Saint Joseph of Cupertino

Joseph Desa was born in Copertino, near Lecce, on June 17, 1603, in a stable — the house had been seized for his father’s debts. As a child he fell seriously ill and spent four years in bed, missing school. They called him *bocca aperta*, “open mouth,” because he often stood still, staring into space. Nobody wanted him. The Capuchins threw him out because he couldn’t do anything right — he broke the dishes, forgot the fire. In the end the Conventuals of Grottella took him in as a lay brother, to look after the mules. He managed to get ordained a priest almost by chance: at the exam he was asked about the only Gospel passage he knew how to explain. Then the ecstasies began. In church, in front of everyone, he rose off the ground: it happened often, and there are dozens of sworn testimonies gathered in the proceedings, from people of every station — peasants, doctors, nobles, the ambassador of Spain, Prince John Frederick of Saxony, who converted after seeing him. The Church did not like it at all. He was tried by the Inquisition, acquitted, and then moved from friary to friary to keep him away from the crowds: Assisi, Pietrarubbia, Fossombrone, and finally Osimo, where he lived his last years almost walled in. He died in Osimo on September 18, 1663. Clement XIII declared him a saint in 1767. He is the patron of students — the ones who need a little luck on exams — and of aviators. If your name is Joseph, today is your name day.