“These effects are very striking. One of them is the manifestation of the Lord’s mighty power: as we are unable to resist His Majesty’s will, either in soul or in body, and are not our own masters, we realize that, however irksome this truth may be, there is One stronger than ourselves, and that these favours are bestowed by Him, and that we, of ourselves, can do absolutely nothing. This imprints in us great humility. Indeed, I confess that in me it produced great fear — at first a terrible fear. One sees one’s body being lifted up from the ground; and although the spirit draws it after itself, and if no resistance is offered does so very gently, one does not lose consciousness — at least, I myself have had sufficient to enable me to realize that I was being lifted up. The majesty of Him Who can do this is manifested in such a way that the hair stands on end, and there is produced a great fear of offending so great a God, but a fear overpowered by the deepest love, newly enkindled, for One Who, as we see, has so deep a love for so loathsome a worm that He seems not to be satisfied by literally drawing the soul to Himself, but will also have the body, mortal though it is, and befouled as is its clay by all the offenses it has committed.”
“The Life of Teresa of Jesus: The Autobiography of Teresa of Ávila, trans. and ed. E. Allison Peers, from the critical edition of P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, C.D.,”
“Sister Mary used to raise herself to the top of the trees by the tips of the branches: she would take her scapular in one hand, and with the other the end of a small branch next to the leaves, and after a few moments she would glide along the outside edge of the tree to its top. Once up there, she would remain holding on to branches normally too weak to bear a person of her weight.”
Amedee Brunot, Mariam, the Little Arab: Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified (1846–1878) (Eugene, OR: Carmel of Maria Regina, 1984).
I used to have vivid dreams of flying. I never soared, the dream was much more focused on identifying the means of flight, and on the struggling first attempts to adjust the physical, so as to become lighter than air. It takes a bit of straining, at least it did in my dreams. And once off the ground, the feeling of being totally out of my own control and empowered by another animating power was intense. I am sure there is some deep, dark psychological reason why I would dream of flying…or preparation?
So many saints have taken flight, mostly while in ecstasy under the influenced of the Holy Spirit. Are you intrigued, well so am I. I’m so intrigued that I want to enter into a state of rapture and fly too.
The first “Christian” levitation was of Christ during the transfiguration. Yet the scripture does not describe the levitation that all of the artists used in their depiction of the scene. Scriptures say that his body was transfigured into bright light and he met Elijah and Moses, and a cloud descend with the voice of God saying He was pleased with his Son.
“Levitation is one of the most frequently mentioned phenomena in the lives of the Saints. Many more Saints have experienced this marvel in addition to those who will be mentioned below. Some more notable Saints are St Benedict Joseph Labre, St. Angela of Brescia, St. Antoinette of Florence, St. Arey, St. Peter Celestine, St. Colette, St. Margaret of Hungary, St. Stephen of Hungary, St. Mary of Egypt, St. Joseph Oriol, Bl. Bentivolio Buoni, St Francis of Paola, St. John of St. Facond and St Martin de Porres.” So apparently a lot of saints levitated so there is hope for you.
“St Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663)
Certainly one of the Saints who is best known for levitating during prayer is St. Joseph of Cupertino, who experienced so many levitations that were witnessed by his brothers in the Franciscan Order and others that he is regarded as the patron saint airplane passengers. In Fr. Angelo Pastrovicchi’s official biography of the Saint, which was first published in 1767, the author states that: ‘Not only during the sixteen years of the Saint’s stay at Grottella, but during his whole life, these ecstasies and flights were so frequent, as attested in the acts of the Process of beatification, that for more than thirty-five years his superiors would not permit him to take part in the exercises in the choir and the refectory or in processions, lest he disturb the community.’ “St Joseph was often enraptured into remarkable levitations, often being carried away by God for some distances. In the records of his official beatification process [Acta Sanctorum], seventy of his levitations and ecstatic flights are recorded.
“One Christmas Eve the Saint invited some shepherds to join in celebrating the birth of the Saviour. When they started to play bagpipes and flutes, the Saint let out a cry of joy and flew a considerable distance through the air to the high altar. He remained in his rapture about a quarter of an hour. Although he was in the air leaning over several lighted candles, his garments were not affected. As usual, all present were astounded by the miracle.”
