Giuseppe Maria Desa was born in a shed at the back of what used to be their house on June 17, 1603, in Cupertino, Naples. His mother, Felice Desa, had to hide in shame. His father, Francisco Panera, died earlier and left debts to be paid by his mother.
“If ever a tiny child began life with nothing on his favor, it was Joseph Cupertino. He had one hopeful and saving quality—and he knew it,” wrote Fr. Alban Godier, SJ, about the saint in his book Saints for Sinners.
Underfed and sickly, he was so dull that he did not know what he was doing and was labeled forgetful. When he was diagnosed with ulcer at 7 years old, his mother was so bitter, aware he will be a burden. For every offense, he was punished, so he grew up never expecting any special treatment but, instead, was helpful, selfless, humble and was thankful for favors and kindness accorded him. When reprimanded for his shortcomings on tasks assigned him, he just remained silent.
Simpleton
He grew up as “awkward, nervous and stupid.” He wandered with his mouth open, and had frequent fits of anger. He could not carry on a conversation.
At 17, he encountered a friar begging for alms. He was fascinated with the idea of pleading for help. His two uncles in the monastery encouraged him to enter religious life.
He applied in three convents. The first rejected him for lack of education, the second outright declined his application and the third considered him hopeless.
Finally, a Capuchin community accepted him as a brother. He was a challenge to the religious community, was dull and unteachable. His “fits of piety and abstraction” was unbearable. He would kneel anywhere, whatever he was doing.
Once, broken pieces of kitchenware were tied to his habit to improve his awareness and lack of focus. But they could not bear his shortcomings. They defrocked him of the habit and told him to leave the Order.
On his way back to Cupertino he was mistaken for a tramp and a dangerous character, but his answers to queries made him “too stupid to be harmful,” so the people let him go. His only option was to go home.
His mother went to her Franciscan brother who was occupying a high position and demanded that he be taken back. So, he was given the habit of a Franciscan Third Order and employed as a servant assigned to the stable.
A priest, at last
Joseph’s outlook in life suddenly changed. He considered himself fortunate and started to have a “merry disposition with a gleam on his face.” With no relief on the job, he was happy to serve. He did not sleep in the community house but in the stable. He ate whatever food was given him. Sometimes, he would go to town and beg for the Order.
This change in his deportment did not go unnoticed. He was favorably endorsed by the Franciscan Community to the Provincial Council to be a priest.
Father Goodier said he could only explain Saint Luke XI27—Beatus venter qui te portravit (Blessed is the womb that carried you).
During his Diaconate Examination, the bishop opened the New Testament, pointed at a verse and told Joseph to discuss it, which he did like a Master in Theology. The verse, Luke XI: 27, was his masterpiece. After a year, together with other candidates for priesthood, he had to pass an oral examination. There were so many of them that the bishop decided to stop the ritual and passed all the candidates. Joseph passed the test without exerting effort.
He was 25 and was ordained on March 28, 1628. As a conventual friar, he was assigned in the Shrine of Madonna de la Grazia for 15 years.
God’s graces
Father Godier, who compiled stories about Joseph’s extraordinary experiences, said that as a priest, his visions grew stronger, his ecstasies and levitations, as well.
“Seeing God and the supernatural around him, in everything about him, he becomes lost in the wonder of it all,” Father Godier explained Joseph’s being absent-minded with lack of awareness on what was happening around him.
Joseph would go home with some parts of his habit missing, his sandals and his rosary, and was totally unaware they were taken as keepsakes by people. When he came to his senses he describes the events as “fits of his giddiness.”
He would fly toward the altar, or over a shrine on special occasions. He would levitate to praise the trees, the beauty of the skies and play with beasts and birds. It was said that he even surpassed Saint Francis of Assisi in answering God’s call and invitation in the air. A miracle worker, his touch enabled the blind to see and the sick children to be cured.
Francis Mershman in Catholic Encyclopedia noted that his ecstacies and levitations during Mass were benchmarks of his reputation in holiness.
Heroic obedience
Because the phenomenon of flying is widely believed to be a practice in witchcraft, he was denounced by unbelievers.
He was sent to the Inquisitors of Naples, but after investigations could not convict him of any wrongdoing, he was sent to the General of the Order in Rome who was impressed with his humility. The pope, however, castigated him for his “fits of giddiness.”
He never asked why he was transferred from a conventual to a Capuchin Community. He was forbidden to write or receive letters. He was not allowed to leave the convent. He was literally cut off from the outside world.
Literally imprisoned, he knew what was going on in the outside world. When his brothers spoke to him, he could read their thoughts and what they wished to know.
One morning, coming down for Mass he announced that Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644) died, to the surprise of all. But he did know before the congregation received the communication. Again, this precognition of a pope’s death was repeated for Pope Innocent X (1644-1655).
In 1657, six years before his death, he was returned to the Conventual’s Community, which transferred him to another place of seclusion. He lived in a tiny cell alone. He celebrated Mass in a little chapel alone. He took his meals alone, too. He was not allowed to be with the rest of the community.
He died on September 18, 1663, “wrapped in a vision which no man can express in words.”
He was beatified on February 24, 1753, by Pope Benedict XIV and canonized on July 16, 1767, by Pope Clement XIII.
Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris College in Calauan, Laguna.
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons