclatait et sa préoccupation surnaturelle échappait à tous les yeux. Ses oublis
naturels, ses absorptions surnaturelles lui faisaient une vie prodigieuse qui
semblait ridicule aux gens attentifs et médiocres dont il était entouré. Toutes
ces intelligences éveillées, mais vulgaires, jetaient un regard clairvoyant sur
les défauts de Joseph, un regard aveugle sur ses grandeurs. Ces deux regards se
complétant l’un par l’autre, on finit par le déclarer absolument insupportable.
Saisi par l’extase au milieu des soins du réfectoire dont il était chargé, il
laissait tomber les plats et les assiettes, dont les fragments étaient collés
ensuite sur son habit, en signe de pénitence. Il servait du pain noir au lieu de
pain blanc ; on le grondait. Il déclarait ne pas savoir distinguer l’un de
l’autre. Pour transporter un peu d’eau d’un lieu dans un autre, il lui fallut
un mois tout entier. Enfin on déclara qu’il n’était bon ni aux travaux
matériels, ni à la vie spirituelle, et on le renvoya de la maison.
On lui ôta l’habit religieux. Il déclara plus tard
avoir souffert en ce moment comme si on lui eût arraché la peau. Pour comble de
malheur, il avait perdu une partie de ses habits laïques. Le chapeau, les bas,
les souliers manquaient. Il s’échappa à moitié nu. Des chiens s’élançant d’une
étable voisine l’assaillirent et mirent en pièces les haillons qui lui
restaient. Des pâtres, le prenant pour un voleur, voulurent se jeter sur lui.
Protégé par l’un d’eux contre la fureur des autres, il reprend sa course. Un
cavalier se présente devant lui et, le poussant l’épée á la main, lui reproche
d’être un espion.
Joseph arrive á Vitrara ; il se jette aux pieds de son
oncle, qui le chasse en lui reprochant les dettes de son père à Cupertino. Il
se jette aux genoux de sa mère, qui lui répond : - Vous vous êtes fait chasser
d’une maison sainte. Choisissez de la prison ou de l’exil ; car il ne vous
reste qu’à mourir de faim.
Enfin, après bien des démarches, Joseph finit par être
admis au couvent de la Grotella, pour y être chargé du pansement de la mule.
Joseph savait à peine lire et écrire. Or, il voulait
être prêtre ! Jamais il ne put expliquer aucun des évangiles de l’année,
excepté celui qui contenait ces mots : « Bienheureuses les entrailles qui vous
ont porté ! » Joseph voulait passer l’examen du diaconat. L’Évêque ouvre le
livre des Évangiles et tombe sur ces mots : « Bienheureuses les entrailles qui
vous ont porté ! »
Il fit ainsi à Joseph la seule question à laquelle
celui-ci pût répondre, et Joseph répondit. Il ne put retenir un sourire, mais
il expliqua supérieurement l’Évangile. Restait le dernier examen celui du
sacerdoce. Ici la chose se passe d’une manière encore plus surprenante. Tous
les postulants, excepté Joseph, savaient leur affaire sur le bout du doigt. Les
premiers qui passèrent l’examen, le passèrent d’une façon si brillante que
l’Évêque s’arrêta avant de les avoir examinés tous, et, croyant l’épreuve
inutile, admit en masse ceux qui restaient, et parmi eux Joseph, qui fut reçu sans
examen. C’était le 4 mars 1628, Joseph était donc prêtre, malgré les hommes et
les choses, malgré toutes ses incapacités reconnues, mais oubliées.
Il revint au couvent de la Grotella. Il y passa deux
années terribles. La misère matérielle à laquelle il s’était condamné se
compliqua d’une misère intérieure bien autrement terrible. Les consolations
divines dont il avait été soutenu depuis l’enfance firent place à une
sécheresse triste et morne qui augmentait tous les jours. Il écrivait plus tard
à un ami : « Je me plaignais beaucoup de Dieu avec Dieu. J’avais tout quitté
pour lui, et lui, au lieu de me consoler, me livrait à une angoisse mortelle.
Un jour, comme je pleurais, comme je gémissais (oh ! rien que d’y penser, je me
sens mourir !) un religieux frappe à ma porte. Je ne réponds pas; il entre. «
Frère Joseph, dit-il, qu’avez-vous ? Je suis ici pour vous servir. Tenez, voici
une tunique. J'ai pensé que vous n’en aviez pas. » En effet, ma tunique tombait
en lambeaux. Je revêtis celle qu’apportait l’inconnu, et tout mon désespoir
disparut à l’instant même. » Personne ne connut jamais le religieux qui avait
apporté la tunique,
A partir de ce moment, la vie de saint Joseph fut une
des plus merveilleuses dont l’histoire fasse mention. Sa vie extérieure fut à
la fois troublée et monotone. Pour éviter les foules qui le cherchaient, on le
transportât d'un lieu dans un autre, et on le tenait presque en prison jusqu’à
un déplacement nouveau. A chaque départ, Joseph disait : « Là où vous me
conduirez, Dieu est-il ? » Et sur la réponse affirmative qui lui était faite,
il répondait : « C’est bien. » Sa vie intérieure offre la réunion des
phénomènes extatiques et thaumaturgiques les plus variés et les plus sublimes,
accomplis dans une nature et par une nature qui semblait contraire au sublime.
Il pansait une mule ; il travaillait à la façon des bêtes de somme. Il savait à
peine lire ; il s’appelait frère Ane,
non par une fausse humilité, mais parce que sa simplicité, sa patience, sa
vulgarité, sa bonhomie, son ignorance, son habitude de faire le gros ouvrage,
l’ouvrage de l’esclave, son habitude de porter des fardeaux, d’obéir, de ne pas
discuter, d’aller devant lui, lentement, tête basse, tout enfin lui donnait une
certaine ressemblance avec la tête de l’âne. Peut-être même un entêtement
naturel, vaincu par l’obéissance, ou transfiguré par la lumière, ajoutait à
cette similitude.
Un jour on lui ordonna d’expliquer un passage du
bréviaire. Joseph ouvre le livre et tombe sur les leçons de sainte Catherine de
Sienne. La leçon portait : « Catharina, virgo senensis, ex Benincaris piis orta
parentibus. Catherine, vierge de Sienne, née des Benincara, ses pieux parents.
» Joseph, en lisant, supprime le mot : ex Benincaris, des Benincara. — On lui
ordonna de relire. Malgré lui, il supprime encore le même mot. On lui ordonne
de relire une troisième fois ; il persiste et supprime le même mot. On lui
ordonne de regarder de plus près. Il a beau se fatiguer les yeux, il ne voit pas
le mot qu’on lui ordonne de voir. Or, quelque temps après, la congrégation des
Rites supprimait ce mot.
Cet homme, qui ne savait rien, qui ne comprenait rien,
qui ne savait pas traiter avec les autres hommes, qui ne pouvait rien
apprendre, qui n’avait aucune présence d’esprit ni aucune instruction, ni
aucune habileté pour déguiser son ignorance, sortait vainqueur de tous les
examens, de tous les interrogatoires, de toutes les épreuves auxquelles on le
soumettait.
Au lieu d’apercevoir les hommes sous la figure qu’ils
ont dans le monde, sous leur figure extérieure et visible, saint Joseph les
voyait souvent sous la forme de l’animal qui représentait l’état de leur âme.
Il sentait des odeurs qui n’existaient que pour lui, des odeurs spirituelles,
mais qui lui semblaient matérielles. Il rencontrait un homme dont la conscience
était en mauvais état : « Tu sens bien mauvais, lui disait Joseph, va te laver.
» Et, après la confession, si la confession était bonne, il sentait une autre
odeur. Ses sens spiritualisés étaient devenus des instruments de communication
entre le monde des esprits et le monde des corps. Il sentait physiquement ce
qui n’existait que moralement. Sa personne était devenue une espèce de
symbolisme vivant qui éclairait le monde visible par un reflet sensible du
monde supra-sensible.
La madone de Grotella était le point où il avait laissé
son coeur. C’était au pied de cette madone que cet homme extraordinaire avait
passé de longues heures dans une contemplation profonde. La contemplation était
tellement sa vie qu’il n’avait jamais pu, parmi les travaux les plus grossiers,
se distraire d’elle. Tout enfant, il s’arrêtait, à une époque où le nom même de
l’extase lui était inconnu, il s’arrêtait, saisi par l’esprit, dans cette
attitude à la fois simple et étonnante qui lui valut le surnom de bouche
béante. Et quand on songe à la vulgarité de sa nature, quand on songe qu’il
était un âne, on est frappé de cette réunion violente des choses opposées qui
donnent aux oeuvres divines un de leurs caractères les plus particuliers et les
plus distinctifs. Les oeuvres divines portent le caractère des oppositions résolues
dans l’unité.
En effet, frère Ane volait dans l’air comme un oiseau.
Il n’y a guère, dans la vie des saints, un autre exemple de la même faculté
poussée si loin.
Saint Denys, parlant d’Hiérothée, son maître, disait :
« Cet homme n’était pas seulement le disciple, il était l’expérimentateur des
choses divines. » On en peut dire autant de saint Joseph, qui ne ressemblait
certes pas naturellement à Hiérothée. Joseph passa une partie de sa vie en
l’air, réellement et physiquement en l’air, entre le ciel et la terre,
suspendu. En même temps, il était le meilleur ami des animaux.
Joseph appartient à la famille des saints qui compte
parmi ses caractères les plus particuliers l’amitié des bêtes et la familiarité
de toutes les créatures. Je reviens encore ici sur ce mot incompris et que je
ne comprends pas moi-même, en le prononçant : la simplicité. On dirait que
c'est à elle qu’appartiennent certaines faveurs visibles, plus frappantes pour
l’homme que d’autres grâces.
Un jour, il promit à des religieuses un oiseau qui
leur apprendrait à chanter. Et tous les jours, aux offices du matin et du soir,
voici qu’un oiseau paraît sur la fenêtre du choeur, prévenant et ranimant le
chant des religieuses. Un jour, il disparut. On s'en plaignit à Joseph. «
L’oiseau a bien fait, répondit le saint. Pourquoi l’avez-vous insulté ? » En
effet, une religieuse lui avait fait je ne sais quelle insulte. - Cependant
Joseph promit le retour de l’oiseau, qui revint. Sans doute, il avait oublié ou
bien il avait pardonné. Cette fois, il établit sa demeure parmi les
religieuses. Mais une des soeurs lui ayant attaché un grelot à la patte, il
disparut quelque temps après. Joseph le rappela encore. « Je vous avais donné
un musicien, dit-il aux religieuses, il ne fallait pas en faire un sonneur de
cloches. Il est allé veiller près du tombeau de Jésus-Christ. Mais il
reviendra. » En effet, il revint et il ne disparut qu’avec le saint.