“During a profession ceremony at Cupertino, the Saint, dressed in a surplice, suddenly rose to the height of the pulpit and remained for some time with outstretched arms and bent knees. -Imagine the amazement of the religious and the congregation! One Holy Thursday, while praying before a representation of the holy sepulchre which was situated above the high altar and lit with many candles and lamps, the Saint rose in the air and flew to the altar. Without touching any of the decorations, he remained for a time until the superior ordered his return. Another time on hearing a priest say: “Father Joseph, how beautiful God has made Heaven,” the Saint flew up and “rested” on the top branches of an olive tree. He remained there in a kneeling posi¬tion for half an hour while the branch which “supported” him swayed as lightly as if a small bird had perched on it.”
Once while passing through Monopoli on his way to Naples, he was led by his fellow religious to the church of the monastery to see a new statue of St. Anthony of Padua. After spotting it from a distance, he suddenly flew to the statue and then returned to his former place. After the Inquisition heard of these marvels, they felt the need to investigate and commanded that the Saint say Mass in their presence at the Church of St. Gregory of Armenia, which belonged to the nuns of St. Ligorio. Suddenly the Saint rose with a loud cry from a corner and while praying, flew to the altar. He remained standing in the air, bending over the flowers and lighted candles with his arms spread in the form of a cross. The nuns cried in alarm that he would catch fire, but he returned to the floor unharmed.
“Certainly the most prominent witnesses to the Saint’s levitations was Pope Urban VIII. During the Saint’s first stay in Rome he went with the Father General to visit the Pope. While bending over the feet of the Pontiff the Saint became enraptured and rose in the air until the Father General commanded that he return. The Pope marveled at the phenomenon and told the Father General that he himself would bear witness to the occurrence should the Saint die during his pontificate.”
“To satisfy the curiosity of the Spanish Ambassador to the Papal Court and his wife who went to Assisi on purpose to see St. Joseph, the Saint was told by Fr. Custos to go into the church and visit Our Lady’s statue. Upon entering the church he looked toward the statue of the Immaculate Conception on an altar, and flew over the heads of those present, and remained in the air at the feet of the statue. After a few moments he flew back and then retired to his cell.”
“Occasionally the Saint’s raptures lasted six or seven hours. A peculiar aspect was that, when a rapture overtook him at Holy Mass, he always resumed where he had left off. Another unusual aspect is that his garments were never disturbed during his many flights whether he travelled forward or backward, up or down. St Joseph of Cupertino was so on fire with the love of God that one could almost always draw him into an ecstatic levitation by simply speaking of the adorable love of God or the Blessed Virgin Mary, or causing him to contemplate a picture of Jesus or Mary.”
St Gerard Majella (1726-1755)
“Like St Joseph of Cupertino, St Gerard Majella was often enraptured into remarkable levitations, often being drawn away by God for some distances. It was sufficient for St Gerard Majella to think of the perfections of God, to contemplate the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity or that of the Incarnation, to cast his eyes upon a crucifix or a picture of the Blessed Virgin, to be in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament or even some wonder of creation.”
“The following are a few examples:
Gerard, intending to spend some days at Oliveto, received hospitality at the house of the archpriest Don Salvadore. One morning, Holy Mass was about to begin, and Gerard, who desired to communicate at it, did not appear. They called him, they knocked at his door, but there was no answer. At last they entered and found the seraphic brother kneeling in ecstasy, a crucifix in his right hand, the left hand laid on his breast, his face pale, his eyes half-closed. For more than half an hour, the household of the archpriest gazed in admiration at the ravishing spectacle.”
“This hospitable home had already been witness of a still more remarkable ecstasy, in which the servant of God was suspended without support in the air. It had taken place on the very morning of his arrival at Oliveto. Gerard had withdrawn to his room to pray. At the dinner hour, the archpriest went himself to invite him to dinner. But to his astonishment he found the brother ravished in ecstasy and raised about three feet from the ground. Filled with amazement, he withdrew, but returning shortly after, he found him in the same state. The whole household, all witnesses to the extraordinary event, unable to sit down to dinner, awaited the guest with tears of emotion. At last he appeared, his face all inflamed. “Please do not wait for me,” he said to the archpriest. “I do not wish to inconvenience you.” To preserve the memory of this rapture, the archpriest marked on the wall of the room the height to which he had seen the Saint elevated.”
“A similar prodigy was seen by all the people at Corato. On Good Friday, 1753, a picture representing Jesus Christ Crucified was carried in procession. When the procession entered the church of the Benedictines, Gerard was already inside engaged in prayer. As soon as he perceived the sacred image of the Saviour, an ecstatic transport seized him, and before the eyes of all, he was elevated to a considerable height from the ground, his eyes fixed on the picture.”
“Yet another occasion is the account of a blind beggar who lived in Caposele who played most charmingly on the flute. Seeing him one day at the gate of the convent, Gerard begged him to play a well-known Italian song: “In all things, oh my God, I wish your Will, not my own.” Immediately, a rapture of divine love seized upon the holy religious, and he began to leap, repeating the words: “Your Will, oh my God, and not mine!” Then, suddenly raising his eyes toward Heaven, he was elevated in the air with the swiftness of an arrow, and there remained for some time ravished in ecstasy.”
“This reversal of the laws of gravity, this super natural agility, took the shape even of an ecstatic flight. Gerard was returning one day to Iliceto with two young companions. As they were passing before a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, he turned the conversation to that tender and compassionate Mother. Then he took a pencil and wrote, I know not what, on a scrap of paper, which he tossed up in the air as if it were a letter. At the same moment, his two companions beheld him rise in the air and fly with the rapidity and lightness of a bird to a distance of over three quarters of a mile. Afterwards, they never ceased to recount this prodigious fact of which they had been witnesses.”
“There were other times that the servant of God was favored with ecstatic flight. A pious person named Rosaria loved to relate that she had seen him one day carried up like a feather through the air, his arms extended. He flew thus for over three quarters of a mile, hastening to the convent to which he was called, no doubt, by some exercise of Rule or some desire of the Superior.”
St Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
“St Paul of the Cross, the holy founder of the Passionists was in the town of Latera, in the diocese of Montefiascone, and was in the sacristy of a church speaking with other priests when he became so inflamed with the love of God that he rose in the air, to the complete astonishment of his witnesses. Another time he was in a town on the isle of Elba giving a mission when, at the most fervent part of his sermon, he walked off the platform, through the air and over the heads of the people and then returned as though nothing unusual had taken place. One can only imagine the emotions felt by those who had witnessed such an unexpected display of the supernatural.”
“During the last years of his life the Saint was sitting in the sacristy of Sts. John and Paul Church in Rome and absorbed in holy conversation with a number of people when, as the deposition states:
“He began, according to his custom, to have his countenance lighted up, brilliant rays flashing from his face; then his whole body began to tremble; then, as I believe, he perceived that he was losing the control of his senses, he clung with both his hands to the arms of the chair, and leaned his shoulders on the back of it; as soon as he had done this, he began to rise, together with the chair, and that to such a height, that I think he must have risen at least to the height of five or six feet…in this state he continued a very long time in most sublime contemplation. Finally he returned to himself, and, as the rapture passed away, a slight tremor took place all over his body, and gradually the servant of God, with the chair, descended and rested on the ground.”
St Teresa of Avila
“Levitation was the last thing Teresa of Avila wanted. It drew the wrong kind of attention and embarrassed her in public. She tried to remain grounded, clinging to furniture when the weightlessness set in, and then suddenly, it stopped for good. Carlos Eire reads Teresa’s autobiographic Vida and finds the 16th-century saint complaining to God about the aethrobatic miracles that he forced her to endure.”
“Teresa began to experience visions and raptures in her forties. As these intensified quickly and dramatically, she naturally came under suspicion of being either demonically influenced or a brazen fraud. At the same time, however, many around her were convinced that her experiences were genuinely divine in origin. Consequently, her superiors ordered her to write a detailed account of her life and her ecstasies, under the watchful eye of the Inquisition. That text, which came to be known as her Vida, or “autobiography”, is an attempt to convince everyone that her remarkable experiences are truly supernatural. And an essential part of the narrative is Teresa’s constant emphasis on her own humility and on the pain and embarrassment caused by the ecstasies she experienced in public, or which became public knowledge, especially those ecstasies in which she levitated.”
