Saint Joseph Cupertino to Jorge Mario Bergoglio: Convert to the Catholic Faith

Today, Monday, September 18, 2023, is the Feast of Saint Joseph Cupertino.

Here is an account of Saint Joseph Cupertino's life as contained in the readings for Matins for his feast day today:

This Joseph was born, of godly parents, at Cupertino, a small village of the diocecese of Nardo, between Brindisi and Otranto, (six miles from the coast of the Gulf of Tarento, upon the 17th day of June,) in the year of Redemption 1603. The love of God came to him early, and he passed his childhood and youth in great guilelessness and harmlessness. After recovering by the help of the Virgin Mother of God from a long and painful sickness which he bore very quietly, he gave himself altogether to godliness and self-improvement. God called him inwardly to higher things, and to give himself more utterly to His service, he determined in himself to join the "Seraphic" Order. After divers failures and changes, he obtained his wish among the Friars of the convent of "La Grotella." He went first as a lay-brother, on account of his ignorance of letters, but God was pleased to allow him afterwards to be taken among the choir brethren. After taking his solemn vows he was ordained Priest, and then set before him to aim at a more perfect life. To this end (as far as in him lay) he thrust from him all earthly affections and all carnal things, even to such as seem almost needful for life. He tormented his body with haircloth, scourging, spiked chains, and every kind of hardship and affliction. He fed his spirit sweetly upon the constant exercise of holy prayer, and gazing upon the highest matters. And so it came to pass that the love of God, which had been enkindled in his heart from his earliest years, burnt forth day by day more strangely and openly.

The chief outcome of this love of God was the strong and marvellous trances whereinto he oftentimes fell. It was, nevertheless, strange to observe that after he had entirely lost his senses he could be called out of the trance by the mere order of his superiors. To be utterly obedient was one of his chief aims, and he was used to say that those who ruled him could lead him about like a blind man, and that it was better to die than not to obey. He so imitated the poverty of the Seraphic Patriarch, that when he was at the point of death, when the Friars use to dispose of anything they have, he was able to tell his Superior that he had absolutely nothing. Thus bearing about in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus, the life also of Jesus was made manifest in his body. When he saw that certain persons had committed a foul sin of uncleanness, there came from him a strong savour, a proof of that snowy and glorious purity which, in spite of the most hideous temptations whereby the unclean spirit wrestled long to darken it, he kept undefiled, partly by an iron bridling of his senses, partly by the stern punishments he inflicted upon his own body, and partly by the extraordinary protection of the pure Virgin Mary, whom he was used to call his own Mother, whom he honoured and worshipped as his most tender Mother in his very heart of hearts, and whom he was eager that all men should honour, because, as he said, if we have her protection, every good thing comes with it.

This eagerness on the part of the blessed Joseph was but one outcome from his love for his neighbours. So great was his zeal for souls, that he vehemently sought in all ways for the salvation of all. When he saw his neighbour in any trouble, whether it were poverty or sickness or any other affliction, his tenderness went out toward him, and he helped him as well as he could. They who reviled, and slandered, and insulted himself were not cut off from his love. He was used to welcome such with great long-suffering, meekness, and cheerfulness of countenance and he preserved the same constantly amid many hardships and changes when he was sent hither and thither by command of the Superiors of his Order, and of the Holy Inquisition. People and princes alike marvelled at the exceeding holiness of his life, and the spiritual gifts poured upon him from above, but he was so lowly, that he sincerely held himself to be chief among sinners, and earnestly besought God to take away from him the more showy of His gifts. Of men he entreated that after his death they would cast his body somewhere where his memory might soonest perish. But God, Who exalteth them of low degree, glorified His servant during life with the gifts of heavenly wisdom, of prophecy, of discerning the hidden thoughts of the heart, of healing, and of other spiritual gifts in marvellous abundance, gave him a precious death, and made the place of his rest glorious. He fell asleep in Jesus upon the very day and at the very place foretold by himself, that is, at Osimo, (between Ancona and Loretto, upon the 18 th day of September,) in the 61st year of his own age, and in that of salvation 1663. He was famous for miracles even after his death, and Benedict XIV. enrolled his name among those of the Blessed, and Clement XIII. among those of the Saints. Clement XIV., being himself a member of the same Order, extended the use of the Office and Mass in memory of him to the whole Church. (Matins, The Divine Office, Feast of Saint Joseph of Cupertino.)