Un jour, près du bois de Grotella, saint Joseph
rencontre deux lièvres : « Ne vous éloignez pas, leur dit-il ; ne vous éloignez
pas de la madone ; car beaucoup de chasseurs vous poursuivent. » Au bout de
quelques minutes, l’un d’eux est surpris et poursuivi par les chiens. Mais la
porte de l’église est ouverte ; il traverse la nef et se jette dans les bras du
saint- « Ne t’avais-je pas averti ? » lui dit Joseph. Les chasseurs surviennent
échauffés et réclament bruyamment leur proie. « Ce lièvre, leur répond le
saint, est sous la protection de la madone. Vous ne l’aurez pas. » Puis il
bénit le quadrupède et le remet en liberté. Pendant qu’il revenait de la
chapelle au couvent, il rencontra l’autre lièvre, qui vint à lui épouvanté. Le
chasseur, qui était le marquis Côme de Pinelli, seigneur de Cupertino, lui
demande s’il a vu le lièvre. « Le voici dans les plis de ma tunique, répond
Joseph. Ce lièvre est à moi; épargnez-le, et ne venez plus chasser ici, car
vous l’effrayez. » Puis, parlant au lièvre : « Cache-toi là-bas dans ce buisson
et ne bouge pas. » Les chiens, qui voyaient leur proie, restaient immobiles et
frémissants, mais cloués à leur place.
Un orage avait détruit presque toutes les brebis d’un
petit village. Les pâtres désolés allèrent trouver Joseph. Le saint toucha une
à une les brebis mortes. « Au nom de Dieu, lève-toi, » leur disait-il en les
touchant. Et les brebis se levèrent. Une d’elles retomba. Joseph, d’une voix
plus énergique et presque irritée, lui crie : « Au nom de Dieu, lève-toi et
reste debout. » Une autre fois il attira des moutons dans la chapelle de Sainte-Barbe.
Sautant par-dessus les barrières, et quittant leurs gras pâturages, les moutons
accouraient en foule, appelés par Joseph à la prière.
Au seul nom de Jésus et de Marie prononcé devant lui,
il arrivait que saint Joseph quittait le monde et s’envolait, même
matériellement. Souvent ses extases débutaient par un grand cri. Mais ce cri ne
faisait pas peur, et cette constatation fut importante pour sa canonisation.
L’Église prend des précautions immenses pour discerner les esprits. L’Esprit-Saint
donne la sécurité, même au milieu d’apparences terribles ; l’Esprit mauvais
agite, même au milieu d’apparences tranquilles.
Un jour, dom Antonio se promenait avec Joseph dans le
jardin. « Frère Joseph, dit Antonio, que Dieu a fait un beau ciel ! » Joseph
pousse un cri, s’envole et va se poser à genoux sur la cime d’un olivier. La
branche, dit l’enquête, se balançait comme sous le poids d’un oiseau. Il y
resta environ une demi-heure. - Si l’extase le surprenait pendant la messe,
Joseph, revenant à lui, reprenait le saint sacrifice au point précis ou il
l’avait laissé, sans se tromper d’une cérémonie, d’une syllabe ou d’un geste.
Trois peintres qui devaient orner sa chapelle convinrent de placer au-dessus de
la porte un tableau de l’Immaculée-Conception. Joseph était là ; on eût dit que
le mystère intérieur dont l’image allait être fixée par le pinceau lui
apparaissait. « L’Immaculée-Conception, cria-t-il, oh ! quel sujet ! » Et il
tomba à genoux, ravi en extase. - Un jour á l’église, sa main, pendant le
ravissement, se trouva étendue sur la flamme de deux torches. Quelque temps
immobiles de stupeur, les spectateurs songent enfin à écarter les flambeaux.
Mais ses mains ne portaient aucune trace de brûlure. — Un jour un ouvrier,
laissant tomber son outil, se fit une large blessure. Fra Ludovico réveille
Joseph qui était en extase et lui montre le sang. Joseph touche ce doigt à
demi-coupé, l’entoure d’une bandelette et dit à l’ouvrier : « Tu peux travailler
» L’ouvrier était guéri. C’était une croix qu’il fabriquait. « Plantons-la, » dit
Joseph. Mais elle était si lourde qu’on ne pouvait la planter. Joseph s’impatiente,
jette son manteau, franchit au vol l’espace de quinze pas, saisit la croix
comme une paille et la plante dans l’excavation préparée.
Il faudrait un volume entier. Je renvoie le lecteur à
la Vie de saint Joseph, par Dominique
Rovino (1).
Tel fut saint Joseph. S’il n’avait pas existé,
personne ne l’inventerait. Il est extraordinaire parmi les extraordinaires. Il
n’y a guère de saint, dans les Bollandistes, qui déroute plus que lui les
habitudes humaines.
(1) Chez Poussielgue, rué Cassette, 27 .
SOURCE : https://archive.org/stream/PhysionomiesDeSaintsParErnestHello/physionomies%20de%20saints_djvu.txt
_nave_right_-_Altar_of_san_Giuseppe_da_Copertino_-_The_Miracle_of_St._Joseph_of_Cupertino%2C_by_Giuseppe_Nogari.jpg)
Giuseppe Nogari (1699–1766). The
right side of the nave of the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.
Altarpiece table: : The Miracle of St. Joseph of Cupertino by Giuseppe
Nogari.
La partie droite de la nef de la Basilique Santa Maria
Gloriosa dei Frari. Tableau du retable : Le miracle de Joseph de Cupertino par Giuseppe
Nogari.
Il lato destro della navata della Basilica di Santa Maria
Gloriosa dei Frari. Pala d'altare : Il miracolo di Giuseppe da Copertino da Giuseppe
Nogari, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
Saint Joseph de Cupertino
Franciscain né en 1603, mort en 1663. Canonisé en
1767, fête en 1769.
Leçons des Matines (avant 1960)
Quatrième leçon. Joseph naquit de parents pieux, l’an du salut mil six cent trois, à Cupertino, ville située sur le territoire de Salente, au diocèse de Nardo. Prévenu de bonne heure par l’amour de Dieu, il passa son enfance et son adolescence dans une parfaite simplicité et pureté de mœurs. Délivré par l’entremise de la Vierge Mère de Dieu, d’une longue et douloureuse maladie, qu’il avait supportée avec beaucoup de patience, il se donna tout entier aux pratiques de la piété et à la culture des vertus. Afin de s’unir plus étroitement à Dieu, qui l’appelait à de plus grandes choses, il résolut de s’enrôler dans l’Ordre séraphique. Après différentes péripéties, réalisant enfin son vœu, il entra chez les Mineurs conventuels, au couvent de la Grotella. Il fut mis d’abord au nombre des frères lais, à cause de son ignorance des lettres ; puis, par une disposition de la Providence, on le fit passer dans les rangs des Clercs. Admis à la prêtrise après ses vœux solennels, il se proposa de mener une vie plus parfaite. C’est pourquoi, renonçant sur le champ à toutes les affections mondaines et même aux choses temporelles presque nécessaires à la vie, il mortifia son corps par le cilice, la discipline, les chaînes, enfin par toutes sortes de rigueurs et de souffrances. En même temps, il nourrissait assidûment son âme du suave aliment de l’oraison et de la contemplation la plus sublime. Il en résulta que l’amour de Dieu, déjà répandu dans son cœur dès le premier âge, prit de jour en jour un éclat plus merveilleux et tout à fait extraordinaire.
Cinquième leçon. Son ardente charité parut surtout avec éclat dans les délicieuses extases qui le transportaient en Dieu et dans les ravissements extraordinaires qu’il éprouvait souvent. Et, chose digne de remarque, alors que son esprit avait abandonné ses sens, la seule obéissance suffisait à le rappeler immédiatement de l’extase. C’est qu’en effet, il s’attachait à cette vertu avec un très grand zèle, répétant habituellement qu’il se laissait aveuglément conduire par elle et qu’il préférerait mourir plutôt que de ne pas obéir. Il s’appliqua avec tant de soin à imiter la pauvreté du patriarche séraphique que, sur le point de mourir, il put en toute vérité affirmer à son supérieur qu’il n’avait rien à abandonner, suivant la coutume des religieux. C’est ainsi que, mort au monde et à lui-même, il manifestait la vie de Jésus dans sa chair, et tandis qu’il discernait chez quelques-uns la flétrissure du vice, son propre corps exhalait un parfum miraculeux, indice de sa très éclatante pureté. Malgré les tentations très violentes par lesquelles l’esprit immonde s’efforça longtemps, mais en vain, de ternir cette pureté, il sut la conserver sans tache, tant par la grande sévérité qu’il apportait à la garde de ses sens, qu’au moyen des macérations continuelles dont il affligeait son corps, et grâce à une protection spéciale de la très pure Vierge. Il avait, coutume d’appeler Marie sa mère, et il la vénérait en effet du plus profond de son cœur, comme une mère très tendre. Il désirait beaucoup la voir honorer par les autres, afin disait-il, que sa protection leur valût tous les biens.
Sixième leçon. Cette sollicitude du bienheureux Joseph avait sa source dans sa charité envers le prochain. Tel était le zèle dont il brûlait pour les âmes, qu’il travaillait très activement et de toutes manières à procurer le salut de tous. Étendant encore cette charité, il secourait, autant que cela était en son pouvoir, ceux qui étaient pauvres, infirmes, ou affligés de quelque autre épreuve. Il n’excluait point de son affection ceux même qui ne lui ménageaient pas les reproches, les outrages et toutes sortes d’injures. II acceptait tout cela avec la même patience, la même douceur et la même sérénité de visage, qu’il montra à supporter les vicissitudes si nombreuses et si pénibles qu’il traversa, lorsque, pour obéir aux supérieurs de l’Ordre, ou aux décisions de la sacrée Congrégation de l’Inquisition, il se vit obligé de changer plusieurs fois de résidence. Admiré, non seulement du peuple, mais même des grands, pour son éminente sainteté et les grâces qu’il recevait du ciel, il n’en conserva pas moins une telle humilité que, s’estimant un grand pécheur, il priait Dieu avec constance d’éloigner de lui les dons remarquables dont il le comblait, et demandait aux hommes de jeter son cadavre dans un lieu où son souvenir s’effaçât totalement. Mais Dieu, qui exalte les humbles et qui avait très libéralement enrichi son serviteur durant sa vie d’une sagesse toute céleste, des dons de prophétie, de pénétration des cœurs, de guérir, ainsi que d’autres encore, rendit sa mort précieuse aux yeux de ceux à qui il en avait prédit le lieu et le temps. Cette mort arriva la soixante et unième année de son âge, à Osimo, dans la Marche d’Ancône, et Dieu glorifia le lieu de sa sépulture. Enfin, comme après sa mort même, les miracles qu’il accomplit firent briller son nom, il fut inscrit par Benoît XIV au nombre des Bienheureux, et par Clément XIII au nombre des Saints. Clément XIV, qui faisait partie du même Ordre que lui, étendit son Office et sa Messe à toute l’Église.
