Readers of a certain age might remember the silly TV show The Flying Nun…religious brothers and sisters who take flight are nothing new.
When we lived in Wiltshire in England we learned the delightful story from the Middle Ages about Eilmer a Benedictine monk of Malmesbury Abbey who, in the eleventh century, jumped off the tower of the abbey church with some home made wings. Like Icarus he plummeted. The story is related by a monastic historian, William of Malmesbury:
He was a man learned for those times, of ripe old age, and in his early youth had hazarded a deed of remarkable boldness. He had by some means, I scarcely know what, fastened wings to his hands and feet so that, mistaking fable for truth, he might fly like Daedalus, and, collecting the breeze upon the summit of a tower, flew for more than a furlong [201 metres]. But agitated by the violence of the wind and the swirling of air, as well as by the awareness of his rash attempt, he fell, broke both his legs and was lame ever after. He used to relate as the cause of his failure, his forgetting to provide himself a tail.
The friar who really could fly was, of course St Joseph of Cupertino–the patron saint of pilots– whose memorial is today. To learn about his life go here.
Joseph was born into a poor family in Cupertino, Italy in 1603. His father was a poor carpenter who died before he was born, and his impoverished mother gave birth to him in a stable.
The poor boy started out with no advantages and his misfortune continued. To put it bluntly, he was stupid to the point of being unteachable. Everything he attempted he failed. His ecstasies began early in life and he would suddenly stop and stand and stare–totally distracted as if in a trance.
He got the idea that if he was good for nothing he might make it as a friar, but his lack of education meant the friars wouldn’t have him. Finally he was accepted only to fail and be rejected and went wandering as a beggar. Eventually he returned and offered to be a servant at the friary and look after the mule. Somehow by God’s providence he made it through to ordination as a priest.
His ecstasies, visions and mystical experiences were legendary. He heard heavenly music, went into such a complete trance that he could be dragged about, pierced…