[Rank]
S. Josephi de Cupertino Confessoris;;Duplex;;3;;vide C5

[Rule]
vide C5;
9 lectiones

[Ant 1]
I am dead * and my life is hid with Christ in God.

[Oratio]
O God, Who art pleased that thine Only-begotten Son being lifted up from the earth should draw all things unto Him, be entreated for the sake of thy servant Joseph, whom Thou didst make like unto one of the Seraphim, and so effectually work in us, that even as he, we also may be drawn up above all earthly lusts, and worthily attain unto Him:
$Qui tecum

[Lectio1]
Lesson from the second letter of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians
!2 Cor 4:6-11
6 God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of the power of God, and not of us.
8 In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed; we are straitened, but are not destitute;
9 We suffer persecution, but are not forsaken; we are cast down, but we perish not:
10 Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies.
11 For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake; that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

[Lectio2]
!2 Cor 5:1-8
1 For we know, if our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, that we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven.
2 For in this also we groan, desiring to be clothed upon with our habitation that is from heaven.
3 Yet so that we be found clothed, not naked.
4 For we also, who are in this tabernacle, do groan, being burthened; because we would not be unclothed, but clothed upon, that that which is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now he that maketh us for this very thing, is God, who hath given us the pledge of the Spirit.
6 Therefore having always confidence, knowing that, while we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord.
7 (For we walk by faith, and not by sight.)
8 But we are confident, and have a good will to be absent rather from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

[Lectio3]
!2 Cor 12:1-9
1 If I must glory (it is not expedient indeed), but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
2 I know a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not, or out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such a one caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I know such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I know not: God knoweth),
4 That he was caught up into paradise, and heard secret words, which it is not granted to man to utter.
5 For such an one I will glory; but for myself I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities.
6 For though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth in me, or any thing he heareth from me.
7 And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me.
8 For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me.
9 And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

[Lectio4]
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 diverse 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.

[Lectio5]
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.

[Lectio6]
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.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 22:1-14
At that time Jesus spake unto the chief priests and Pharisees by parables, and said The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son. And so on.
_
Homily by Pope St. Gregory (the Great.)
!Bk. ii. Horn. 38, 9
Dearly beloved brethren, ye have already entered, at the Lord's bidding, into the house where the marriagefeast is being held, that is to say, into the Holy Church, and look ye well to it, that when the King cometh in to see the guests, he see nothing amiss in your soul's wedding-garment. For indeed it is with great searchings of heart that we are behoven to consider that which so soon cometh. " And when the King came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment." Dearly beloved brethren, what are we to think is signified by this wedding garment Is it baptism or is it faith? But without baptism, or without faith, who could be seated at the marriage-feast? He that believeth not would still be without the house. What then, except love, must we understand by the wedding-garment He who hath faith and is in the Holy Church, but hath not charity, cometh in unto the wedding indeed, but hath not a wedding-garment. And charity is well called the wedding -garment, for it is the garment wherewithal our Maker decked Himself when He came to wed the Church unto Himself.

[Lectio8]
It was the work of God's love alone that His Only - begotten Son should wed Himself unto the souls of the elect. Whence indeed John saith " God so loved the world, that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (iii. 16.) He therefore Whom love brought among men, showeth that the same love is His wedding-garment. Each one therefore of you who is in the Church and believeth in God, hath already come in unto the marriage-feast, but if he keep not the grace of charity, he is come in thither not having a weddinggarment. In sooth, my brethren, if one be asked to an earthly marriage, he changeth his attire, to show even by his garments that he rejoiceth in the joy of the Bride and Bridegroom, and he would be ashamed to appear in unseemly raiment among the guests that are feasting and making merry. We are come unto God's marriagefeast, and we make pretence to change the vesture of our hearts. There is joy among the angels when the elect are taken to heaven. With what face shall we look upon this spiritual feast if we come in thither not having charity, the only wedding-garment wherein we can appear comely

[Lectio9]
We must know that as every garment is woven upon two beams, an upper and a lower, so love is bound unto two commandments, the one bidding us to love God, and the other to love our neighbour. For thus is it written "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the Prophets." (Matth. xxii. 37-39-) In the which we are to see that bounds are set to that love wherewith we are to love our neighbour, for it is said " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." But to the love wherewith we are to love God are set no bounds, for it is said "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." A man is not commanded to what point he is to love God, but from what point, even as it is said, "with all" for he only truly loveth God, who leaveth nothing for himself. We are behoven therefore to keep two commandments touching love, if we would be seen at the marriage with a wedding-garment.
&teDeum

[Ant 2]
The Lord showed me * a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

[Ant 3]
I count all things * to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord.

[Lectio94]
Born of devout parents, as a young man Joseph of Cupertino was outstanding for his purity. In the convent of the Friars Minor at Grotella, he was first enrolled among the lay-brothers because of his lack of learning, and then, by a disposition of divine Providence, he joined the clerics and was ordained. He chastised his body with a hair-shirt, with scourgings and all kinds of austerities, and nourished his spirit continually with the food of holy prayer, so that he was called by God to the highest degree of contemplation. Outstanding for obedience and poverty, he cultivated chastity above all, and preserved in unharmed, conquering great temptations. He honoured the Virgin Mary with a wonderful love and shone for his great charity toward the poor. His humility was so deep that he thought himself a great sinner and earnestly prayed God to take away the remarkable gifts he had been given. He journeyed through many places at the command of the superior of the Order and of the holy Inquisition; finally, at Osimo in Piceno, in the sixty-first year of his age, he made the last journey, to heaven.
&teDeum