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/18-09-St-Joseph-de-Cupertino
Also known as
Giuseppe da Copertino
Joseph Desa
Joseph of Copertino
the Flying Friar
the Gaper (derogatory term from his childhood)
Profile
Joseph’s father,
Felice Desa was a poor carpenter who died before
the boy was
born. Creditors drove his mother,
Francesca Panara, from her home, and Joseph was born in a stable. Starting at
age eight, he received ecstatic visions that left him gaping and staring into
space. He had a hot temper, which his strict mother worked
to overcome.
Apprenticed to
a shoemaker.
At age 17 Joseph applied for admittance to the Friars
Minor Conventuals, but was refused due to his lack of education.
He applied to the Capuchins,
was accepted as a lay-brother in 1620,
but his ecstasies made
him unsuitable for work, and he was dismissed. Abused by his family, he
continued his prayers,
and was accepted as an oblate at
the Franciscan convent near Cupertino, Italy.
His virtues were such that he became a cleric at
22, a priest at
25. Joseph still had little education,
could barely read or write, but received such a gift of spiritual knowledge and
discernment that he could solve intricate questions.
His life became a series of visions and ecstasies,
which could be triggered any time or place by the sound of a church bell,
church music,
the mention of the name of God or
of the Blessed
Virgin or of a saint,
any event in the life of Christ, the sacred Passion, a holy picture, the
thought of the glory in heaven, etc. Yelling, beating, pinching, burning, piercing
with needles – none of this would bring him from his trances, but he would
return to the world on hearing the voice of his superior in the order. He would
often levitate and
float (which led to his patronage of
people involved in air
travel), and could hear heavenly music.
Even in the 17th
century, there was interest in the unusual, and Joseph’s ecstasies in
public caused both admiration and disturbance in the community. For 35 years he
was not allowed to attend choir, go to the common refectory, walk in procession,
or say Mass in
church. To prevent making a spectacle, he was ordered to remain in his room
with a private chapel.
He was brought before the Inquisition, and sent from one Capuchin or Franciscan house
to another. But Joseph retained his joyous spirit, submitting to Divine
Providence, keeping seven Lents of
40 days each year, never letting his faith be
shaken.
Born
17 June 1603 at
Cupertino, diocese of Nardo,
near Brindisi in
the kingdom of Naples, Italy as
Joseph Desa
18
September 1663 at Ossimo, Italy of
a rapidly developed but severe fever
buried in
the Crypt of the Sanctuary, Church of Saint Francis, Ossimo
24
February 1753 by Pope Benedict
XIV
16 July 1767 by Pope Clement
XIII
—
Prayer for success in examinations
Additional Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Saints
for Sinners, by Father Alban
Goodier, SJ
Saint Joseph of Copertino, by Father Angelo
Pastrovicchi, O.M.C.
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other sites in english
1001 Patron Saints and Their Feast Days, Australian
Catholic Truth Society
Catholic Education Resource Center
images
video
sitios en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
sites en français
Abbé Christian-Philippe Chanut
fonti in italiano
Readings
Clearly, what God wants above all is our will which we
received as a free gift from God in creation and possess as though our own.
When a man trains himself to acts of virtue, it is with the help of grace from God from
whom all good things come that he does this. The will is what man has as his
unique possession. – Saint Joseph
of Cupertino, from the reading for his feast in
the Franciscan breviary
MLA Citation
“Saint Joseph of Cupertino“. CatholicSaints.Info.
17 September 2021. Web. 3 October 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph-of-cupertino/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph-of-cupertino/
Saint Joseph of Cupertino
Mystic, born 17 June, 1603; died at Osimo 18
September, 1663; feast, 18 September. Joseph received his
surname from Cupertino, a small village in the Diocese of Nardò,
lying between Brindisi and Otranto in
the Kingdom
of Naples. His father Felice Desa, a poor carpenter, died
before Joseph was born and left some debts,
in consequence of which the creditors drove the mother, Francesca Panara, from
her home, and she was obliged to
give birth to her child in a stable. In his eighth year Joseph had
an ecstatic
vision while at school and
this was renewed several times; so that the children, seeing him gape
and stare on such occasions, lost to all things about him, gave him
the sobriquet "Bocca Aperta". At the same time he had a hot and
irascible temper which his strict mother strove hard to overcome. He was apprenticed
to a shoemaker, but at the age of seventeen he tried to be admitted to
the Friars
Minor Conventuals and
was refused on account of his ignorance.
He then applied to theCapuchins at Martino near Tarento,
where he was accepted as a lay-brother in 1620, but his
continual ecstasiesunfitted
him for work and he was dismissed. His mother and his uncles abused him as
a good-for-nothing, butJoseph did not lose hope. By his
continued prayers and
tears he succeeded in obtaining permission to work in the stable
as lay help or oblate at the Franciscan convent of
La Grotella near Cupertino. He now gave evidence of
great virtues, humility, obedience,
and love of penance to
such an extent that he was admitted to the clericalstate
in 1625, and three years later, on 28 March he was raised to the priesthood. Joseph was
but little versed inhuman knowledge,
for his biographers relate that he was able to read but poorly, yet infused
by knowledge and supernatural light
he not only surpassed all ordinary men in the learning of the schools but
could solve the most intricate questions.
His life was now one long succession of visions and other heavenly favours. Everything that in any way had reference to God or holy things would bring on an ecstatic state: the sound of a bell or of church music, the mention of the name of God or of the Blessed Virgin or of a saint, any event in the life of Christ, the sacredPassion, a holy picture, the thought of the glory in heaven, all would put Joseph into contemplation. Neither dragging him about, buffeting, piercing with needles, nor even burning his flesh with candles would have any effect on him — only the voice of his superior would make him obey. These conditions would occur at any time or place, especially at Mass or during Divine Service. Frequently he would be raised from his feet and remain suspended in the air. Besides he would at times hear heavenly music. Since such occurrences in public causedmuch admiration and also disturbance in a community, Joseph for thirty-five years was not allowed to attendchoir, go to the common refectory, walk in procession or say Mass in church, but was ordered to remain in his room, where a private chapel was prepared for him. Evil-minded and envious men even brought him before the Inquisition, and he was sent from one lonely house of the Capuchins or Franciscans to another, but Josephretained his resigned and joyous spirit, submitting confidently to Divine Providence. He practised mortificationand fasting to such a degree, that he kept seven Lents of forty days each year, and during many of them tasted no food except on Thursdays and Sundays. His body is in the church at Osimo. He was beatified by Benedict XIVin 1753, and canonized 16 July 1767 by Clement XIII; Clement XIV extended his office to the entire Church. His life was written by Robert Nuti (Palermo, 1678). Angelo Pastrovicchi wrote another in 1773, and this is used by the Bollandist "Acta SS.", V, Sept., 992.
Mershman, Francis. "St. Joseph of Cupertino." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company,1910. 6
Apr. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08520b.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Mike McLeod.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October
1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal
Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin
Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08520b.htm
Corps de Saint Joseph de Cupertino dans la crypte de
la basilique d'Osimo
St. Joseph of Cupertino
St. Joseph of Cupertino was said to have been
remarkably unclever, but prone to miraculous levitation and intense ecstatic
visions. He is recognized as the patron saint of air travelers, aviators,
astronauts, and people with a mental handicap, test takers, and weak students.
He was canonized in the year 1767.
As a child, Joseph was slow witted. He loved God a lot
and built an altar. This was where he prayed the rosary. He suffered from
painful ulcers during his childhood. After a hermit applied oil from the lamp
burning before a picture of Our Lady of Grace, Joseph was completely cured from
his painful ulcers.
When he was 17, Joseph attempted to join the Friars
Minor Conventuals, but his lack of education prevented him from gaining
admittance. He was soon after admitted as a Capuchin, but removed from the
order shortly thereafter when his constant fits of ecstasy proved him
unsuitable.
Eventually, in his early twenties, he was admitted
into a Franciscan friary near Cupertino. He had a learning disability.
According to believers, Joseph could barely read or write, but continued to
grow in holiness and wisdom, leading a life of poverty and prayer. He was
unsuited for scholarship, but could answer intricate questions. He also
performed menial tasks around the friary, such as gardening, looking after the
animals, cleaning their stalls, and helping in the kitchen. Joseph was also
often found wandering in a daze, winding up in different places in the friary
unaware of how he got there.
When he was a candidate for deacon, the bishop at
random asked Joseph to expound on the text “Blessed is the womb that bore
thee.” He did well. Thus he was ordained deacon. When it was a question of the
priesthood, the first candidates did so well that the remainder of the
candidates, Joseph among them, were passed without examination and Joseph was
ordained a priest in 1628.
On October 4, 1630, the town of Cupertino held a
procession on the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi. Joseph was assisting in
the procession when he suddenly soared into the sky, where he remained hovering
over the crowd. When he descended and realized what had happened, he became so
embarrassed that he fled to his mother’s house and hid.
His flights continued and came with increasing
frequency. His superiors, alarmed at his lack of control, forbade him from
community exercises, believing he would cause too great a distraction for the
friary. On hearing the names of Jesus or Mary, the singing of hymns, during the
feast of St. Francis, or while praying at Mass, he would go into dazed state
and soar into the air, remaining there until a superior commanded him to come
down.
Joseph’s most famous flight allegedly occurred during
a papal audience before Pope Urban VIII. When he bent down to kiss the Pope’s
feet, he was suddenly filled with reverence for Christ’s Vicar on earth, and
was lifted up into the air. Only when the Minister General of the Order, who
was part of the audience, ordered him down was Joseph able to return to the
floor.
Joseph gave off a sweet smell because he was pure.
Joseph could also smell the bad odor of a sinful person. When they would come,
sometimes he would tell them that they stank and that they should go wash
themselves. By this, he meant for them to go to confession.
On August 10, 1663, Joseph became ill with a fever,
but the experience filled him with joy. When asked to pray for his own healing
he said, “No, God forbid” He experienced ecstasies and flights during his last
mass which was on the Feast of the Assumption. In early September, Joseph could
sense that the end was near, so he could be heard mumbling, “The jackass has
now begun to climb the mountain!” The ‘jackass’ was his own body. After
receiving the last sacraments, a papal blessing, and reciting the Litany of Our
Lady, Joseph Desa of Cupertino died on the evening of September 18, 1663.
He was buried two days later in the chapel of the Immaculate Conception before great crowds of people. Joseph was canonized on July 16, 1767, by Pope Clement XIII. In 1781, a large marble altar in the Church of St. Francis in Osimo was erected so that St. Joseph’s body might be placed beneath it; it has remained there ever since.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/saint-joseph-of-cupertino/
September 18
St. Joseph of Cupertino, Confessor
JOSEPH DESA was born the 17th of June, 1603, at Cupertino, a small village of
the diocess of Nardo, between Brindisi and Otranto, six miles from the coast of
the gulf of Tarento. His parents were poor, but virtuous. His mother brought
him up in great sentiments of piety; but treated him with great severity,
punishing him frequently for the least fault, to inure him to an austere and
penitential life. From his infancy he gave signs of an extraordinary fervour,
and every thing in him seemed to announce that he already tasted the sweets of
heavenly consolations. He was very attentive to the divine service, and in an
age when the love of pleasure is generally predominant, he wore a hair shirt,
and mortified his body by divers austerities. He was bound apprentice to a
shoemaker, which trade he applied himself to for some time.