“Teresa’s raptures and levitations are unique for several reasons, three of which are most significant. First, no other Christian levitator has provided as full a first-person account or described and analyzed the experience in as much detail as Teresa. Second, no other levitator has complained as often and as loudly about levitating as Teresa. And third, few other levitators have brought about an end to levitations as suddenly and dramatically as Teresa. Obviously, her detailed analysis of her own levitations cannot be taken as empirical “proof ” of the reality of her levitations, but they do provide an exceptionally clear window into her perceptions, or at least into how she wanted others to understand the phenomenon. And as of yet, no other Christian levitator has ever surpassed Teresa on this account.”
“In her Vida Teresa tends to use the term “arrobamiento”, or rapture, for the experiences that take her into the heavenly realm of the divine. Sometimes, however, she also uses “arrebatamiento”, or ravishment, for such experiences or suggests that arrebatamiento is in fact a kind of arrobamiento, as she does when she says, “While I was reciting a hymn, there came to me an arrebatamiento so sudden that nearly took me out of myself: something I could not doubt, for it was so clear. This was the first time that the Lord had granted me the favor of any kind of arrobamiento.”1 Regardless of the term used, Teresa makes it clear that whether one levitates or not during an arrobamiento, the body is often affected intensely, even violently, primarily through sense deprivation and paralysis and a lapse into a trance-like state accompanied by physical aftereffects that linger for a while. “Let us now return to raptures [arrobamientos], and to their most common traits. I can attest that after a rapture my body often felt so light that it seemed to weigh nothing at all: and sometimes this was so overwhelming that I could hardly tell if my feet were touching the ground. For, during the entire rapture, the body remains as if dead and unable to do anything itself.” And in whichever way it was positioned when seized by the rapture, that is how the body stays: whether standing, or sitting, or with the hands open or clasped.”
St Francis of Assisi
From that hour on, Brother Leo, with great purity and good intention, began earnestly to study the life of St. Francis. And because of his purity, he many times earned the grace to see St. Francis swept up to God and raised bodily from the earth— at times to the height of three arm-lengths, at times four, on occasion as high as the tip of the beech tree, and once so high in the sky and so surrounded by radiance that he could barely see him. And what did this simple friar do when St. Francis was lifted off the ground just high enough so that he could reach him? He would approach softly, embrace him, and kiss his feet, saying tearfully: “My God, have mercy on me, a sinner, and through the merits of this holy man let me find Your grace.”And on one occasion among others, as he was beneath the feet of St. Francis when the Saint was so high above the ground that he could not touch him, he saw a scroll written in golden letters descend from the heavens and alight on the head of St. Francis, and on it was written: “Here is the grace of God.” And after he had read it, he saw it go up to Heaven again.
The Little Flowers of St. Francis & Other Franciscan Writings translated with introduction by Serge Hughes
We live in such a calcified world of technological truth that has been built upon a frame of gigantic lies which do nothing but obscure the magic held within the power of the human psyche. We given away our power to the fake, to the mirages of AI and are overcome with our own slaughter at the hand of machines. THhis technology will further dehumanize us and destroy our spirituality and connection to God. Did you vote to destroy the spiritual portion of your being?
Have you pondered, what we, the Human are becoming?
I have, and I am search for ways to rediscover and recover the old ways; what we would call primitive but that which was far advanced and beyond our pathetic materialist minds.
“The Memorare is an old prayer. Many believe it comes from St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who lived in the twelfth century. Memorare is the first word of the prayer in Latin, and the prayer is part of a larger prayer, Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, dulcissima Virgo Maria (“At your holy feet, most sweet Virgin Mary”).”
“Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.“
“Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.”
https://www.miraclesofthesaints.com/2010/10/levitation-and-ecstatic-flights-in.html
https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-reluctant-levitator/
https://www.wisdomportal.com/Levitation/SaintFrancisLevitation.html