Meet St. Joseph of Cupertino

The Cupertino Classic is named after St. Joseph of Cupertino, a Franciscan who learned to love God through devotion to prayer and voluntary acts of penance. He was known to levitate while in prayer, especially when Christmas carols were sung at Mass.

St. Joseph of Cupertino was chosen to represent the annual priests vs. seminarians game because it takes place in a season where Christmas carols proclaim the joy over the coming of the Messiah. St. Joseph of Cupertino is also the prime saint to represent the diocesan basketball tradition because both sides are presumably praying for the gift of levitation at the moment of the game-winning dunk.

St. Joseph of Cupertino is a powerful intercessor for seminarians, as for all students, especially when taking tests. On a final exam before his diaconate ordination, he is said to have asked the Lord to only receive the questions he already knew the answers to on a final exam. His examiner happened to ask him to explain the one thing he knew well. At Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, where our diocesan seminarians recieve education and formation, they have an icon of St. Joseph of Cupertino in the seminary chapel.