When he was seventeen years of age he presented himself to be received amongst
the Conventual Franciscans, where he had two uncles of distinction in the
Order. He was, nevertheless, refused because he had not made his studies. All
he could obtain was to be received amongst the Capuchins in quality of
lay-brother; but after eight months he was dismissed as unequal to the duties
of the Order. Far from being discouraged he persisted in his resolution of
embracing a religious state. At length the Franciscans, moved with compassion,
received him into their convent of Grotella, thus called from a subterraneous
chapel dedicated to God under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin. This
convent was situated near Cupertino. The saint having finished his novitiate
with great fervour, he made his vows, and was received as lay-brother amongst
the Oblates of the Third Order. Though employed in the meanest offices of the
house, he performed them with the most perfect fidelity. He redoubled his fasts
and austerities; he prayed continually, and slept only three hours every night.
His humility, his sweetness, his love of mortification and penance, gained him
so much veneration, that, in a provincial chapter held at Altamura in 1625, it
was resolved he should be admitted amongst the Religious of the Choir, that he
might thus qualify himself for holy orders.
Joseph begged to go through a second novitiate, after which he separated
himself more than ever from the company of men, to unite himself more closely
to God by prayer and contemplation. He looked upon himself as a great sinner,
and imagined it was through mere charity that the religious habit was given
him. His patience made him bear in silence and with joy the severest rebukes
for faults which he had not committed; and his obedience was such that he
executed without delay the most difficult duties enjoined him. So many virtues
rendered him the object of universal admiration. Being ordained priest in 1628,
he celebrated his first mass with inexpressible sentiments of faith, of love,
and respect. He chose a retired cell that was dark and incommodious. He would
often go to pray to the most unfrequented oratories, that he might give himself
up more freely to contemplation. He divested himself of every thing that was
allowed him by his rule; and when he saw himself thus naked, he cried out,
prostrate before his crucifix: “Behold me, O Lord, bereft of all earthly
things: be thou, I beseech thee, my only good; I look upon every other thing as
a real danger and as a loss to my soul.”
After having received the priesthood he passed five years without tasting bread
or wine; during which time he lived only on herbs and dry fruits; and even the
herbs that he ate on Fridays were so distasteful that only himself could use
them. His fast in Lent was so rigorous that for seven years he took no nourishment
but on Thursdays and Sundays, except the holy eucharist, which he received
every day. His countenance in the morning was extremely pale; but after the
communion it became florid and lively. He had contracted such a habit of
fasting, that his stomach could no longer bear any food. His desire of
mortification made him invent different instruments of penance. During two
years he suffered many interior trials which tormented him exceedingly; but to
this storm a profound calm succeeded.
A report being spread that he had frequent raptures, and that many miracles
were wrought by him, the people followed him in crowds as he was travelling
through the province of Bari. A certain vicar-general was offended at it, and
carried his complaints to the inquisitors of Naples. Joseph was ordered to
appear; but the heads of his accusation being examined, he was declared
innocent, and dismissed. He said mass at Naples, in the church of St. Gregory
the Armenian, which belonged to a monastery of Religious. The holy sacrifice being
finished, he fell into an ecstacy, as many eye-witnesses attested in the
process of his canonization. 1 The
inquisitors sent him to Rome to his general, who received him with harshness,
and ordered him to retire to the convent of Assisium. Joseph was filled with
joy at this news, on account of the great devotion he had to the holy founder
of his Order. The guardian of Assisium treated him also with roughness; but his
sanctity shone forth more and more, and persons of the highest distinction
expressed an ardent desire to see him. He arrived at Assisium in 1639, and
remained there thirteen years. At first he suffered many trials both interior
and exterior. His superior often called him hypocrite, and treated him with
great rigour. On the other hand, God seemed to have abandoned him; his
religious exercises were accompanied with a spiritual dryness that afflicted
him exceedingly; the impure phantoms which his imagination represented to him,
joined to the most terrible temptations, cast him into so deep a melancholy,
that he scarcely dare lift up his eyes. His general being informed of his
situation, called him to Rome, and having kept him there three weeks, he sent
him back to his convent of Assisium.
The saint, on his way to Rome, experienced a return of those heavenly
consolations which had been withdrawn from him. At the name of God, of Jesus,
or of Mary, he was, as it were, out of himself. He would often cry out:
“Vouchsafe, O my God, to fill and possess all my heart. O that my soul was
freed from the chains of the body, and united to Jesus Christ! Jesus, Jesus,
draw me to yourself; I am not able to live any longer on the earth.” He was
often heard to excite others to the love of God, and to say to them: “Love God;
he in whom this love reigns, is rich although he does not perceive it.” His
raptures were as frequent as extraordinary. He had many, even in public, to
which a great number of persons of the first quality were eye-witnesses, and
the truth of which they afterwards declared upon oath. Among those, John
Frederick, duke of Brunswick and Hanover, was one. This prince, who was a
Lutheran, was so struck with what he had seen, that he abjured his former tenets,
and embraced the Catholic faith. Joseph had also a singular talent for
converting the most obdurate sinners, and quieting the minds of such as
laboured under any trouble. He used to say to some scrupulous persons who came
to consult him: “I neither like scruples nor melancholy; let your intention be
right, and fear not.” He explained the most profound mysteries of our faith
with the greatest clearness; and this sublime knowledge he owed to the intimate
communication he had with God in prayer.
His prudence, which was remarkable in the conduct of souls, drew to him a great
concourse of people, and even of cardinals and princes. He foretold to John
Casimir, son of Sigismund III., king of Poland, that he would one day reign for
the good of the people, and the sanctification of souls, and advised him not to
engage in any religious Order; but this prince having afterwards entered among
the Jesuits, took the vows of the scholars of the society, and was made
cardinal by Pope Innocent X. in 1646. Joseph dissuaded him from the resolution
he had taken of receiving holy orders. What the saint foretold came to pass;
for Uladislas, eldest son of Sigismund, dying in 1648, John Casimir was elected
king of Poland; but after some time resigned his crown and retired into France,
where he died in 1672. It was this prince who himself afterwards disclosed all
the circumstances of the fact which we have here related.
His miracles were not less remarkable than the other extraordinary favours he
received from God. Many sick owed their recovery to his prayers. The saint
falling sick of a fever at Osimo, the 10th of August, 1663, foretold that his
last hour was near at hand. The day before his death he received the holy
viaticum, and after it the extreme unction. He was heard often to repeat those
aspirations of a heart inflamed with the love of God: “Oh! that my soul was
freed from the shackles of my body, to be reunited to Jesus Christ! Praise and
thanksgiving be to God! The will of God be done. Jesus crucified, receive my
heart, and kindle in it the fire of your holy love.” He died the 18th of
September, 1663, at the age of sixty years and three months. His body was
exposed in the church, and the whole town came to visit it with respect; he was
afterwards buried in the chapel of the Conception. The heroism of his virtues
being proved, and the truth of his miracles attested, he was beatified by
Benedict XIV. in 1753, and canonized by Clement XIII. in 1767. Clement XIV.
inserted his office in the Roman Breviary. See the Life of St. Joseph of
Cupertino, written in Italian, by Count Dominic Bernini in 1722, and dedicated
to Innocent XIII. Agelli has given an abridgment of it in 1753, with an account
of twenty-two new miracles. We have another abridgment of the life of this
saint by Pastrovicchi, also in 1753. See also F. Suysken, Comment. et Not.
p. 992.
Note 1. Ex Process. Ord. Nerit. fol. 734, et Summ. p. 51, sect. 164, p.
103, sect. 227. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume IX: September. The
Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/9/184.html
Minoritenkirche, Klosterkirche hl. Johannes Nepomuk,
Minoritenplatz 8, Tulln, Niederösterreich - Statue hl. Josef von Copertino im
Eingangsjoch unter dem Orgelchor
Saints
for Sinners – Saint Joseph of Cupertino, The Dunce
If ever a tiny
child began life with nothing in his favor it was Joseph of Cupertino; he had
only one hopeful and saving quality – that he knew it. Other
boys of his own age were clever, he was easily the dullest of them all. Others
were winning and attractive, nobody ever wanted him. While they had pleasant
things said to them, and nice things given to them, Joseph always wrote himself
down an ass, and never looked for any special treatment. He went to school with
the rest of the children in the village, but he did not succeed in anything. He
was absent-minded, he was awkward, he was nervous; a sudden noise, such as the
ringing of a church-bell, would make him drop his schoolbooks on the floor. He
would sit with his companions after school-hours, and try to talk like them,
but every time his conversation would break down; he could not tell a story to
the end, no matter how he tried. His very sentences would stop in the middle
because he could not find the right words. Altogether, even for those who
pitied him, and wished to be kind to him, Joseph was something of a trial. Ill
fortune seemed to have set its seal on Joseph before he was born. His father, a
carpenter by trade, was a good enough man in his way, but he was a poor hand at
dealing with money; what little he earned seemed to slip at once through his
fingers. At the very moment when his son came into the world his house was in
the hands of bailiffs, and his effects were being sold up. Joseph was born in a
shed at the back of the house, where his mother had hid herself out of very
shame. With such a beginning Joseph had very poor prospects. As a child,
utterly underfed and sickly, he was a very miserable specimen of humanity. He
seemed to catch every disease that came his way; many a time he was at death’s
door, and, to tell the truth, if he had died it would have been a great relief
to those responsible for him. Even his mother wearied of him. She, too, was
good in her way, but she was hard by nature, and circumstances had made her
harder; Joseph was ever in fault, and for every offense she punished him
without mercy, according to her notions of a mother’s duty. When he was little
more than seven years old he developed a running ulcer which would not heal;
and his mother was the more embittered against him, for now she supposed that
even if the boy grew up he would probably be always to the family nothing but a
burden.
Nobody wanted Joseph; even his mother did not want
him; Joseph learned this lesson very early and accepted it. He did not seem to
want himself, he did not know what he wanted; at times he seemed scarcely to
know what he was doing. So abstracted was he that he would forget his meals;
and when his attention was called to the fact his only reply would be: “I
forgot.”
Since he could make nothing of books, he was
apprenticed to a shoemaker. It was of little use; Joseph was too much
distracted, too much absorbed in other things not practical for work-a-day
people; and he never learned to make or mend a shoe. But he went on trying and
his master tolerated him, merely to give the boy something to do.
