St. Clare of Assisi
the patron saint of television.
Toward the end of her life (in 1253), when she was too ill to attend Mass, an image of the liturgy would display on the wall of her cell.
St. Joseph of Cupertino
an Italian saint. He was said to have been remarkably unclever, but prone to miraculous levitation and intense ecstatic visions that left him gaping. He was canonized in the year 1767.
As a child, Joseph was remarkably slow witted. He suffered from painful ulcers during his childhood, but 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. He was also said to have had a violent temper.
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, and legend has it that he would study intently for one small section of the material, because that was all he was able to do, and prayed that the material he studied would be what he was tested on. For example, one time when the friar administered a test, he happened to ask the one question Joseph had prepared for. 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. This was the first of many flights, which soon earned him the nickname "The Flying Saint." His flights continued and came with increasing frequency. 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 under obedience to revive. 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.
Among other paranormal events associated with Joseph, he is said to have possessed the gift of healing. Legend holds he once cured a girl who was suffering from a severe case of measles. Another story holds that an entire community suffering from a drought asked Joseph to pray for rain, which he did with success. He also dedicated himself to improving the spiritual lives of his fellow friars.
Some superiors would scold Joseph for not accepting money and gifts offered to him for curing people, especially when they were members of the nobility. Perhaps the most difficult time came when Joseph was the subject of an investigation by the Inquisition at Naples. Msgr. Joseph Palamolla accused Joseph of attracting undue attention with his "flights" and claiming to perform miracles. On October 21, 1638, Joseph was summoned to appear before the Inquisition and, when he arrived, he was detained for several weeks. Joseph was eventually released when the judges found no fault with him.
After being cleared by the Inquisition, Joseph was sent to the Sacro Convento in Assisi. Legend states he did not even complain when a brother-cook neglected to bring him any food to his room for two days.
On August 10, 1663, Joseph became ill with a fever, but the experience filled him with joy. He experienced ecstasies and flights during his last mass which was on the Feast of the Assumption.
St. Hemma of Gurk
lived in the 11th-12th centuries in Gurk, Carinthia, Austria, and is known as the "Mother of Carinthia"
One of her miracles is that she got pregnant after 10 years of marriage and praying for a child, and decided to do a pilgrimage (barefoot and in pilgrim's robes -- mind you, she was a countess) to three southern Austrian pilgrimage sites dedicated to the Virgin Mary. She visited the first two (which are still there), but as she approached the third (which no longer exists, and I think the location is now in Slovenia), she got sicker and sicker, walking for days in pouring rain. She finally got to the foot of the hill she would have to walk up to get to the third chapel. She no longer had the strength, but as she fell down, she realized she was right in front of the chapel. The rain had caused a landslide that made the chapel slide down to meet her. She crawled inside, embraced the statue of the Virgin Mary, lay there for three days, and was finally cured. (The rest of the story: She gave birth to that child, a son, and to a second son, but they and her husband were killed in wars, so she became a nun late in life.)
St. Anne
the patron saint of single women
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