☝ the field guide to flying saints

☝ Introduction.

2007-03-12T18:14:00.002Z

Welcome dear readers to the world of sainthood.

This is a collection of Roman Catholic individuals that are reported to have had the stunning ability to rise into the air in spite of their weight. Most of them are mentioned as such in the Roman Catholic Encyclopedia, but traces have also been found in other literature present in the Central Library of Amsterdam, the University Library and one or two in the Gnostic Library.

The pages within this blog appeared first as a small booklet:

Saints can sometimes be recognized even at an early age. Some boys and girls are not merely good, they are spectacularly good, making their parents doubt whether they are actually angels. Saints are often social activists or rebels or even entertainers.

These people who could see the future, make flowers bloom out off season, defy natural death and cure the ill, took the place of God as an accessible and tangible source of power.

When Christianity became the accepted religion of the Roman Empire, martyrdom no longer made a saint recognized as a saint, it was replaced by the concept of self denial, and virginity. In a society where people suffered from starvation and illnesses, those who willingly pursued physical deprivation and suffering seemed to be Athletes of God. Starving and suffering, they could go for hours, or even days without the normal signs of life. Dead to the world they lived in God.

Gregory Rasputin said Church Elders would undress prostitutes to look at them, but there would be no physical contact. Thus the saints would become more refined in their feelings. It is a strange concoction of Scoptophilia (sexual gazing) and Angelophany (meeting angels.) He himself went round St. Petersburg visiting women in brothels and even at the royal palace, to practice. This notion seems to originate with Simon Magus, and the divine temple prostitutes. Holy brothels were common in Babylon, Syria, Greece, Persia and India, where the ritual of Heiros Gamos was performed.

The people presented here seem to have suffered religious ecstasies that resemble epileptic seizures. There is neurological evidence for the existence of regions in the brain that deal with religious feelings. The god module, as it is named, can even be stimulated electrically to induce people to feel the presence of God. My guess is that they suffered from Temporal Epilepsy, but I cannot explain how hundreds of spectators saw these levitations occur, especially with Saint Joseph of Cupertino there were many witnesses. But examine for yourself, if you will, the short biographical material that accompanies the pictures of flying saints in this selection.

Here are some links for further research:
-Hagiography.
-Karlheinz Deschner.
-God Module.
-Epilepsy.
-Google directory of Saints.
-Roger Tory Peterson.
-Tibetan levitation
-Biological levitation.
-Gravitation.
-Rasputin.

☝ Saint Alphonsus Liguori

2007-03-05T21:54:00.000Z

born: Marianella, sept27, 1696
died: Nocera die Pagani, aug 1, 1787

He was a lawyer who after an unsuccessful trail became a priest. When he visited a hospital he saw a strange light and the house began to shake and he heard a voice saying; 'Leave the world and give thyself to me!'

It was God.

Alphonsus became a hard liner, a moralist. As a bishop he ordered prostitutes to be buried on the garbage dump and had 'frivolous' engravings destroyed. He was always in trouble, people did not like him, he had fights with Popes and moved from one crisis to the next. When Pope Pius the 4th put and end to his career, he suffered depression, anxieties and evil temptations.

Alphonsus wore chains round his ankles and wrists and a cross full of nails on his chest and back. He would hit himself until he bled in a old cave and saw Mary appear naked before him. He wrote the most famous book on Maria ever written; 'Gloria di Maria'.

His hobbies included riding, fencing, playing cards and the opera.

Distinguisable features:
Wingspan: 1,72 m
Weight (approx): 41 kg
Range and distribution: Italy
Color: red and white tunic.
Special Features: a pen.

☝ Saint Catherine of Siena

2007-03-05T21:50:00.000Z

born: Siena 1347
died: Rome april 29 1380
Doctor of the Church and patron saint of Italy.

She was the 23rd child of Jacopo Benincasa. She saw angels as clearly as ordinary people. Aged 7, after a vision of 'Christ in glory' she promised her virginity to Him. To show her determination not to marry, she cut off her hair. Her family was furious, but Jacopo ordered her to be left alone and allowed a room for prayer.