At length, one day, in the midst of this aimless life,
when Joseph was already seventeen years of age, there came into his village a
begging friar. At once a new idea came into Joseph’s mind. He could not be
anything in the world, because he seemed incapable of learning anything;
strangely enough this thought had never troubled him much. But surely he could
at least be a friar, and go about begging his bread. Brains were not needed for
such a life as that; and as for the life itself, it appealed to him with a
strange fascination, as having an ideal of its own. Besides he had two uncles
in the Order; that gave him hope and encouragement. He was easily given leave
to go away from his home and try; but to find entrance into a monastery was by
no means so easy. He had done no studies worth the name, and therefore could
not be received; many other reasons were easily forthcoming. He applied at one
convent; and the door was closed to him at once; at another, and was told it
was quite hopeless; at length he found a community which agreed to take him on
trial as a lay-brother. But it was of no avail; with the best of intentions to
be kind to him, the brethren found him a test of their patience. Not only was
he very dull and difficult to teach, but his fits of piety and abstraction,
which had been with him from the beginning, made him quite unbearable. He had a
way of suddenly standing still in the midst of some occupation, and forgetting
everything. He would go down on his knees in the most unlikely places, utterly
oblivious of everything around him. He might be washing dishes in the scullery,
he might be carrying food into the refectory; one of these fits of abstraction
would come on, and down everything would crash in pieces on the floor. In the
hope of curing him, bits of the broken plates were fastened to his habit, and
he carried them about, as a penance, as a humiliation, as a reminder not to do
the same again, but he did not mend. He could not even be trusted with serving
out the bread, for the reason that he forgot the difference between brown bread
and white.
It was of no use. Materially or spiritually Joseph’s stay
in the monastery could serve no good purpose; his habit was taken from him and
he was told to go. That day, as he afterwards declared, was the hardest day in
all his life; it looked as if everything in heaven and earth had conspired to
shut him out; and he never forgot it. He used to say that when they deprived
him of the habit it was as if they had torn off his skin. But that was not the
end of his troubles. When he had recovered from his stupor on the road outside
he found he had lost some of his lay clothes. He was without a hat; he had no
boots or stockings, his coat was moth-eaten and worn. Such a sorry sight did he
appear, that as he passed a stable down the lane some dogs rushed out on him,
and tore what remained of his rags to still worse tatters.
Having escaped from the dogs, poor Joseph trudged
along, wondering what next would happen. He passed some shepherds tending
sheep. They took him for a dangerous character. When questioned he could give
no account of himself and they were about to give him a beating; fortunately
one of them had a little pity, and persuaded them to let him go free. But it
was only to pass from one trouble into another. Scarcely had he gone a little
further down the road when a nobleman on horseback met him. The latter could
see in Joseph nothing but a suspicious tramp who had no business in those
parts, and thought to hand him over to the police; only when, after examining
him, he had come to the conclusion that he was too stupid to be harmful did he
let him go.
At last, torn and battered and hungry, Joseph came to
a village where one of his uncles lived. He was a prosperous tradesman there,
with a thriving little shop of his own; and Joseph hoped he would find with him
some kind of comfort, perhaps another start in life. But he was sadly
disappointed. Nephews of Joseph’s type, even at their best, are not always
welcome to prosperous uncles, much less when they turn up unexpectedly, with
scarcely a rag on their backs. Joseph’s uncle was no better and no worse than
others. He looked at the poor lad who stood before him, soiling his clean shop
floor with his dirty, bare feet, disgracing himself and his house with his
rags, and he was just a little ashamed to own him as a nephew. Evidently, he
said to himself, the boy had inherited his father’s improvident ways, and would
come to nothing good. He was already well on the road to ruin; to help him
would only make him worse. Besides, Joseph’s father already owed him money;
how, then, could he be expected to do anything for the son?
So instead of offering him assistance, Joseph’s uncle
turned upon him; blamed him for his sorry plight, which, he said, he must have
brought upon himself; railed at him because of his father’s debts, which such a
son could only increase; finally pushed him into the street, without a coin to
help him on his way. There was nothing to be done; he must move on; nobody
wanted Joseph.
At last he reached his native town, and made for his
mother’s cottage. His father was still in difficulties; during Joseph’s absence
things had gone no better than before. He came to the door in fear and
trembling, remembering well how both his father and his mother had long since
tired of his presence. Still he would venture; it was the only place left where
he might hope for a shelter and he must try. He opened the door and looked in;
inside he found his mother, busy about her little hovel. Weary and footsore,
hungry and miserable, no longer able to stand, he fell on the floor at his
mother’s feet; he could not speak a word, though his glistening eyes as he
looked up at her were eloquent.
But they failed to soften his mother. She had gone
through hard times enough and was unprepared for more. What? Had he come back
to burden them, now when things were worse than ever? And further disgraced,
besides, for had he not been expelled from a monastery? How the neighbors would
talk, and scorn the mother for having such a son; an unfrocked friar, a
ne’er-do-well, a common tramp, and that at an age when other youths were
earning an honest livelihood! She could restrain herself no longer. As he lay
at her feet she rounded on him.
“You have been expelled from a house of religious,”
she cried. “You have brought shame upon us all. You are good for nothing. We
have nothing for you here. Go away; go to prison, go to sea, go anywhere; if
you stay here there is nothing for you but to starve.”
But she was not content with only words. She had a
brother who was a Franciscan, holding some sort of office. In high dudgeon she
went off to him, and gave him a piece of her mind about the way his Order had
dismissed her son, and put him again on her hands. She appealed to him to have
him taken back, in any capacity they liked; so long as she was rid of him, they
could do with him what they chose. But as for readmission, the good Franciscans
were immovable. Joseph had been examined before, and had been declared
unsuitable; he had been tried, and had been found wanting; the most they could
do was to give him the habit of the Third Order, and employ him somewhere as a
servant. He was appointed to the stable; there he could do little harm. Joseph
was made the keeper of the monastery mule. And then the change came. Joseph set
about his task since it was now clear that he could never be a Franciscan, at
least he could be their servant. He said not a word in complaint; what had he
to complain of? He told himself that all this was only what he might have
expected; being what he was, he might consider himself fortunate to find any
job at all entrusted to him. He asked for no relief; he took the clothes and
the food they chose to give him; he slept on a plank in the stable, it was good
enough for him. What was more, in spite of his dullness, perhaps because of it,
Joseph had by nature a merry heart. However great his troubles, the moment a
gleam of sunshine shone upon him he would be merry and laugh. The troubles were
only his desert and were to be expected; when brighter times came he enjoyed
them as one who had received a consolation wholly unlocked for, and wholly
undeserved.
Gradually this became noticed. Friars would go down to
the stable for one reason or another, and always Joseph was there to welcome
them, apparently as happy as a lord. It was seen how little he thought of
himself, how glad he was to serve; since he could not be a begging friar,
sometimes in his free moments he went out and begged for them on his own
account. His lightheartedness was contagious; his kindly tongue made men trust
him; it was noticed how he was welcomed among the poorest of the poor, who saw better
than others the man behind all his oddities. He might make a Franciscan after
all. The matter was discussed in the community chapter; his case was sent up to
a provincial council for favorable consideration; it was decided, not without
some qualms, to give him yet another trial. In this way Joseph was once more
admitted to the Order, but what was to be done with him then? His superiors set
him to his studies, in the hope that he might learn enough to be ordained, but
the effort seemed hopeless. With all his good intentions he learned to read
with the greatest difficulty, and, says his biographer, his writing was worse.
He could never expound a Sunday Gospel in a way to satisfy his professors; one
only text seemed to take hold of him, and on that he could always be eloquent;
speaking from knowledge which was not found in books. It was a text of Saint
Luke (11:27): “Beatus venter qui te portavit.” Nevertheless he succeeded in
being ordained, and the story of his success is one of those mysteries of grace,
repeated in the lives of other saints, down to that of the Cure d’Ars in the
last century, by which Christ Himself lets us see that for His priesthood He
chooses “whom He will Himself,” no matter what regulations man may make.
It came about in this way. Minor Orders in those days
were easily conferred, and even the sub-diaconate; but for the diaconate and
the priesthood a special examination had to be passed, in presence of the
bishop himself. As a matter of form, but with no hope of success, Joseph was sent
up to meet his fate. The bishop opened the New Testament at haphazard; his eye
fell upon the text “Beatus venter qui te portavit,” and he asked Joseph to
discourse upon it. To the surprise of everyone present Joseph began, and it
seemed as if he would never end; he might have been a Master in Theology lost
in a favorite theme. There could be no question about his being given the
diaconate. A year later came the priesthood, and Joseph had again his ordeal to
undergo. He was examined with a number of others One by one the first
candidates were tested, and their answers were far above the average. At length
the bishop, more than satisfied with what he had heard, cut the examination
short, and passed the rest unquestioned. Joseph was among the fortunate candidates
who were asked nothing, and was ordained along with the rest. He was
twenty-five years of age.
There were many, by this time, besides the very poor
who had come to realize the wonderful simplicity and selflessness of Joseph,
hidden beneath his dullness and odd ways; a few had discovered the secret of
his abstractedness, when he would lose himself in the labyrinth of God.
Nevertheless he remained a trial, especially to the practical-minded; to the
end of his life he had to endure from them many a scolding. Often enough he
would go out begging for the brethren, and would come home with his sack full,
but without a sandal, or his girdle, or his rosary, or sometimes parts of his
habit. His friends among the poor had taken them for keepsakes, and Joseph had been
utterly unaware that they had gone. He was told that the convent could not
afford to give him new clothes every day. “Oh! Father,” was his answer, “then
don’t let me go out any more; never let me go out any more. Leave me alone in
my cell to vegetate; it is all I can do.”
For indeed, as we have seen, Joseph had no delusions
about himself; and his ordination did not make him think differently. He had
been sorely knocked about in life, but he always understood that he deserved
it. The poor in the villages, when he went among them to beg, showed him
peculiar respect and friendship; but he always took this to mean that they
looked on him as one of themselves, indeed rather less than they were, and they
were kind to him out of pity. True he was a priest, but everybody knew how he
had received the priesthood. He could assume no airs on that account. On the
contrary, knowing what he was, he could only act accordingly. In spite of his
priestly office, Joseph could only live the life he had lived before. He would
slip down to the kitchen and wash up the dishes; he would sweep the corridors
and dormitories; he would look out for the dirtiest work that others shirked,
and would do it; when building was going on in the convent he would carry up
the stones and mortar; if anyone protested, declaring that such work did not
become a priest, he would only reply: “What else can Brother Ass do?”
And when he got Brother Ass alone in his cell, he
would beat him to make him work harder.
But now began that wonderful experience the like of
which is scarcely to be paralleled in the life of any other saint. It was first
in his prayer. Joseph’s absent-mindedness, from his childhood upwards, had not
been only a natural weakness, it was due, in great part, to a wonderful gift of
seeing God and the supernatural in everything about him, and he would become
lost in the wonder of it all. Now when he was a friar, and a priest besides,
the vision grew stronger; it seemed easier for him to see God indwelling in His
creation than the material creation in which he dwelt. The realization became
to him so vivid, so engrossing, that he would spend whole days lost in its
fascination, and only an order from his superiors could bring him back to
earth. It would come suddenly upon him anywhere; as it were from out of space
the eyes of God would look at him, or on the face of nature the hand of God
would be seen at work, disposing all things. Joseph would stand still, exactly
as the vision caught him, fixed as a statue, insensible as a stone, and nothing
could move him. The brethren would use pins and burning embers to recall him to
his senses, but nothing could he feel. When he did revive and saw what had
happened, he would call these visitations fits of giddiness, and ask them not
to burn him again. Once a prelate, who had come to see him on some business,
noticed that his hands were covered with sores. Joseph could not hide them, nor
could he hide the truth, but he had an explanation ready. “See, Father, what
the brethren have to do to me when the fits of giddiness come on. They have to
burn my hands, they have to cut my fingers, that is what they have to do.”
