Joseph of Cupertino (1603–1663)

Biography

His mother raised him harshly and this gave him great strength of character. He was very short-sighted, but God would work wonders in him. He was a great miracle worker. He barely learned to read. It only served to pray and mortify oneself. At the age of 17 he joined the Franciscans. He did everything wrong. I didn't even know how to peel potatoes. He was dismissed as useless. He entered with the capuchins and the same experience: very pious, but he forgot everything and everything went wrong. It was a life of humiliation. He had to leave again. He was admitted again to the Franciscans as an oblate to care for a mule. But he was allowed to aspire to the priesthood. The studies were an ordeal. Every exam was a failure. But his progress in virtue was extraordinary. He lived in ecstasy almost permanently. The bishop himself wanted to examine it. He took the Gospel at random and the only text he knew how to explain came out. It was about the Virgin, to whom he had great devotion: "Blessed is the womb that carried you." He translated it, commented on it and was admitted to the priesthood. This he attributed to the Virgin. Since then, the ecstasies and miraculous favors for all who came to him multiplied. The fame of his portents spread. He did not give it importance, he considered himself the last and called himself not Fray José, but Fray ASS. He suffered misunderstandings and temptations, but the Lord delivered him from all of them. He celebrated Mass with extraordinary fervor. When the hour of his death arrived - September 18, 1663 - of which he had received notice, he received the viaticum with transports of joy. His last words were to the Virgin: "show that you are my Mother."