The Feast of St. Joseph Cupertino

Today, September 18th, is normally celebrated as the Feast of St. Joseph Cupertino, OFM Conv., the Patron of our the friary in which I currently reside (SJC Friary, 12290 Folly Quarter Road, Howard County, Maryland)!  This year (2022), the feast is superseded by the 25th Sunday in Ordinary time.  

Joseph of Cupertino, OFM Conv., (1603 – 1663) was a Conventual Franciscan Friar born in the town of Cupertino, Apulia, the Kingdom of Naples (now part of Italy) in 1603.  

The saint is honored as a mystic and very simple and holy friar.  Although thought to have had limited intellectual ability, he was known for his great piety and ecstatic visions.  He is said to have levitated while in the state of spiritual ecstasy.  The Franciscan Friars at first reluctantly accepted him for ordination to the priesthood, but/and after difficult years of study, he was ordained in 1628. Renowned for his holiness, he died on September 18, 1663, and was canonized by Pope Clement XIII in 1767. 

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Although the saint was thought to have had limited intellectual talent, but was blessed with miraculous ability to pass examinations while a seminary student, the saint is now known as the "Patron Saint of Students and Test Takers."  For this reason, the saint is often invoked by students prior to examinations. 

── The Prayer to St. Joseph of Cupertino for Success in Examinations: 

O Great Saint Joseph of Cupertino, who while on earth did obtain from God the grace of knowledge during examinations, obtain for me a like favor in the examinations for which I am now preparing. In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked. Through Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

St. Joseph of Cupertino, pray for us.  Amen.

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This portrait of the saint (pictured above) is displayed prominently in the friary “glass room,” a large and very beautiful conference-style room located on the first floor of the friary (and now mostly used for meetings and workshops by groups coming to the Shrine of St. Anthony).  

The painting (acrylic on canvas) was done by celebrated Polish-American artist Jan Henryk de Rosen (1891 – 1982).  Jan de Rosen notably also created the great “Christ in Majesty” mosaic prominently featured above the main altar in the upper church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.  The de Rosen St. Joseph Cupertino painting was presented to the friary and blessed in 1979, the year of its creation by the artist. 

In the de Rosen painting at St. Joseph Cupertino Friary, the saint is depicted wearing very heavy shoes.  Legend says his confreres obliged him to wear such shoes in an effort to keep him from levitating while celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!  (It didn't work!).

Jan de Rosen was a friend of the renowned Friar Cornelian Dende, OFM Conv., (d. 1996), who commissioned the artist to do the painting for our friary.  

The friary also holds additional works by de Rosa, including a painting of of St. Francis of Assisi extending his blessing upon a friar, and two prints, one of St. Francis receiving the Sacred Stigmata, and another of St. Bonaventure (these are also on display in the “glass room.”). 

Happy Feast of St. Joseph Cupertino! 

See more about Jan de Rosen at the following site:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Henryk_de_Rosen

Learn more about St. Joseph Cupertino at the following site: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_of_Cupertino

Visit the web site of the Shrine of St. Anthony: https://shrineofstanthony.org/

Find me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/frayteo

THIS WILL PREACH . . .

I really love this one.  I found in on social media, but the author is unknown.  It's worth reading to the end . . .

<<  THIS WILL PREACH . . . 

The pastor says they sit front and center. The gay boys. Sometimes they hold hands. And some folks have said he should address the issue. But the pastor tells me he doesn’t know what to say. 

And then there’s the man who sneaks in the back door. Fresh off the street. After the service starts. And leaves before altar call. The people sitting close complain about how bad he smells. Of beer and smoke and sweat. But the pastor tells me he doesn’t know what to say. 

And then there’s the young mama who wears dirty skin and after the service lets her four children eat all the donuts and drink all the watered-down juice. Some church staff say "they eat like little pigs. Like they haven’t eaten in weeks.” While the mama just stands there and lets them. And the elders say something must be done and addressed to her about it. But the pastor tells me he doesn’t know what to say. 

And there’s the whore sitting among the faithful. And everybody knows her. She sits with a painted-up face, cheap perfume, and a broken heart. And those who sit close, well, they all treat her for what they think she is. And at the last church staff meeting, her name came up. Something must be done about her. But the pastor tells me he doesn’t know what to say. 

The pastor is a good man. Holy and just. And he wants to do the “right and loving” thing. And he wants to “look like Jesus”. 

And he asks me if I have any thoughts on anything he could say.

Yes, sweet Pastor. I do.

Start with this and say it Louder than any other words: 

“Welcome to Church. This is a place of love and hope and safety and forgiveness. We will be food for the hungry. Living water for the thirsty. We are so glad you are here. You are invited. You are loved. Come on in—we’ve been waiting on you. Welcome here. We are the church.”

Say that. To the called and to the called-out. To the leaders and the greeters. To the dirty and the clean. We are all the same. We are.