And Joseph laughed, as he so often laughed; but we
suspect that it was laughter keeping back tears.
Then there came another visitation. In the midst of
these ecstasies Joseph would rise from the ground, and move about in the air.
In the church especially this would come upon him; he would fly towards the
altar or over it, or to a shrine on a special festival. In the refectory,
during a meal, he would suddenly rise from the ground with a dish of food in
his hands, much to the alarm of the brethren at table. When he was out in the
country begging, suddenly he would fly into a tree. Once when some workmen were
laboring to plant a huge stone cross in its socket, Joseph rose above them,
took up the cross and placed it in the socket for them. A little thing would
suffice to bring about these levitation’s; a word of praise of the Creator and
His creature, of the beauty of the sky or of the trees on the roadside, and
away Joseph would go.
Along with this went a power over nature, over the
birds and beasts of the field, surpassing even that of his Father, Saint
Francis of Assisi; and Joseph used his power playfully, as Saint Francis used
it. There was a convent of nuns not far from the monastery, where Joseph
sometimes called for alms. One day, when they had been good to him, he told
them with a laugh that in return for their kindness he would send them a bird
to help them in their singing. The next time they went to office, in flew a
sparrow by the window. All the time they sang he sang too, when the office was
over he flew away again. And so it happened every day, morning and evening the
sparrow was there, as regular as any nun. But one day a sister, passing him by,
gave him a push ‘with her hand; the sparrow flew out at once and did not return
any more. When next Joseph came to the convent, the sisters told him that the
sparrow was gone, but they did not tell him the reason.
“He is gone, and quite right,” said Joseph; “he did
not come to you to be insulted.”
However, he promised he would make amends to the
sparrow; and in due time he appeared again, and joined in the office as before.
But that does not end the story of the sparrow. He
would become so familiar that the nuns could play with him; one of them tied a
tiny bell to his foot. All went well till Maundy Thursday; on that day he did
not appear, nor during the rest of Holy Week. When Joseph called on Holy Saturday
to receive his Easter offering, they told him the sparrow had gone.
“No wonder,” answered Joseph, “I gave him to you to
join in your music; you should not have made him a bell-ringer. Bells are not
rung during these days of Holy Week. But I will see that he returns.”
And he did. The sparrow returned, and did not leave
again so long as Joseph remained in the neighborhood.
Let us take another story from the many that are found
in the life of this servant whom God loved. Joseph had a special interest in
the shepherds of the neighborhood; with people of that class he was always most
at home. It was his custom to meet them every Saturday in a little chapel at a
corner of the monastery grounds, and there recite with them the Litany of Our
Lady and other prayers. His congregation was usually a large one, swelled by
people from the village. One Saturday Joseph went to the chapel as usual, and
found not a soul there. It was harvest time; shepherds and villagers were out
in the meadows and had forgotten to tell him that that day they could not come.
Joseph, knowing nothing of the reason, talked to himself about the fickleness
of men in the service of God. As he spoke he looked down the valley in the
distance. The sheep were in the fields, but there were no shepherds; only a few
children to tend them. Joseph raised his voice:
“Sheep of God,” he cried, “come to me. Come and honor
the Mother of God, who is also your Mother.”
Immediately the sheep all around looked up. They left
their pasture, leaped over hedges and ditches, formed themselves into orderly
companies, and gathered round Joseph at the chapel door. When all were
assembled, Joseph knelt down and began:
“Kyrie eleison.”
“Baa,” answered the sheep.
“Christe eleison.”
“Baa.”
“Sancta Maria.”
“Baa.”
And so it went on till the litany was finished. Then
Joseph stood and blessed his congregation; and the sheep went back to their
pastures as if nothing unusual had happened.
Such were some of the stories the brethren had to tell
one another of Joseph and his ways. There were many more, especially of
miracles he wrought among the poor. He would touch blind eyes and they would
see; he would lift up a sick child and it would be cured; he would write out
the benediction of Saint Francis and it would be passed round a village and
work wonders. But there were some among the brethren, as there are always and
everywhere, who did not believe in these things. They were incredible, they
were impossible, they could not have occurred as the evidence declared.
Besides, Joseph was not the kind of person to whom such things would happen; he
had too many faults to be a saint, he lacked all kinds of virtues, he was
generally a trouble in the community. Therefore he was an impostor, a maker of
mischief, who “stirred up the people, beginning from Galilee even to that
place.” He was reported to the Vicar General; the Vicar General believed what
was said, and Joseph was called to stand his trial before the inquisitors of
Naples. The inquisitors examined him; after close testing they were unable to convict
him of anything. Still they would not dismiss him; his case was at least
doubtful, and they sent him for further examination to the General of the Order
in Rome. The General received him, at first, with little favor. Generals of
religious orders have enough to do, and more than enough to give them trouble,
without being tried by such subjects as Joseph. Moreover, Joseph never could
say anything for himself; if superiors were hard on him he was tongue-tied and
could only submit. But this very submission, in this case, was his saving.
Father General saw his humility; he began to doubt whether all was true that
was said against him. In the end he himself took him to see the Holy Father;
and in the Pope’s presence as, perhaps, might have been expected, Joseph was
humiliated by having another of his “fits of giddiness.”
But for all that, though nothing positive could be
proved against him, during the rest of his life Joseph was submitted to a new
kind of trial. It was the beginning of his Passion, and it lasted to the end.
The explanation is not quite clear. It may have been that the tribunal of the
Inquisition doubted whether it was safe to allow him, with his strange power,
and his strange character, to wander about at will. It was not certain whence
these powers came; devotees might make of them more than they ought; yet others
might take scandal at Joseph’s peculiar ways; many were the arguments adduced
to make it clear that he must be piously but firmly kept in safe custody. The
Inquisition of Perugia received a peremptory order to take him at once from his
own monastery and to hand him over to the Father Guardian of a Capuchin
convent, hidden away among the hills, there to be kept in the strictest
seclusion. For a moment, when he heard the sentence, Joseph shivered. “Have I
to go to prison?” he asked, as if he had been condemned. But in an instant he
recovered. He knelt down and kissed the Inquisitor’s feet; then got into the
carriage, smiling as usual as if nothing had happened.
Arrived at the convent, Joseph was treated with the
strictest rigor. Under pain of excommunication he was forbidden to speak to
anyone, except the religious around him. He was not permitted to write letters
or receive them; he might not leave the convent enclosure; all intercourse with
the outside world was cut off. Why all this was done Joseph did not know, and
he never asked, but he wondered above all why he had been taken from his own
Conventuals and delivered over to the Capuchins.
Nevertheless, in spite of all this care, he could not
be hidden. In course of time it became known where he had been spirited away;
and pilgrims who had learned to revere him came to the place for the privilege
of hearing his mass. He was transferred to another hiding-place, where again
the same regulations were enforced. Here the same thing occurred, and once more
he was taken away. For the last ten years of his life he seems to have lived
virtually in prison, always being kept away from the crowds who persisted in
seeking the man they proclaimed to be a saint.
Meanwhile within his places of imprisonment the same
wonderful experiences continued. He would be shut up in his cell and he would
see things going on elsewhere. He would kneel down to pray before a statue in
the garden, and the friars would see him rise in the air, still in a kneeling
position. They would come to speak to him, and would be surprised that he read
their thoughts before they spoke; sometimes he would read there more than they
wished him to know. One morning he came down to the church to say mass, and
announced to the brethren about him that the Pope had died during the night.
Another time he made the same announcement; the occasions were the deaths of
Urban VIII and Innocent X.
In 1657, six years before his death, Joseph was given
back to his own Conventuals, and by them was transferred to another place of
seclusion, from which he never emerged. The regulations were the same, the
surveillance, if anything, was stricter than ever. He was assigned a tiny cell
apart from the community, and a little chapel in which he might say his mass
apart from others. Indeed, scarcely anything else could be done. For years
before he was secluded it had been impossible to admit him to office with the
rest of the community, his ecstasies had become so frequent, and so continuous,
as to throw all into disorder. For the same reason he had been made to take his
meals apart. Now, in his last home, he was left to himself; and he lived, this
dull man whom no one could teach, and no one wanted, almost continually wrapt
up in the vision of that which no man can express in words.
But the time at last came for his release. When, in
1657, Joseph had been taken to his last place of confinement, he had said he
would never leave it. He added one thing more for a sign. He told his
companions that the first day on which he failed to receive communion would be
the day on which he would die. And so it came about. On August 10, 1663, he was
seized with an intermittent fever. So long as it was only intermittent he
continued to rise every morning to say mass. The last day was the feast of the
Assumption; on that day, says the Act of his canonization, he had ecstasies and
experiences surpassing anything he had ever had before.
Then he was compelled to take to his bed; but still he
persisted in hearing mass when he could, and never missed communion. He became
worse, and extreme unction was administered. When he had received it, he had
one request to make, it was that his body should be buried in some
out-of-the-way corner, and that it should be forgotten where it was laid. He
fell into his agony. There came constantly to his lips the words of Saint Paul:
“Cupio dissolvi et esse cum Christo.” Someone at the bedside spoke to him of
the love of God; he cried out: “Say that again, say that again!” He pronounced
the Holy Name of Jesus. He added: “Praised be God! Blessed be God! May the holy
will of God be done!” The old laughter seemed to come back to his face; those
around could scarcely resist the contagion. And so he died. It was September
18, 1663. He was just sixty years of age.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-for-sinners-saint-joseph-of-cupertino-the-dunce/
Felice Boscaratti, Saint Joseph de Cupertino en extase, vers
1672,
église San Lorenzo à Vicence. Partie
gauche de la nef
San Giuseppe da Copertino Sacerdote
Copertino (Lecce), 17 giugno 1603 – Osimo (Ancona), 18 settembre 1663
Giuseppe Maria Desa nacque il 17 giugno 1603 a Copertino (Lecce) in una stalla del paese. Il padre fabbricava carri. Rifiutato da alcuni Ordini per «la sua poca letteratura» (aveva dovuto abbandonare la scuola per povertà e malattia), venne accettato dai Cappuccini e dimesso per «inettitudine» dopo un anno. Accolto come Terziario e inserviente nel conventino della Grotella, riuscì ad essere ordinato sacerdote. Aveva manifestazioni mistiche che continuarono per tutta la vita e che, unite alle preghiere e alla penitenza, diffusero la sua fama di santità. Giuseppe levitava da terra per le continue estasi. Così, per decisione del Sant'Uffizio venne trasferito di convento in convento fino a quello di San Francesco in Osimo. Giuseppe da Copertino ebbe il dono della scienza infusa, per cui gli chiedevano pareri perfino i teologi e seppe accettare la sofferenza con estrema semplicità. Morì il 18 settembre 1663 a 60 anni; fu beatificato il 24 febbraio 1753 da papa Benedetto XIV e proclamato santo il 16 luglio 1767 da papa Clemente XIII.