She mystically married Jesus and his foreskin served as a wedding ring. After her death her hand with the praeputium of JesusChrist of Nazareth became a relic and the famous part of the penis of the lord, though invisible, was told to swell and turn red for two virgins. She liked to be humiliated and drank cupfuls of cancerous puss from a sick woman that abused her.

Catherine got the Pope to move back to Italy from France. In 1378 the Great Schism began and devastated Catherine. She had a seizure and died.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,62 m
Weight (approx): 44 kg
Range and distribution: Italy
Color: white and brown tunic.
Special features: ring, stigmata, lily.

☝ Christine of Stommeln

2007-03-05T21:45:00.001Z

born: Stommeln, 1242
died: Stommeln, nov 6, 1312
She had a vision of Jesus, and went into a convent where she spent much time in prayer. She often suffered convulsions and was assaulted by the devil. She was suicidal and got stigmata that poured out blood each year at Easter. The sisters of the convent thought she was crazy and threw her out. She was not made a saint. The scull of dead Christine showed little dents that supposedly corresponded to the crown of thorns.
Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,53 m
Weight (approx): 46 kg
Range and distribution: Germany
Color: white and black tunic and red stigmata
Special features: none

☝ Saint Eleanor Girlani

2007-03-05T21:42:00.000Z

born: Trino, 1460
died: Mantua, jan 25, 1494
She planned to become a Benedictine nun, but her horse did not agree and refused to carry her there. Apparently this wise animal at a later date did not disapprove of going to Parma so Eleanor became a Carmelite nun there.

She lived her religious life so intensely that, even though still here on Earth, she 'lived as if absorbed into Heaven'. She was gifted with ecstasies and levitation.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,51 m
Weight (approx): 45 kg
Range and distribution: Italy
Color: brown and white tunic.
Special features: a pigeon

☝ Saint Francis Fasani

2007-03-05T21:36:00.000Z

born: Lucera, aug 6, 1681
died: Lucera, nov 29, 1742
Also known as Anthony Fasani, a priest and teacher of philosophy, who when praying sometimes rose above the ground. He thought the fastest way to become a saint was trough laughter.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,76 m
Weight (approx): 83 kg
Range and distribution: Italy
Color: black tunic and beard
Special features: none

☝ Saint Francis Xavier

2007-03-05T21:28:00.000Z

born: castle of Xavier, april 7, 1506
died: on the Isle of Sancian near China, dec3, 1552
Apostle of the Indies and Japan.

After completing his philosophical studies in France, Xavier received the degree of Master of Arts and was a lecturer on Aristotelian logic, physics and metaphysics. He then turned to theology. In 1541 he went to the Indies and Japan.

Apparently a hardworking man, he was a tremendously successful missionary, courageously dined with head hunters, washed scores of lepers in Venice and baptized 10.000 children in a single month.

He spoke many languages and died in China when he contracted a fever.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,70 m
Weight (approx) : 72 kg
Range and distribution: Spain, Italy, India, West-Indies, Japan.
Color: black tunic and beard
Special features: a bell, a torch, a globe or cross and lilies.

☝ Saint Gemma Galgani

2007-03-05T21:23:00.000Z

born: near Lucca, march 12, 1878
died: Lucca, april 11, 1903
Italian mystic, plagued by serious illnesses from an early age, which prevented her from joining the Passionst nuns. She was cured by a miracle. Well, there is nothing a good miracle can’t fix. She had visions of Christ, the Blessed Virgin her guardian angel. She experienced stigmatization and the sweat of blood, scourging and levitation; all phenomena of 'Christ's Passion'.

A witness recounts; ‘Blood came from her wounds in great abundance. When she was standing, it flowed to the ground, and when in bed it not only wet the sheets, but saturated the whole mattress. I measured some streams or pools of this blood, and they were from twenty to twenty-five inches long and about two inches wide.’

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,56 m
Weight (approx) : 58 kg
Range and distribution: Italy
Color: black tunic
Special features: stigmata

☝ Saint Gerard Majella

2007-03-05T21:16:00.000Z

born: Muro, april 23, 1725
died: Caposele, 1755
He was not a priest but served as a lay brother, tailor, gardener and porter with St Alphonsus Liguori. He felt these silly jobs proved just how humble he was. He was accused by a woman of being the father of her child, being a humble man, he did not deny it, but was cleared of the blame later.

