A depiction of St. Maurus miraculously
rescuing St. Placidus from drowning,
through the intercession of St. Benedict.
In the life of the great St. Benedict of Nursia (d. 547), there is the story about his young disciple, St. Placidus, accidentally falling into a river while collecting water. While being swept away by currents Benedict ordered another member of his group - St. Maurus - to hurriedly rescue his drowning brethren. Without giving it a second thought, Maurus ran towards Placidus and was surprised to see himself inexplicably treading on the surface of the water. Thus, he was able to quickly reach his friend and dragged him back to the safety of the shore.
Concerning St. Gerard Majella (d. 1755) - another potent miracle-worker - it's narrated how he not only experienced Ecstatic Levitations that were mass-witnessed but, on one occasion, he happened upon a fishing boat just off the coast that was in danger of sinking due to a storm. Seeing the immediate need, the Saint walked on the waves (or above them?) to the vessel, where he called out to the crew for a rope. The awestruck fishermen threw him a line, which the Saint then used to pull them to the safety of the harbor. Gerard later fled the scene but not before he was recognized by the large crowd that had gathered on the shore.
Bl. Giovanna Irrizaldi, a Mercedarian nun, reportedly sailed over water using her veil.
A slight variation of the walking-on-water miracle is that of "sailing" over water on a cloak. Yes, it's been recorded in the lives of at least two Saints - St. Raymond of Penafort (d. 1275) and St. Francis of Paola (d. 1507). St. Raymond did it when the king of Spain tried to detain him against his will on the island of Mallorca. Ships had been forbidden to transport the Saint back to the mainland so Raymond, instead, placed his cloak on the water, made the sign of the cross, and off he went!
St. Raymond of Penafort sailed across
the open ocean from Mallorca to Spain
using his cloak as a vessel.
Air Striders
This segment describes another manner of Levitation this author refers to as "air striding". In these scenarios, based on descriptions of the phenomenon, certain Saints were observed to move from one place to another with such extraordinary speed and agility, they seemed to literally glide on air - like how a hovercraft does - rather than touch the ground. This wonder was noted in the lives of the Servant of God, Fr. John Edward Lamy (d. 1931); with Bl. Maria of the Passion (d. 1912); with St. Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi (d. 1607); and in the life of St. Martin de Porres (d. 1639) who also regularly experienced ecstatic levitations.
Fr. John Lamy and Bl. Maria of the
Passion were both observed walking with
impossible speed, as though gliding on air.
Closer to our time, in 1981, it's reported that in the early days of the famed Marian apparitions of Medjugorje, the six visionaries exhibited this same phenomenon. During one of Our Lady's alleged appearances on Apparition Hill, she beckoned to the seers to come to her and they at once "ran" up the rocky hillside with incredible speed to meet the Holy Virgin. Observers who gathered to witness the apparition could not keep up with the visionaries and had to climb the hill with difficulty.
Mystical Crucifixions
A good deal of stigmatized Mystics in Catholic history have been levitated at some point in their lives. In fact, many names on this blog are stigmatics (e.g. St. Catherine of Siena, St. Lutgarde of Aywieres, St. Margaret of Cortona, St. Teresa of Avila, etc.). For a few of them, an usual feature of their periodic "Passion Ecstasies" involved being lifted in the air during their mystical reenactment of the Crucifixion, as though they were nailed to an actual, but invisible, cross!
St. Mariam Thresia was a stigmatic
whose ecstatic levitations were publicly
witnessed on many occasions.
For example, St. Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan (d. 1926) of India, a foundress of a congregation, often suffered the eruption of bleeding wounds on certain Fridays of the year. When this happened, she would undergo the crucifixion mysteriously suspended several feet in the air with her back against a wall of her room. The miracle became so widely known, the townspeople gathered at her window to watch the Saint's ordeal.