Patronato: Aviatori, Passeggeri di aerei, Astronauti
Etimologia: Giuseppe = aggiunto (in famiglia), dall'ebraico
Martirologio Romano: A Osimo nelle Marche, san Giuseppe da Copertino, sacerdote dell’Ordine dei Frati Minori Conventuali, che, nonostante le difficoltà affrontate durante la sua vita, rifulse per povertà, umiltà e carità verso i bisognosi di Dio.
Come il francescano spagnolo s. Salvatore da Horta (1520-1567) che creava molti problemi ai suoi confratelli per i continui prodigi che operava, così anche s. Giuseppe da Copertino, li creava con il suo levitare da terra e per le continue estasi.
Giuseppe Maria Desa, figlio di Felice Desa e di Franceschina, nacque il 17 giugno 1603 a Copertino (Lecce) in una stalla del paese.
Il padre, maestro nella fabbricazione dei carri, era persona di fiducia dei signori locali, che a Copertino possedevano un castello; aveva sposato Franceschina di famiglia benestante, industriosa e pia, che aveva portato una discreta dote in ducati; insomma le condizioni economiche erano soddisfacenti.
Poi il padre Felice, per fare un favore ad un amico, fece da garante per un affare di mille ducati; a seguito del fallimento dell’amico, Felice fu denunziato e perse la causa, dovette vendere la casa e perse il lavoro, finendo in miseria con tutta la famiglia.
Proprio quando stava per nascere il sesto figlio Giuseppe, andarono ad abitare in una stalla dove vide la luce il nascituro.
Dopo poco tempo il padre morì per il dispiacere e la vedova rimase sola con i sei figli senza l’aiuto di nessuno; d’altronde la miseria era grande in tutto il Salentino, i poveri contadini erano gravati dei più assurdi balzelli come per esempio, cinque grana per ogni albero, a causa dell’ombra che faceva sulla terra.
La povera vedova e i figli, vissero anni durissimi, Giuseppe Desa, incapace d’imparare il mestiere del carpentiere o dello scarparo, faceva il garzone in un negozio, dove si trovava meglio che a casa, anzi specifichiamo nella piccola stalla adattata ad abitazione umana.
In paese lo chiamavano “Boccaperta” per la sua abituale distrazione; in aggiunta, il creditore del padre ottenne dal Supremo Tribunale di Napoli, che Giuseppe unico figlio maschio di Felice e Franceschina, una volta raggiunta la maggiore età, fosse obbligato a lavorare senza paga, fino a saldare il debito del defunto genitore.
In pratica gli si prospettava una vita senza speranza, da considerare una vera e propria schiavitù; l’unico modo per sfuggire a questa desolante prospettiva era farsi sacerdote o frate.
Sacerdote non era possibile, in quanto Giuseppe non sapeva niente di lettere e istruzione, forse frate andava bene, perché occorrevano braccia per lavorare e su questo non c’era difetto.
La scuola che aveva cominciato a frequentare, la dovette lasciare quasi subito, a causa di un’ulcera cancrenosa che lo tormentò per cinque anni e di cui guarì grazie ad un eremita di passaggio che la massaggiò con dell’olio.
A quasi 17 anni, lasciò la madre e bussò alla porta dei Frati Francescani Conventuali, convento detto della ‘Grottella’ a due passi da Copertino, dove un suo zio era stato padre Guardiano, ma dopo un periodo di prova fu mandato via, per la sua poca letteratura, per semplicità ed ignoranza”.
Passò allora dai Francescani Riformati, ma anche questi dopo un po’ lo rifiutarono, si diresse allora dai Cappuccini di Martina Franca, era il 15 agosto 1620, allora erano esigenti in fatto di cultura, vi restò otto mesi, ma per la sua inettitudine procurava continui disastri, aggravati da improvvise estasi durante le quali lasciava cadere piatti e scodelle, i cui cocci venivano attaccati alle sue vesti in segno di penitenza.
Nel marzo 1621 fu rimandato a casa, sostenendo che non era adatto alla vita spirituale né ai lavori manuali. Aveva una incapacità naturale e una preoccupazione soprannaturale, ma mentre la prima era evidente, la seconda sfuggiva a tutti.
Uscito dal convento rivestito con pochi stracci, perché aveva perso una parte del suo abito da laico, fu scambiato per un poco di buono, assalito dai cani di una vicina stalla e quasi bastonato dai pastori; fu respinto dallo zio paterno e persino la madre lo maltrattò, rimproverandogli di essersi fatto cacciare dal convento e che per lui non c’era posto.
Grazie all’interessamento dello zio materno, Giovanni Donato Caputo, riuscì dopo molte insistenze a farsi accettare di nuovo dai Conventuali della ‘Grottella’, esponendo il suo caso per sfuggire alla condanna del Tribunale; i frati presero a cuore la situazione e lo ammisero nella comunità, prima come oblato, poi come terziario e finalmente come fratello laico, aveva 22 anni e si era nel 1625.
Addetto ai lavori pesanti e alla cura della mula del convento, Giuseppe ben presto espresse il desiderio di diventare sacerdote, sapeva appena leggere e scrivere, ma intraprese gli studi con volontà e difficoltà; quando dovette superare l’esame per il diaconato davanti al vescovo, accadde che a Giuseppe, il quale non era mai riuscito a spiegare il Vangelo dell’anno liturgico tranne un brano, il vescovo aprendo a caso il libro domandò il commento delle frase: “Benedetto il grembo che ti ha portato”, era proprio l’unico brano che egli era riuscito a spiegare.
Quando trascorsi i tre anni di preparazione al sacerdozio, bisognava superare l’ultimo e più difficile esame, i postulanti conoscevano il programma alla perfezione, tranne Giuseppe; il vescovo ascoltò i primi che risposero brillantemente all’interrogazione e convinto che anche gli altri fossero altrettanto preparati, li ammise tutti in massa, era il 4 marzo 1628.
Per la seconda volta fra Giuseppe, superò l’ostacolo degli esami in modo stupefacente e fu ordinato sacerdote per volere di Dio.
Si definiva fratel Asino, per la sua mancanza di diplomazia nel trattare gli altri uomini, per la sua incapacità di svolgere un ragionamento coerente, per il non sapere maneggiare gli oggetti, ciò nonostante nel corso della sua vita ebbe tanti incontri con persone di elevata cultura, con le quali parlava e rispondeva con una teologia semplice ed efficace.
Un professore dell’Università francescana di S. Bonaventura di Roma, disse: “L’ho sentito parlare così profondamente dei misteri di teologia, che non lo potrebbero fare i migliori teologi del mondo”.
Ad un grande teologo francescano che chiedeva come conciliare gli studi con la semplicità del francescanesimo, rispose: “Quando ti metti a studiare o a scrivere ripeti: Signor, tu lo Spirito sei / et io la tromba. / Ma senza il fiato tuo / nulla rimbomba”.
Possedeva il dono della scienza infusa, nonostante che si definisse “il frate più ignorante dell’Ordine Francescano”; amava i poveri, alzava la voce contro gli abusi dei potenti, ai compiti propri del sacerdote, univa i lavori manuali, aiutava il cuoco, faceva le pulizie del convento, coltivava l’orto e usciva umilmente per la questua.
Amabile, sapeva essere sapiente nel dare consigli ed era molto ricercato dentro e fuori del suo Ordine. Dopo due anni di terribile aridità spirituale, che per tutti i mistici è la prova più difficile a superare, a frate Giuseppe si accentuarono i fenomeni delle estasi con levitazioni; dava improvvisamente un grido e si elevava da terra quando si pronunciavano i nomi di Gesù o di Maria, nel contemplare un quadro della Madonna, mentre pregava davanti al Tabernacolo; una volta volando andò a posarsi in ginocchio in cima ad un olivo, rimanendovi per una mezz’ora finché durò l’estasi.
In effetti volava nell’aria come un uccello, fenomeni che ancora oggi gli studiosi cercano di capire se erano di natura parapsicologica o mistica; il fatto storico è che questi fenomeni sono avvenuti e in presenza di tanta gente stupefatta, che s. Giuseppe da Copertino non era un ciarlatano né un mago, ma semplicemente un uomo di Dio, il quale opera prodigi e si rivela ai più umili e semplici.
Comunque frate Giuseppe costituì un problema per i suoi Superiori, che lo mandarono in vari conventi dell’Italia Centrale, per distogliere da lui l’attenzione del popolo, che sempre più numeroso accorreva a vedere il santo francescano.
Di lui si interessò l’Inquisizione di Napoli, che lo convocò per capire di che si trattasse e nel monastero napoletano di S. Gregorio Armeno, davanti ai giudici, Giuseppe ebbe un’estasi; la Congregazione romana del Santo Uffizio alla presenza del papa Urbano VIII, lo assolse dall’accusa di abuso della credulità popolare e lo confinò in un luogo isolato, lontano da Copertino e sotto sorveglianza del tribunale.
Fu sballottolato da un convento all’altro, a Roma, Assisi, Pietrarubbia, Fossombrone e infine ad Osimo (Ancona).
Aveva familiarità con gli animali, con cui conversava e come si era identificato in fratel Asino, così identificava gli altri uomini nelle sembianze dell’animale che meglio simboleggiava le sue caratteristiche di vita.
Nel 1656 papa Alessandro VII mise fine al suo peregrinare da un convento all’altro, destinandolo ad Osimo dove rimase per sette anni fino alla morte, continuando ad avere estasi, a sollevarsi da terra e ad operare prodigi miracolosi.
Morì il 18 settembre 1663 a 60 anni; fu beatificato il 24 febbraio 1753 da papa Benedetto XIV e proclamato santo il 16 luglio 1767 da papa Clemente XIII.
Riposa nella chiesa a lui dedicata ad Osimo; festa liturgica il 18 settembre.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/34750
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Santuario - Basilica di San Giuseppe di Copertino
(Osimo)
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Santuario - Basilica di San Giuseppe di Copertino
(Osimo)
GIUSEPPE da Copertino, santo
di Piero Doria - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
- Volume 57 (2001)
GIUSEPPE da Copertino, santo. - Giuseppe
Maria Desa nacque il 17 giugno 1603 a Copertino, presso Lecce, ultimo dei sei
figli di Felice, artigiano, e Franceschina Panaca, donna di costumi austeri,
divenuta in seguito terziaria francescana.
Nato in una stalla a poca distanza dal piccolo centro
salentino dove la madre si era rifugiata per sfuggire ai creditori e alla legge
(il padre era ricercato dalla giustizia per insolvenza), ricevette da lei
un'educazione severa e improntata ai più rigorosi insegnamenti cattolici.
