Mysteries, Marvels and Miracles: In the Lives of the Saints

raised spirit and body in a loving transport. The Saint tells us that the rapture comes “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.”

The number of Saints who have experienced this phenomenon is so numerous that a whole book could be devoted to naming them and telling of their experiences.

It is understood that the mystical gift is not given for the convenience of the recipient, but to aid him in helping his fellow man or in performing a function some distance away that had been forgotten. Often the recipient of this gift employs it to attend the dying, to comfort, to instruct and for many other reasons which we will now explore.

he was often seen raised above the ground with flames radiating from his body and he possessed an agility and ease which our glorified bodies will one day experience.

Fray Benavides revealed that the Indians had travelled a great distance from a place called Titlas, or Texas, and that they knew where to find the friars from the directions given them by a Lady in Blue who had taught them the religion of Jesus Christ.

ST. FRANCIS OF PAOLA (d. 1507),

ST. ALPHONSUS MARY DE LIGUORI

“For the love of Jesus!”

One day in the year 1620, while rapt in ecstasy, Maria was transported to New Mexico, where she was commanded by Jesus to teach the Indians. She spoke in her native Spanish, but was nevertheless understood; she, in turn, understood the language of the Indians. Because they did not know her name, the Indians called her the “Lady in Blue” because of