He was known widely for his supernatural gifts. Bi-location, prophecy, levitation and great knowledge. A handkerchief he once dropped also has supernatural powers, it protects unborn children.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,74 m
Weight (approx) : 87 kg
Range and distribution: Italy
Color: black tunic with white collar
Special features: a lily

☝ Jesus Christ of Nazareth

2007-03-05T21:11:00.000Z

appeared: beginning of October 6 B.C Bethlehem
left: 27 A.D mount Golgotha
Son of God, prophet, political activist, martyr, miracle worker and saver of mankind. The most famous levitation in history was performed by Jesus on Ascension Day. Many of his gifts resemble those attributed earlier to Pythagoras, who during his lifetime also was venerated as a god.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,62 m
Weight (approx): 52kg
Range and distribution: the entire universe
Color: various
Special features: radiant halo

☝ Saint John Bosco

2007-03-05T21:04:00.000Z

born: Becchi, aug16, 1815
died: Turin, jan 31, 1888
Founder of the Salesians, mostly an educator, who had a special devotion to Mary Help of Christians and had a Basilica with that name built in Turin.

When he was a boy Bosco used to present one-man shows of tricks learned from circus performers; after his performance, while he still had an audience, he would repeat what he had heard earlier in church.

John worked with young people mostly and started boarding schools for the poor, naturally some of his friends thought he had gone mad and tried to drag him away to a doctor.

Miracles are attributed to him.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,58 m
Weight (approx): 91 kg
Range and distribution: Italy
Color: black tunic
Special features: none

☝ Saint John Joseph of the Cross

2007-03-05T20:57:00.000Z

born: Fontiveros, june 24, 1542
died: Ubeda, dec 14, 1591
Priest,poet, mystic and theologian, he was a friend of st. Theresa of Avila and a very talented writer.

He had such a reputation of holiness that he was immediately put in charge of building a new friary. He joined the work crew, serving as a mason. He could heal, see the future, bi-locate and fly. At his death his soul was seen to rise from his body resembling the Globe of the Earth on fire.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,65 m
Weight (approx): 74 kg
Range and distribution: Italy
Color: light brown tunic
Special features: a pen and cross

☝ Saint Joseph of Cupertino

2007-03-05T20:52:00.000Z

born: Cupertino, june 17, 1603
died: Osimo, sept 18, 1663
A Franciscan friar whose ecstatic flights earned him the title 'Flying Friar'.

As a boy he was sickly, absent-minded, nervous and extremely hot tempered and quite useless because his ecstasies made it impossible to do any jobs. He had the habit of stopping in the middle of a sentence, not remembering the conversation and to stand still or kneel at awkward moments.

Joseph was sent to Grotella in 1628 where he performed many miracles. For 10 years the surrounding countryside witnessed the wonders of the friar. He kept drawing such crowds, that his desperate superiors sent him from convent to convent, hidden from the world and basically imprisoned.

His life was in danger when he was denounced to the Inquisition at Naples, but was freed after three 'examinations'. He was sent to Pope Urban the 8th and when Joseph saw the Holy Father he flew into the air until the Pope ordered him down.

Hordes of Pilgrims followed Joseph around, the Spanish ambassador and his group saw him take off over their heads to the high altar, uttering his usual shrill cry, and the Duke of Brunswick became a Catholic after twice seeing Joseph in ecstasy.

The brothers used needles and burning embers to try and get his attention, but they could not get him out off trance. He would be caught by a vision that fixed him like a statue. He might fly around with his plate at dinner or suddenly fly into a tree when working outside, completely caught by amazement of the world.

Pope Innocent the 10th ordered him to retire and he spent the rest of his life in complete seclusion.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,66 m
Weight (approx): 62 kg
Range and distribution: Italy
Color: various
Special features: none

☝ Saint Ludgardis of Tongeren

2007-03-05T20:40:00.001Z

born: Tongeren, 1182
died: Abby of Aywieres, june 16, 1246
Jesus appeared to her when she was a young girl. She was one of the first to venerate the Holy Hart of Jesus. Ludgardis was one of the great many holy virgins, all saints are.

