- Saints and levitation
There are numerous
saints to whom the ability to fly or levitate in spite of their weight has been attributed. Most of these flying saints are mentioned as such in literature and sources associated with them.The ability was also attributed to other figures in early
Christianity . The apocryphal "Acts of Peter " gives a legendary tale of Simon Magus' death. Simon is performingmagic in the forum, and in order to prove himself to be agod , he flies up into the air. The apostle Peter prays to God to stop his flying, and he stops mid-air and falls, breaking his legs, whereupon the crowd, previously non-hostile, stones him to death. [ [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/actspeter.html The Acts of Peter ] ]The church of
Santa Francesca Romana claims to have been built on the spot in question (thus claiming that Simon Magus could indeed fly), claims that Saint Paul was also present, and that a dented slab of marble that it contains bears the imprints of the knees of Peter and Paul during their prayer.The phenomenon of levitation was recorded again and again for certain saints.
Saint Francis of Assisi is recorded as having been "suspended above the earth, often to a height of three, and often to a height of four cubits."St. Alphonsus Liguori , when preaching atFoggia , was lifted before the eyes of the whole congregation several feet from the ground. [Montague Summers, Witchcraft and Black Magic, (Courier Dover, 2000), 200.] Liguori is also said to have had the power ofbilocation .Flying or levitation was also associated with
witchcraft . When it came to female saints, there was a certain ambivalence expressed by theologians,canon lawyers ,inquisitors , and male hagiographers towards the powers that they were purported to have. By 1500, the image of the female saint in popular imagination had become similar to that of thewitch . Both witches and female saints were suspected of flying through the air, whether in saintly levitation or bilocation, or in a witches’ Sabbath.Caroline Walker Bynum, "Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women" (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), 23.]List of levitating saints
* Saint
Alphonsus Liguori
* SaintArchangela Girlani
* SaintCatherine of Siena
* SaintChristina the Astonishing
* BlessedChristina von Stommeln
* SaintEdmund Rich [ [http://www.paranormality.com/levitating_saints.shtml Levitating Saints ] ]
* SaintFrancis of Paola
* SaintFrancis Fasani
* SaintFrancis Xavier
* SaintGemma Galgani
* SaintGerard Majella
* SaintIgnatius Loyola
* SaintJohn Bosco
* SaintJohn Joseph of the Cross
* Saint Joseph of Cupertino [ [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj04.htm Patron Saints Index: Saint Joseph of Cupertino ] ]
* SaintLudgardis of Tongeren
* SaintLuke Thaumaturgus (Luke the Younger) [ [http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0207.htm Saint Patrick's Church: Saints of February 7 ] ]
* SaintMartin de Porres
* SaintMichael Garicoits
* BlessedMiguel Pro
* SaintPaul of the Cross
* SaintPeter Claver
* SaintPeter of Alcantara
* SaintPhilip Neri
* SaintTheresa of Avila
* SaintThomas Aquinas ee also
*
Bilocation
*Levitation (paranormal)
*The Flying Nun Notes
External links
* [http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/viewcolumn.php?id=38 Unexplained Mysteries: Self Levitation]
* [http://www.paranormality.com/levitating_saints.shtml Paranormality: Levitating Saints]
* [http://wintersteel.homestead.com/Levitation.html Levitation]
* [http://www.bibleufo.com/humanphenom3.htm Human anomalies]
* [http://flyingsaints.blogspot.com/ Field Guide to Flying Saints]
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