There is another account of a remarkable event in the life of this holy priest who had such pure love for Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament and for the Blessed Virgin Mary that says quite a bit about the necessity of holding to the entirety of the Catholic Faith as It has been handed down to us from the Apostles to the present day without any diminution or any kind of alteration.

Indeed, the event that is found in Father Angelco Pastrovicchi’s Saint Joseph Cupertino reveals that Our Lord Himself has no sympathies for those, whether Catholic or non-Catholic, who do not hold to the entirety of the Sacred Deposit of Faith:

The efficacy of his [Saint Joseph Cupertino’s] prayers is strikingly shown in the conversion to the Catholic faith of a Lutheran prince, John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick. While visiting the principal courts of Europe, in the year 1649, the prince, then twenty-five years of age, came from Rome to Assisi expressly to see Joseph, of whose fame he had heard in Germany. On his arrival in the monastery, he was given lodging in the rooms reserved for persons of rank and, as he wished to speak to Joseph and then continue his journey, he, with two of his retainers (one a Catholic, the other a Protestant) was led next morning to the door of the chapel, where the servant of God was saying Mass. The saint, who was not informed of their presence, was made aware of it when about to break the sacred host, which he found so hard, that, in spite of all his efforts, he could not break it, but had to replace it on the paten. Fixing his eyes upon the host, he wept and with a loud cry he rose about five paces into the air. With another cry he returned after some time to the altar and broke the sacred host, though with great effort. At the instance of the Duke, the Father Superior asked him why he had wept, and he replied: “My dear compatriot, the persons, whom you sent to my Mass this morning, have a hard heart; for they do not believe all that Holy Mother Church teaches, and therefore the Lamb of God was hardened in my hands so that I could not break the sacred host.” The Duke astonished at this occurrence, deferred his departure in order to consult with the servant of God. This he did after dinner, remaining with the saint till Compline. Moved by divine grace, the Duke wished again to assist at Holy Mass on the following day. At the elevation, the cross on the host appeared black to all present, and the saint, with his usual cry, was raised up on a palm from the floor, and remained about a quarter of an hour in this position, elevating the host. On seeing this miracle the Duke wept, but his companion, the Lutheran, said angrily: “Cursed be the hour in which I came to this country; for at home I was much more at peace and now my conscience is tormented by the furies of doubt” [Author’s footnote: Henry Julius Blume became a Catholic in 1653. See Dr. Andreas Raess, Die Convertien seit der Reformation, vol. VI (Freiburg, Herder, 1868), pp. 450-452, 558-571.] Joseph, enlightened from above, assured one of his friends of the future conversion of the prince in the following words: “Let us be of good cheer, the deer is wounded.” The prince conversed with Joseph till midday. On seeing the Duke return to his cell after Vespers, the saint hurried towards him, girded him with his girdle, and said with great fervor: “For paradise I bind you; go, venerate St. Francis, assist at Compline, follow with devotion in the process, and do all as you see the friars do.” The prince humbly obeyed, promised to become a Catholic, and with his own hand inscribed himself in the register of the Archconfraternity of the Cord of St. Francis. Before publicly abjuring heresy, he returned home to arrange his affairs. The following year he came to Assisi and, as he had promised, knelt before the Blessed Sacrament, and in the presence of Cardinals Facchinetti and Rapaccioli, made profession of faith at the hands of Father Joseph. Even after the Duke remained devoted to his benefactor. (Father Angelo Pastrovicchi, O.M.C., published originally by B. Herder Book Company, St. Louis Missouri, in 1918; republished by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., in 1980, pp. 43-45.)

Saint Joseph Cupertino sought to convert non-Catholics to the true Faith as he knew that Our Lord Himself was offended by those who did not do so.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, of course, does not hold to the unspotted integrity of the Catholic Faith and he has stated very publicly that he has no intention of converting anyone, including the murderous brothers named Raul and Fidel Castro.

Our Lord gave Duke John Frederick a visible sign of His displeasure that one who did not believe in all that He had revealed and entrusted exclusively to His Catholic Church for Its eternal safekeeping and infallible explication.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio shows his displeasure only towards those who hold to the integrity of the Catholic Faith as he heaps warm words of praise upon false religions, including those which deny the Sacred Divinity of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Bergoglio is no more a true Successor of Saint Peter than is Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., or, take your pick Kathleen Hochul, Kirsten Gillebrand, Richard Durbin, Robert Menendez, Philip Murphy, John Kerry, Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, Jack Reed, Edward Markey, Patricia Murray, or Susan Collins.

