Joseph of Copertino (1603 - 1663) was an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar who is honored as a Christian mystic and saint. He was said to have been remarkably unclever, but prone to miraculous levitation and intense ecstatic visions that left him gaping. Joseph began to experience ecstatic visions as a child, which were to continue throughout his life, and made him the object of scorn. He applied to the Conventual Franciscan friars, but was rejected due to his lack of education. He then pleaded with them to serve in their stables. After several years of working there, he had so impressed the friars with the devotion and simplicity of his life that he was admitted to their Order, destined to become a Catholic priest, in 1625.
This Biography, portraying one of the great saints of the Franciscan Order, was written in 1753, at the time of his beatification. It is based on the Acta Sanctorum and the official documentation from the process for his beatification. Canonized in 1767, St. Joseph of Copertino is the Patron of Students and of those who fly.
