✦ Remembering Saints

Feast day: September 18

St. Joseph of Cupertino

Priest, Friar · 1603–1663

Patron of Pilots, students, air travelers

A slow, clumsy Italian friar dismissed as hopeless who became renowned for raptures so intense he was reported to rise into the air, and for his childlike simplicity and joy.

His many reported levitations during prayer made the 'flying friar' the patron of pilots and air travelers — and, because he struggled so at his own studies, of students facing exams.

Get a story like this every Sunday.

← St. Hildegard of Bingen · All saints · St. Januarius →