It is the teaching of the Catholic Church that anyone who defects from the Faith on one point defects from It in Its entirety and is no longer within her maternal bosom:

With reference to its object, faith cannot be greater for some truths than for others. Nor can it be less with regard to the number of truths to be believed. For we must all believe the very same thing, both as to the object of faith as well as to the number of truths. All are equal in this because everyone must believe all the truths of faith--both those which God Himself has directly revealed, as well as those he has revealed through His Church. Thus, I must believe as much as you and you as much as I, and all other Christians similarly. He who does not believe all these mysteries is not Catholic and therefore will never enter Paradise. (Saint Francis de Sales, The Sermons of Saint Francis de Sales for Lent Given in 1622, republished by TAN Books and Publishers for the Visitation Monastery of Frederick, Maryland, in 1987, pp. 34-37.)

The Church, founded on these principles and mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and endeavour than she has displayed in guarding the integrity of the faith. Hence she regarded as rebels and expelled from the ranks of her children all who held beliefs on any point of doctrine different from her own. The Arians, the Montanists, the Novatians, the Quartodecimans, the Eutychians, did not certainly reject all Catholic doctrine: they abandoned only a certain portion of it. Still who does not know that they were declared heretics and banished from the bosom of the Church? In like manner were condemned all authors of heretical tenets who followed them in subsequent ages. "There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition" (Auctor Tract. de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos).

The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authoritative Magisterium. Epiphanius, Augustine, Theodore :, drew up a long list of the heresies of their times. St. Augustine notes that other heresies may spring up, to a single one of which, should any one give his assent, he is by the very fact cut off from Catholic unity. "No one who merely disbelieves in all (these heresies) can for that reason regard himself as a Catholic or call himself one. For there may be or may arise some other heresies, which are not set out in this work of ours, and, if any one holds to one single one of these he is not a Catholic" (S. Augustinus, De Haeresibus, n. 88). (Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, June 29, 1896.)

No, “partial credit” does not cut it to retain one's membership in good standing within the maternal bosom of Holy Mother Church.

Second, It is abundantly clear by now that Jorge Mario Bergoglio does not even make any pretense of adhering to the “new ecclesiology” that is standard-issue conciliarism. His ecclesiology is completely Protestant, viewing the “church” as nothing other than an amorphous mass of “believers” who are following Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ while refusing to remain “still” as they quest for a unity that is one of the four marks of the one and only true church, the Catholic Church, and none other.

For the sake of emphasis, therefore, here is what Pope Pius XII, reiterating the entirety of Catholic teaching, wrote in Mystici Corporis, June 29, 1943:

Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed. "For in one spirit" says the Apostle, "were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free." As therefore in the true Christian community there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith. And therefore, if a man refuse to hear the Church, let him be considered - so the Lord commands - as a heathen and a publican. It follows that those who are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit. (Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, June 29, 1943.)

Jorge Mario Bergoglio has nothing but contempt for the “confines” of “mere” dogma. This is why he refers to those who adhere to everything contained in the Sacred Deposit of Faith as “Christians who are still,” that is, those who refused to “move” with the “spirit.” Ah, Catholics who adhere, despite their own sins and failings, to everything contained in the Sacred Deposit of Faith refuse to move with false spirits and prefer death to doing so.

Dom Prosper Gueranger's prayer to our Saint praised him for his humility, a virtue that characterizes the poor in spirit and meek of bearing:

While praising God for the marvelous gifts he bestowed on thee, we acknowledge that thy virtues were yet more wonderful. Otherwise thy ecstasies would be regarded with suspicion by the Church, who usually withholds her judgment until long after the world has begun to admire and applaud. Obedience, patience, and charity, increasing under trial, were incontestable guarantees for the divine authorship of these marvels, which the enemy is sometimes permitted to mimic to a certain extent. Satan may raise a Simon Magus into the air: he cannot make a humble man. O worthy son of the seraph of Assisi, may we, after thy example, be raised up, not into the air, but into those regions of true light, where far above the earth and its passions, our life, like thine, may be hidden with Christ in God! (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Saint Joseph Cupertino, September 18.)

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

Saint Joseph, pray for us. 

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

Saint Eustachius and Companions, pray for us.