May we blow the dust of religion out of our souls and choose affection instead. May our words and actions and reactions be a sanctuary for all. 

Jesus broke many laws (man's law not God's law) to love. So, Jesus, be our voice. Be the only words we should ever speak.>>

-unknown author

The Furnishings in the Saint Joseph Cupertino Friary Chapel

The Furnishings in the Saint Joseph Cupertino Friary Chapel

Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland (see descriptions below . . .)

For many years, the altar, the ambo, and the tabernacle now found in the friary’s second floor “private chapel” (or “oratory”), were used in the main chapel located on the first floor of the St. Joseph Cupertino Friary (now the primary worship space used by the Shrine of Saint Anthony, and open to the public).  

These furnishings in the friars’ chapel are entirely hand-carved from wood, and were imported from Italy.  They were originally placed in the main chapel after an extensive renovation was done there following the Second Vatican Council.   (continued below . . .)

 

They depict friars carrying large stones, a reference to St. Francis and his first friar-followers efforts to literally rebuild churches with stones and mortar.  This was a response to what the saint believed was the early friars calling to “rebuild the church,” a commission he believed he received in a vision while praying before the San Damiano Cross, and in which Jesus said to him “Francis, rebuild my church.”  

The altar, also employing the same stone theme, is engraved with a gold medallion, representing the Eucharistic bread, and is superimposed with a Tau Cross, a symbol often used by the Saint as a “signature” in his writings (and for centuries since used and worn by Franciscans as a sign of their Franciscan spirituality).  

The tabernacle is fashioned as a stone carried by the friars.  It suggests their more significant role as Christ-bearers, taking Jesus into the world, and in that way giving new life and truly “rebuilding” the church.  The loaves and fishes on the face of the tabernacle recall the Gospel account in which Jesus had pity on the 5000 gathered to hear his preaching — the “multiplication of the loaves and fishes” reminds us of Jesus’ passion to serve the poor and the needy, and it is a foreshadowing of the miraculous gift of the Eucharist, the Sacrament which never ends in giving life and the grace of God to the faithful.  

The Ambo is engraved with the words “This is the Rule and Life of the Friars Minor.”  This is a reference to the Rule of St. Francis in which the friars are mandated to follow the Gospel way of life.  The Gospel and other Scripture readings are proclaimed from the Ambo!   (continued below . . .)

Each piece is discretely stamped with a metal seal stating they are “Entirely Hand Carved” by their Italian artisans. 

The friars of the St. Joseph Cupertino Friary community gather each day in their oratory chapel for Morning Prayer, Office of Readings, Common Meditation, Evening Prayer, and Compline (night prayer).  The friars also use the chapel for their Conventual Masses.   (continued below . . .)

**The Shrine chapel downstairs now houses altar furnishings originally used at the now closed St. Hyacinth College and Seminary, Granby, Massachusetts. 

For more information about the Shrine of St. Anthony, see the following web site: https://www.shrineofstanthony.org/ 

For more information about the Conventual Franciscan Friars of the Our Lady of the Angels Province (OFM Conv.), see the following web site:  https://www.olaprovince.org/

A stunningly simple yet very thought-provoking 9/11 memorial

 

A stunningly simple yet very thought-provoking 9/11 memorial at the Conventual Franciscan Friary of St. Joseph Cupertino in Howard County, Maryland.

On the friary grounds (on the wooded “Alverna Trail” maintained by the staff and volunteers of the Shrine of St. Anthony), is a stunningly simple yet very thought-provoking memorial to those lost in the United States on 09/11/01.  A statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus stands at the entrance to the trail.

The memorial site, located about 100 feet into woods, includes a steel relic of the NY World Trade Center, a gift to the Franciscan Friars Conventual of the Our Lady of the Angels Province by the the Little Sisters of the Poor of Latham, New York.  

The peace and simplicity and the wooded setting of this prayer-inspiring memorial, so very far from city noises and busy streets, seems quite contrary to the violence and horror of that dreadful day.  This site is simply stunning to behold, and it gives those who visit a comforting and very peaceful place to pray and to reflect as they recall 9/11. 

A nearby marker reads: “Cross made from the rubble of the World Trade Center, New York City.”

Another marker reads: “In remembrance of the lives lost and the lives forever changed by the events of September 11, 2001.”  and . . . 

“At the Cross her station keeping — Our Lady of Sorrows — Pray for us”

“Patron of the Lost — St. Anthony of Padua — Pray for us.”  

**The Alverna Trail is located in an area behind the friary that once was a tree shaded grove, and the picnic site of the Annual St. Anthony Pilgrimage, a friary fund-raiser that was held for many years until the last such “pilgrimage” in the summer of 1986.

For more information about the Shrine of Saint Anthony see https://www.shrineofstanthony.org/

For more information about the Conventual Franciscan Friars, Our Lady of the Angels Province see https://www.olaprovince.org/