Avviato agli studi all'età di sette o otto anni, G. non dimostrò però una
particolare predisposizione; anzi, gli anni di studio furono per lui difficili
e trascorsero tra lo scherno dei compagni e una profonda solitudine. A
peggiorare la sua già precaria condizione psicofisica intervenne una grave
patologia, che tenne il giovane nell'immobilità del letto per quasi cinque
anni, facendogli abbandonare la scuola. Guarito ormai quindicenne (per
intercessione, come egli credette, della Madonna delle Grazie, al cui santuario
nella vicina Galatone, presso Lecce, si era recato in pellegrinaggio
accompagnato dalla madre), G. intraprese varie attività lavorative, senza,
però, particolare successo. Un profondo sentimento religioso manifestatosi in
lui già prima della malattia e accentuatosi nel suo corso lo indusse ad
abbandonare il secolo per entrare in un ordine monastico, nonostante
l'opposizione dei parenti e in particolare di tre zii, tutti minori conventuali
(G. Panaca, G. Caputo, F. Desa), che giudicarono inopportuna la sua vocazione.
Dopo aver prestato per qualche tempo servizi minori
nel convento di S. Maria di Casole, presso Lecce, nel 1620 G. fu finalmente
accolto come novizio, con il nome di fra Stefano, nel convento dei cappuccini
di Martina Franca. Più tardi, però, ritenuto non idoneo, venne privato
dell'abito e allontanato; tornando a Copertino, si fermò ad Avetrana, dove
incontrò lo zio Desa, impegnato nella predicazione quaresimale in quei luoghi,
che lo informò della morte del padre e delle disavventure giudiziarie che aveva
ereditato. Così G. rientrò a Copertino in segreto e trascorse quasi sei mesi
nascosto in una chiesa, fino a quando, divenuto oblato e potendo perciò godere
dell'immunità ecclesiastica, fu aggregato al convento dei frati minori
conventuali della Grottella.
Nel 1625 divenne frate laico e, nello stesso anno,
chierico, per interessamento dello zio Caputo che l'aveva preso sotto la sua
custodia. Concluso l'anno di noviziato, nel quale fu diretto dall'altro zio, il
Panaca, nel 1626 G. emise i voti di obbedienza, povertà e castità. Il 3 genn.
1627 prese gli ordini minori, il 27 febbraio divenne suddiacono, il 20 marzo
diacono e un anno dopo, il 28 marzo 1628, fu ordinato sacerdote da G.B. Deti,
vescovo di Castro di Puglia. Tuttavia, per ragioni legate alla posizione del
prelato che rendevano irregolare l'ordinazione, poté celebrare la prima messa
solo qualche mese più tardi (non prima del 7 giugno, data del decreto di
assoluzione della Sacra Penitenzieria apostolica).
I primi anni di sacerdozio di G. furono segnati da
comportamenti esasperati, come ammise successivamente, con lunghi digiuni e
dolorose mortificazioni corporali. Il 4 ott. 1630, dopo esperienze interpretate
come stati di estasi, durante la processione in onore di s. Francesco G.
sperimentò ciò che parve una levitazione. Da allora la tradizione riporta una
frequenza quasi quotidiana di tali eventi, tanto che il santuario della
Grottella divenne luogo di pellegrinaggio per numerosi fedeli e curiosi. La
notorietà di G. oltrepassò i confini del Salento, tanto che, quando nel 1634 il
nuovo ministro provinciale dell'Ordine, Antonio da San Mauro, intraprese la
visita dei conventi nella sua giurisdizione, lo volle nel suo seguito. Così G.
visitò numerosi conventi delle custodie di Brindisi, Lecce, Taranto, Bari, Barletta
e Matera. Mentre di questi passaggi rimangono poche notizie, ne restano invece
per Giovinazzo, dove G. sostò per la seconda volta sulla via del ritorno, su
ordine del ministro provinciale sollecitato dalla città.
In questa visita celebrò la messa nella cattedrale e
passò nel monastero di S. Giovanni Battista; si riporta che in entrambe le
occasioni si manifestarono le ormai ricorrenti esperienze estatiche e di
levitazione. Nei confronti di G. vennero però presentate denunce al vicario
apostolico G. Palamolla e il 26 maggio 1636 fu redatto e inviato a Roma un
formale atto di accusa contro di lui, che al momento fu archiviato. In seguito,
però, divenuto vescovo di Giovinazzo C. Maranta (settembre 1637), nei primi
mesi dell'anno seguente questi ebbe l'ordine di assumere informazioni
sull'accaduto, esaminando vecchi e nuovi testimoni. L'Inquisizione romana
ritenne le prove sufficienti perché G. fosse convocato a Napoli per esservi
interrogato dal S. Uffizio. Ricevute le lettere obbedienziali, partì da Copertino
il 21 ott. 1638, giungendo nella capitale del Regno alla fine di novembre. A
Napoli fu interrogato dall'inquisitore A. Ricciullo il 25 e 27 novembre e il 1°
dicembre. Concluse le audizioni, G. dovette superare l'ultima prova, la
celebrazione della messa davanti agli inquisitori, nella chiesa del monastero
di S. Gregorio Armeno. I documenti riportano che, conclusa la funzione, durante
l'atto di ringraziamento ebbe ancora un'esperienza di levitazione; dopo di ciò
il Ricciullo chiuse l'istruttoria, inviando gli atti al S. Uffizio a Roma. In
attesa delle decisioni della congregazione, G. fu in stato di costrizione a
Napoli, nel convento di S. Lorenzo. Convocato a Roma, partì dopo aver superato
alcune difficoltà sorte dalla sua crescente fama.
A Roma risiedette presso il convento dei Ss. Apostoli.
Il processo, presieduto da F. Albizzi, si concluse il 18 febbr. 1639 con la
piena assoluzione dall'accusa di affettata santità e abuso della credulità
popolare. Tuttavia, per tenerlo lontano dalla curiosità popolare, il tribunale
decise di trasferire G. dal santuario della Grottella in un luogo dello Stato
pontificio non distante da Roma. La scelta cadde sul convento di Assisi, dove
egli giunse il 30 apr. 1639. Accompagnato dal custode nella locale basilica, si
racconta di una nuova levitazione di fronte alla Madonna del Cimabue. Ad
Assisi, tuttavia, non gli mancarono i problemi; il nuovo custode e vecchio
amico, Antonio da San Mauro, tenne nei suoi confronti un atteggiamento ispirato
a freddezza e rigidità. A complicare le cose sopraggiunsero un indebolimento
fisico e l'animosità di confratelli gelosi, che progettarono di rapire G. e
gettarlo dalle mura del convento. Ma furono in primo luogo la nostalgia del
monastero della Grottella e della terra natia ad accentuare il suo sentimento
di disagio e a spingerlo a scrivere più volte ai superiori di Roma per chiedere
di essere trasferito a Copertino. Questo desiderio era però difficilmente
esaudibile, stante il decreto del S. Uffizio.
Nel febbraio 1644 G. si recò a Roma, dove incontrò
anche Giovanni Casimiro Wasa, fratello del re di Polonia Ladislao VII, per
perorare senza successo la causa del trasferimento; tornò ad Assisi il 6 marzo.
Qualche tempo dopo fu colpito da un grave lutto, la morte della madre, avvenuta
il 15 genn. 1645. Nel 1646 le notizie sulle sue presunte esperienze mistiche
divennero così frequenti che gli fu fatto divieto di celebrare in pubblico.
Nonostante una vita condotta ormai in perfetto isolamento, la fama di G.
richiamava un numero crescente di fedeli che si recavano al convento per
incontrare il futuro santo. Ebbe anche visitatori illustri, come la principessa
Maria, figlia di Carlo Emanuele di Savoia, e soprattutto il protestante
Giovanni Federico di Sassonia, convertitosi successivamente al cattolicesimo.
Dopo questi fatti il S. Uffizio intervenne nuovamente e il 19 luglio 1653
Innocenzo X ordinò il trasferimento di G. nel convento di S. Lazzaro di
Pietrarubbia, presso Macerata. Ma ancora, nonostante la collocazione periferica
del nuovo monastero, l'afflusso alle celebrazioni eucaristiche del frate
suggerì un nuovo spostamento. Il 28 sett. 1653 venne tradotto a Fossombrone,
dove rimase fino al 6 luglio 1657, quando per ordine di Alessandro VII fu
trasferito a Osimo, presso Ancona, dove trascorse gli ultimi sei anni di vita
in completo isolamento.
G. morì a Osimo il 18 sett. 1663. Beatificato il 24
febbr. 1753 da Benedetto XIV, venne canonizzato da Clemente XIII il 16 luglio
1767.
Fonti e Bibl.: R. Nuti, Vita del servo di Dio
fra G. da C., Palermo 1678; D. Bernino, Vita del ven. p. G. da C., Roma
1722; A. Angeli, Compendio della vita di G. da C., Venezia 1753; A.
Pastrovich, Compendio della vita, virtù e miracoli del beato G.da C.,
Osimo 1804; G.I. Montanari, Vita emiracoli di s. G. da C., Napoli 1853; F.
Gattari, La virtù di s. G. da C., Osimo 1898; E.M. Franciosi, Vita di
s. G. da C., Recanati 1925; G. Palatucci, S. G. da C., Padova 1941; A.
Garreau, Le saint volant: st Joseph de C., Parigi 1949; A.
Giaccaglia, Il santo dei voli, Roma 1956; G. Palatucci, Vita di s. G.
da C., Osimo 1958; B. Danza, S. G. da C., Bari 1963; G. Parisciani, S.
G. da C.(1603-1663) alla luce dei nuovi documenti, Osimo 1964; Id., S. G.
da C. ela conversione di Giovanni Federico di Sassonia, in Collectanea
Franciscana, XXXIV (1964), pp. 391-403; N. Del Re, G. da C., in Bibliothecasanctorum,
VI, Roma 1965, coll. 1300-1303; G. Parisciani, S. G. da C., Osimo
1967; S. G. da C. tra storia edattualità, a cura di G. Parisciani - G.
Galeazzi, Padova 1984; G. Parisciani, S. G. da C. ela Polonia, Padova
1988; A. Giaccaglia, S. G. da C., Frigento 1988; G. Parisciani, I tre
diari dell'abate Rosmi su s. G. da C., Padova 1991; E. Bergadano, G. da C.,
Torino 1994; G. Parisciani, L'inquisizione e ilcaso di s. G. da C., Padova
1996; S. Pagano, S. G. da C., in Il grandelibro dei santi. Dizionario
enciclopedico, Torino 1998, II, pp. 991 s.; Dict. d'hist. et de géogr.
ecclésiastiques, XXVIII, coll. 199 s.
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/giuseppe-da-copertino-santo_(Dizionario-Biografico)
Voir aussi : http://www.dieu-parmi-nous.com/NIC/Saint.Joseph.de.Cupertino.pdf