Some of the nuns identified so strongly with Mary that they slept with a little Jesus doll and fed it. They would actually feel pregnant with the Lord.

Ludgardis had many visions and sometimes levitations, which made her famous, even abroad. The last 11 years of her life she was blind.

Distiguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,67 m
Weight (approx): 88 kg
Range and distribution: Belgium
Color: black and white tunic
Special features: hart

☝ Saint Luke Thaumaturgus

2007-03-05T20:17:00.000Z

born: Aegina
died: on mount Joannitsa, 946
This Greek boy drove his parents mad because he kept giving things away. When he was 18 he built himself a hermitage on Mount Joannitsa near Corinth, there he worked miracles and the site was turned into an oratory after his death. He was one of the earliest saints to be seen levitating in prayer.
Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,56 m
Weight (approx): 60 kg
Range and distribution: Greece
Color: white robe
Special features: none

☝ Saint Michael Garicoïts

2007-03-05T20:09:00.000Z

born: Ibarre, april 15, 1797
died: may 14 (Ascension Day) 1863
Suffered a depression as a child. He went to find heaven in the mountains when he was told it could be found there. At thirteen Michael had a vision of God that came 'as a wave of joy and lights that dazzled him'.

He went to France where he was seen to levitating with a luminous halo on his face. This made him very popular and he was asked to join several convents. From then on his studies involve the role of happiness and the hart in religion. After his death all kinds of miracles happened.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,92 m
Weight (approx): 91 kg
Range and distribution: France
Color: black tunic and hat
Special features: none

☝ Saint Paul of the Cross

2007-03-05T19:59:00.000Z

born: Ovada, jan 3, 1694
died: Rome, oct 18, 1775
Missionary, director of souls and founder of the Passionists, in 1720 he had 'the Great Vision' of God. He experienced 12 years of 'extraordinary visions and graces', mingled with trails, followed by 45 years of 'desolation and intense suffering', and his last years were dominated by 'astonishing mystical phenomena, consolations and extraordinary favors'.

Preacher of such power that hardened soldiers and bandits were seen to weep.
He slept on the ground and fasted.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,69 m
Weight (approx): 70 kg
Range and distribution: Italy
Color: black tunic and white hair
Special features: burning hart and cross

☝ Saint Peter Claver

2007-03-05T19:53:00.000Z

born: Verdu, 1580
died: Cartagena, 1654
Claver, Jesuit missionary, 'Saint of the Slaves', was not only a missionary but a doctor and teacher. He greeted the incoming ships at Cartagena coming from Africa with a small group of interpreters. Carrying the Holy Cross, he went into the slave ships where on the long voyages epidemics and suffering had taken their toll, there he tended the ill.

He converted more than 300.000 by 1615. Stories of his miracles passed among the slave community.

In his last years he suffered a paralysis.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,60 m
Weight (approx): 59 kg
Range and distribution: Spain, South-America.
Color: black tunic
Special features: accompanied by slaves or insects

☝ Saint Peter of Alcantará

2007-03-05T19:45:00.001Z

born: Alcantará 1499
died: Arenas oct 18, 1562
Franciscan reformer who was hailed as a restorer of the Franciscan Order and was known for his extreme mortifications.

From the age of 16 he slept less than 3 hours each night, and did not lie down but sat in a hard chair or sat with his head leaning against the wall. His cell was only 75cm long, he ate little, at first only once every three days, later only once a week. When he did eat he destroyed the taste with ashes or earth. For three years he never raised his eyes from the ground. He never ever looked at the ceiling and knew his fellow monks only by voice. He sometimes hit himself with a cane or scourge. And like St PhilipusNeri sometimes the love of God manifested itself as a physical pain.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,70 m
Weight (approx): 38 kg
Range and distribution: Spain
Color: brown tunic
Special features: a scourge and a pigeon whispering in ear.

☝Saint Philipus Neri

2007-03-05T19:37:00.001Z

born: Florence, July 21, 1515
died: Rome, may 26, 1595
Catholic reformer and founder of the Oratorians.

Instead of becoming a priest he abandoned his studies and as a layman, completely on his own, he meditated on the gospels and prayed, sometimes it seems in ecstasy. Neri was a notorious prankster and joker.

