Levitation as a Gift of the Holy Spirit

Saints who Miraculously Rose and Floated from the Ground in Prayer

Mar 16, 2009

Some saints who experienced levitation explained that they also felt a rapture at the same time as they were lifted off the ground.

Many saints have been reported to rise above the ground, some by a little and other by a great deal, during the celebration of the Holy Mass or other prayer times in private. St. Teresa of Avila described her experience of levitation by saying that it comes upon you “like a strong, swift impulse, before your thought can forewarn you of it or you can do anything to help yourself; you see and feel this cloud, or this powerful eagle, rising and bearing you up with it on its wings.”

A saint who experienced so many levitations it became necessary to restrict his access to the choir and refectory so as not to cause disturbances during Mass, St. Joseph of Cupertino was an unlikely saint who became very holy. His own family considered him to be an idiot, and didn’t believe he would make it through the seminary. Eventually, with the help of God, he did. But because of his lower intellect, he was still kept to tend the pigs and sheep in the stables. St. Joseph loved this, and it was in this hay-filled barn his levitations are believed to have begun to take place when he would pray before a broken statue of Mary he had taken into the stable.

But St. Joseph of Cupertino was known to levitate to the height of the pulpit and more during the consecration at the alter. In order to test him, other monks actually chained him to the ground with heavy armor. This still did not deter the gifts of the Holy Spirit within him as he lifted up and the chains were ripped from the concrete floor in which they had been embedded.

Blessed Margaret of Castello

Profoundly disfigured from birth, Blessed Margaret of Castello was a dwarf, blind, hunchback and lame. Her parents deserted her shortly after visiting a shrine known for its miraculous healings, when their daughter was not healed. Devoting her life to prayer, she was a Dominican Tertiary and took care of prisoners, the sick and dying. A story is related of one instance, although there were many, wherein St. Margaret of Castello was praying for a man in prison inside his cell. She began to rise above the ground to about 20 inches in her prayer, completely oblivious to all around her. It was said that her face was transformed to a glorious radiance.

The man who was an ardent sinner tried to deny what he had seen and continue his blasphemous ways, but as she descended from prayer he could only beg her prayers for his soul.

Others who Levitated

Others who levitated during their holy lives included St. Teresa of Avila, Ven. Maria Villani, St. Gerard Majella, St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori, Father Paul of Moll, St. Martin de Porres, St. Gemma Galgani, St. Paul of the Cross, Ven. Dominic of Jesu Mari, Blessed Thomas of Corsi, Ven. Mary of Agreda, Passitea Crogi, Bl. Mary of Jesus Crucified, Sr. Maria of the Passion, St. Francis of Paola, St. Agnes of Monepulciano, Bl. Clara of Rimini, St. Francis of Posadas, St. John Joseph of the Cross, St. John of St. Facond, St. Francis Xavier, St. Lutgarde of Aywieres, St. Dominic, St. Philip NeriBl. Flora of Beaulieu, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Jean Marie Baptise Vianney, St. Ignatius Loyolya, St. Rose of Viterbo and St. Rita of Cascia

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