The mystery of levitation among Christian saints
Who are these that fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows?
“God became human so that man might become god” – Athanasius I (the Apostolic) of Alexandria, 20th pope of Alexandria, Eastern Orthodox Church
Athanasius I of Alexandria
How absurd is it to think that any known rules of physics could be broken? And yet Christian history is full of many examples of saints that were witnessed by independent, verified sources to have defied the laws of gravity, and other constructs of rational thought. In particular, there are many accounts of saints who levitated, and those who could seemingly be present in two places (bilocation) at the same time. This creates a dilemma – either to reject entirely the presence of such mystical phenomena as hearsay, and therefore reject a religion that serves as the very foundation of the Western world, or accept them, and allow for an expanded understanding of natural phenomena with the implicit belief that science has not entirely figured it out, and that there might be future developments which could possibly explain such mysteries.
“The heart of mysticism is contemplation” as laid out by author Carl McColman in a book with the same title. In fact, contemplation in a religious context means seeking direct awareness of the divine (as opposed to reading, hearing, or believing).
Once contemplation reaches it zenith, “charism” is not uncommon. According to the Catherine of Siena Institute “charism is the Greek word used in the New Testament for "favor" or "gratuitous gift." Charisms, or spiritual gifts, are special abilities given to all Christians by the Holy Spirit to give them power both to represent Christ and to be a channel of God's goodness for people. Whether extraordinary or ordinary, all charisms ought to be exercised in the service of God (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2003).”
Carlos Eire is T. L. Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University. He is the author of Waiting for Snow in Havana, winner of the National Book Award; War Against the Idols; A Very Brief History of Eternity; and Reformations. According to his biography, “Carlos Eire, who received his PhD from Yale in 1979, specializes in the social, intellectual, religious, and cultural history of late medieval and early modern Europe, with a focus on both the Protestant and Catholic Reformations; the history of popular piety; the history of the supernatural, and the history of death. Before joining the Yale faculty in 1996, he taught at St. John’s University in Minnesota and the University of Virginia, and was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton for two years.” And very curiously: “all of his books are banned in Cuba, where he has been proclaimed an enemy of the state – a distinction he regards as the highest of all honors.” An essay from his new book “They Flew: A History of the Impossible”, published by Yale University Press appeared in the Commonweal Magazine in 2023.
Per Carlos Eire, in Commonweal Magazine, there are two types of charism noted by the Catholic Church – those “phenomena that were not visible but can be conjoined with mystical ecstasy”, and “phenomena that is overtly physical and visibly involves the body.”
I will first list down the Catholic church recorded non-visible charisms that are easier to comprehend than the next set of overtly physical and visible mystical occurrences:
Visions, locutions, and apparitions: when the mystic has various sorts of encounters with the divine that are not visible to others, and the mystic receives communications from God that are visual, aural, or purely spiritual.
Invisible demonic molestations: when the mystic is assailed by demons spiritually or mentally, sometimes with a visual component that is invisible to others.
Telekinesis: the ability to move objects at a distance by nonphysical means, without touching them.
Telepathy: the ability to read the minds and consciences of others or to communicate mentally.
Prophecy: the ability to know and predict future events accurately, including one’s own death.
Supernatural remote vision: the ability to see events that are occurring elsewhere.
Supernatural dreams: the ability to receive divine communications while sleeping.
Infused knowledge: learning directly from God, without formal education, through ecstasies, visions, locutions, and apparitions.
Supernatural control over nature: the ability to command the behavior of weather, fauna, and flora and to communicate with animals.
Discernment of spirits: the ability to distinguish whether any event is of divine or demonic origin.
According to Eire, the other bucket of mystical phenomena or charisms include visible physical changes in the body:
Visible ecstasies, raptures, and trances: when the body enters a cataleptic state and becomes rigid, insensible, and oblivious to its surroundings.
Levitation: when the body rises up in the air, hovers, or flies.
Weightlessness: when the body displays a total or nearly total absence of weight during trances and levitations or after death.
Transvection: when the body is transported through the air from one location to another in some indeterminate measure of time.
Teleportation: when the body transverses physical space instantaneously, moving from one place to another without any time having elapsed, sometimes over great distances.
Bilocation: when the body is present in two places simultaneously.
Stigmatization: when the body acquires the five wounds of the crucified Christ or other wounds inflicted during his passion.
Luminous irradiance: when the body glows brightly.
Supernatural hyperosmia: a heightened sense of smell that allows the mystic to detect the sins of others.
Supernatural inedia: the ability to survive without any food or with very little food at all.
Supernatural insomnia: the ability to survive without much, if any, sleep.
Visible demonic molestations: physical attacks by demons that wound the body.
Odor of sanctity: when the body emits a unique and immensely pleasant smell.
Supernatural incorruption: when the corpse of a saint does not decompose but remains unnaturally intact for many years, decades, or centuries.
Myroblitism: when the corpse of a saint discharges a pleasant-smelling oily substance capable of performing healing miracles directly or through cloths dipped in it.
St Joseph of Cupertino
St. Joseph was born in Cupertino in Naples, Italy in 1603. Legend has it that he was absent-minded and frequently wandered aimlessly. He tried to join the Franciscan order, but was turned down due to his lack of education. He joined the Capuchins but was kicked out within eight months. At the age of eighteen, he was able to join as a servant at the Franciscan monastery. Finally, he was able to enter the Franciscan order after significant effort. During his time at the church there are over seventy recorded instances of him levitating, and rising from the ground while offering mass or prayers. According to Catholic Online, “often he went into ecstasy and would be caught up in talking with God… Once as Christmas carols were being sung, he soared to the high altar and knelt in the air, in ecstatic prayer. The people flocked to him in droves seeking help and advice in the confessional, and he assisted many in living a truly devout Christian life. However, this humble man had to endure many severe trials and terrible temptations throughout his life.” Pope Clement XIII canonized him in 1767. He is the patron saint of air travelers, pilots and learning disabled.
St John Vianney
St John Vianney (born Jean-Marie Vianney) was a French Catholic priest often referred to as Curé d'Ars ("the parish priest of Ars") in a reference to the town of Ars, France. During the last ten years of his life, he spent sixteen to eighteen hours a day in confessional. He is said to have developed a supernatural gift of reading into people’s hearts and minds. There were often very long lines of people waiting to seek his counsel. “A woman who was the mother of sixteen children had succeeded in getting a place in line in the middle of the nave, because with so many children to care for, she could not afford to be away from home for too long. Suddenly the saint appeared outside his confessional, and, pointing his finger towards her, he said: "You, madame, you are in a hurry- Come at once!””
And of course these are just two examples of recorded mystical gifts among Christian saints. There are many such examples, a lot that remain documented for the historical record. While many yet that are still legends. Speaking of mystical gifts, I recently was connected with Noah Berman, the founder of multiple startups and a gifted psychic himself, who from early childhood was an empath, and had a remarkable clairvoyant sense. Here is Noah in discussion with Dr Deepak Chopra:
In the next post, we will explore Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, before we return to non-Abrahamic practices such as shamanism, paganism and Tibetan Buddhism.