Like saint Francis of Assisi, he had theatrical talent, and did hilarious performances. They were the stand-up comedians of their day. Saint Francis had the funny habit of being extremely rude to other saints and throw stones at them, this made him very popular. He had a gift for making a spectacle of himself and did stunts. He once had himself dragged through the streets at high speed behind a horse for eating a piece of chicken when he was not supposed to.

Neri was once seduced by a woman, when she stood in front of him, naked, he decided to run for it. 'The disappointed woman grabbed the first weapon that came to hand, a footstool, and hurtled it after the retreating saint. After this incident divine grace so infused Philipus that all sexual feelings disappeared from his body' Even his sense of touch deadened.

The last 30 years of his life he lived more like a celestial being than a man.

Distinguishing features:
Wingspan: 1,68 m
Weight (approx): 74 kg
Range and distribution: Italy
Color: black tunic and hat, white beard.
Special features: burning heart

☝ Simon Magus

2007-03-05T19:27:00.005Z

born: Gitta in first century
Roman magician, 'father of all heretics', founder of Gnosticism, Emperor Nero's court magician, who had a titanic battle with St Peter in an attempt, so we are told, to overthrow Christianity.

He had the power to heal, to turn stones into bread, to travel trough the air, to stand unharmed in fires, change shape, become invisible, move objects and open locks without contact. St. Peter broke his legs trying to imitate Simon's flight.

Nearly all records concerning the Magus have been destroyed.

Simon explained the purpose of the Magus, completely misunderstood by the followers of Jesus, as a certain degree of enlightenment. The consciousness of the magician is at one with 'Nous'; Reason. The form of knowledge that Adam knew before the Fall, a true and perfect knowledge of nature, Natural Magic. This Reason must be combined with Epinoia; Thought.

Gnostics believe the spirit of God to be trapped in matter, especially humans. This happened during the creation of the world. Thought can be trapped in forms and images it creates and is abused by corrupted men. It must be redeemed by 'Nous'. Simon is thus a Faustian figure; a scientist turned magician.

Distinguishing features:
Wingspan: 1,54m
Weight (approx): 65kg
Range and distribution: Egypt, Greece and Italy
Color: various
Special features: none

☝ Saint Theresa of Avila

2007-03-05T19:14:00.000Z

born: Avila, march 28, 1515
died: Alba, oct 4, 1582
A pretty girl who grew up reading about saints and played at being a hermit in the garden.

As a teenager she cared only about boys and clothes like all kids. Being popular made it difficult to become a nun but she did anyway. Immediately she got malaria, and the medication she received was poor so she never really recovered. She started having visions.

One eyewitness Sister Anne of the Incarnation said Theresa levitated a 40 cm of the ground for about half an hour.
She would crawl around on the floor in ecstasy calling for her 'sweet beloved Youngman'.
'It seemed to me when I tried to make some resistance, as if a great force beneath my feet lifted me up. I know of nothing with which to compare it, but it was much more violent than other spiritual visitations, and I was therefore as one ground to pieces'.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,59 m
Weight (approx): 58 kg
Range and distribution: Spain
Color: various
Special features: an arrow, heart and arrow or whispering pigeon

☝ Saint Thomas Aquinas

2007-03-05T18:47:00.000Z

born: Roccasecca, 1225
died: Fossanuova, march 7, 1274

Very important Dominican theologian, philosopher and Doctor of the Church.
One of his sisters was killed by lightning.

He was not very bright in school, they called him the 'Ox', but he had a huge influence on the Catholic Church and his teachings, which include the concept of 7 Deadly Sins, gave him great authority, his writings seem to involve Aristotle a lot. His appreciation of the classics cleared the path for the coming Renaissance.

The chunky Dominican could rise two 'cubits' above the church floor.

Quote: 'That the saints may enjoy their beautitude and the grace of God more abundantly, they are permitted to see the punishment of the damned in hell.' - sounds somewhat like a new media theorist.

Distinguishable features:
Wingspan: 1,89 m
Weight approximately: 105 kg
Range and distribution: Italy
Color: black and white tunic
Special features: an ox, a star or sun or with pagan philosophers at feet