In the obscure case of the Spanish Poor Clare of Burgos, Madre Joanna of Jesus Mary (d. 1650), she fashioned a large wooden cross for herself to carry and lay on so as to better contemplate the Lord's Passion. She developed Stigmata and continued using the holy prop, except it would now float in mid-air with Madre Joanna "nailed" to it. This miracle recurred weekly on Fridays so it was well-attested to by the mystic's fellow nuns.
An old print of Madre Joanna of Jesus Mary, a Spanish stigmatic of Burgos.
Other women stigmatics with similar experiences include Bl. Jane of Orvieto (d. 1306), St. Veronica Giuliani (d. 1727), and the Servant of God, Maria von Morl (d. 1868).
Mystical Flights
Sometimes Saints have been known to soar through the air - actual flight, not just hovering in one spot - in order to complete certain tasks or for other practical reasons. Take for example, St. Joseph of Cupertino, who was a "frequent flyer" and highly referenced when it comes to Levitation - his experiences were some of the most well-observed (he once levitated in the presence of Pope Urban VIII). It's recounted how the Saint, while residing in the Italian town of Grotella, inspired the townsfolk to erect Stations of the Cross near their parish church. When workmen struggled to lift a large crucifix, St. Joseph flew into the air and, with little effort, hoisted the crucifix to its place where the men were able to secure it. His life is filled with many such stories.
St. Joseph Cupertino in flight.
In the life of St. Christina the Astonishing (d. 1224), an extraordinary victim-soul who suffered for the benefit of the Poor Souls in Purgatory, she sometimes took to the air, flying up to church rafters or the tops of trees to distance herself from her fellow man. Apparently, she had the unusual ability to smell the stench of any sin present in souls and could not bear to be near most people because their odor nauseated her.
Another example I'd like to include in this segment is Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich (d. 1824), the celebrated German stigmatic. In her biography, the Blessed tells of occasions during which she found herself suddenly rising in the air while cleaning in her monastery's chapel. She was lucid and attributed these flights to her guardian angel, taking advantage of them to clean the upper parts of the church that were normally inaccessible.
Conclusion
Of course there will always be doubters who will scoff at these stories, which is fine, but for this author there's no doubt Levitation occurs; it's a bona-fide Miracle. The recorded accounts, and the credibility and volume of witnesses throughout history are just too compelling to dismiss it.
Three holy women-founders who levitated:
St. Joaquina Vedruna de Mas (d. 1854), St.
Some skeptics concede that "something" may have really occurred BUT it was: misidentified by the witness(es)... mass hysteria.... perhaps due to the Mystic's natural agility (e.g. jumping)... or simply an outright hoax perpetrated by either the Mystic and/or witness(es). But these explanations can be reasonably dismissed.
The fact is - there are abundant accounts of levitations that lasted for more than the brief seconds it takes for someone to jump or leap. For example, one of St. Thomas of Villanova's (d. 1555) levitations lasted for 12 hours, while Bl. Archangela Girlani (d. 1424) once clocked in as being elevated for over 24 hours! The duration of these levitations afforded their numerous spectators more than enough time to rationally analyze what they were seeing... and many witnesses were educated individuals, including a Protestant Duke and a Pope, as in St. Joseph of Cupertino's case.
On at least one occasion St. Alphonsus Liguori was publicly seen
to spontaneously rise into the air.
... and finally, what about the diabolic? It is a possibility and there are indeed well-documented cases of false mystics, occult practioners, and possessed individuals levitating, which this author will not include here... but, in the accounts cited above from the lives of our Catholic Saints, Blesseds, and Servants of God, one can be assured that God was the originator of their signs and wonders. The Church wisely and expertly scrutinized their lives and accomplishments with a fine-toothed comb, and determined them to have lived with an exemplary degree of personal sanctity; selfless and heroic souls whose holiness also inspired goodness in countless others. As Jesus once said in Sacred Scripture: "THEREFORE, BY THEIR FRUITS YOU WILL KNOW THEM." (Matthew 17:20)
