As a child Joseph could not learn to read or write. He could not speak well enough to finish a sentence. He was given to fits of temper, couldn't do any type of job and even his mother had given up on him. She dropped him off at the monastery, where he couldn't even pass out the bread because he couldn't tell the difference between wheat and white.

Finally, he was given the job of taking care of the monastery mule. Taking care of the mule calmed Joseph and with great difficulty, he learned to read. He couldn't be a priest because he couldn't read well enough to pass the oral examine given by the bishop. He couldn't remember passages from the Bible and all of that. There was only one thing in the Bible that inspired him. The words in Luke "Blessed be the womb that bore Thee".

When he went before the bishop, the bishop's eye fell on those words, randomly selected and he asked Joseph to talk about that passage. Joseph could talk endlessly about that passage and only that passage. He became a priest.

God chooses who He wants.

It turns out that the reason Joseph had these 'stupors' was that he he was ultra sensitive to the world around him and the supernatural that exists in this world. As time went on, every little thing sent Joseph into a stupor, and then an ecstasy. The sound of the church bell, the utterance of the word "God", a candle, a lamb.

And then...Joseph would rise off the floor. And then ....Joseph would fly.

Yes, I said fly. He could fly straight up and kiss the cross on the top of the altar. He could fly across the church and hover in front of the Mary statue. He levitated before the Pope.

It wasn't long before he could no longer say Mass because he would float around and fly around, every moment of the Mass sending him into further ecstasy. He could read souls and bilocate.

He was a very special person. Very, very special.

How's that sound for a patron saint for autism? Difficult and misunderstood, with problems controlling temper but a host of special gifts locked inside waiting to be discovered.

St. Joseph Cupertino on a glass pendant on ball chain. Pictured on a pendant is St. Bibiana to show you this type of item as a finished product.