Saints & Psychic Powers

Besides their ability to understand God better than most of us, I always thought saints were something else. Who really were them?, Were they simple humans or something else?

Science has now the capacity to understand them in a way it was impossible in their time and at least, give us a better perspective than the one given to us by the church for centuries.

Most of them were born with psychic powers or developed it during their lives. They used their abilities to heal, levitate, see the future, bilocate, etc; helping mankind. Today the existence of people with psychic powers is accepted as a fact.

A few examples :

Levitation :

St. Joseph of Copertino (1603 - 1663). Perhaps the most extraordinary levitations of all was St. Joseph of Copertino born 1603 in Apulia Italy. After 22 years of ascetic behavior coupled with religious torture to achieve a state of religious ecstasy, he finally managed to levitate. At one point a prayer-induced state of ecstasy resulted in him being transported through the air at Mass and left across the altar. Pope Urbain VIII was quite taken aback when St. Joseph of Copertino floated a few feet above the ground in front of him. It is also reported that he managed to levitate more than a hundred times until his death in 1663 when he was canonized because of his unique ability, which was seen by the Church to have been the work of God.

Bilocation & Psychokinesis :

Saint Martin de Porres (1579 – 1639). He never left his native city (Lima), yet even during his lifetime he was seen elsewhere, in regions as far distant as Africa, China, Algeria and Japan. An African slave who had been in irons said he had known Martin when he came to relieve and console many like himself, telling them of heaven. When later the same slave saw him in Peru, he was very happy to meet him again and asked him if he had had a good voyage; only later did he learn that Saint Martin had never left Lima.

One of his biographers said that the Prior had to prohibit him to do miracles, and refers that he passing close an scaffold, a bricklayer was falling down and Saint Martin stopped him halfway shouting the man to wait, and the bricklayer stayed in the air until Martin returned with the superior permission.

Gift of Inedia (Ability to exist for months or years with no food but Holy Communion) :

Anne Catherine Emmerick (1774 - 1824). Born to poor but pious peasants. She was a very pious child who suffered with poor health, but who received visions and prophesies; they were so common that she thought all children could see the Child Jesus and the souls in Purgatory. She was able to diagnose illness and recommend cures, and to see a person’s sins.

Clairvoyance :

Ambrogio Sansedoni (1220 - 1287). The son of a book illuminator, he was born so badly deformed that his mother gave him off to the care of a nurse. Mystic with a deep contemplative prayer life. He received ecstasies and visions, was known to levitate when preaching, and was seen circled in a mystic light in which flew bright birds.

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Certainly times had changed, and the way we see all this is totally different. Also the Bible had adopted new concepts in its interpretation. While I was researching I found this :

Ephesians 2:19

(New American Standard Bible (©1995)).

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household “.

(King James Bible).

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God”.

Though I have no idea if what you have posted is actually accurate and true, I did find your thread interesting because there have been many chosen to serve God (not just those the Catholic church have deemed as "saints".) who have psychic abilities. In fact, Christ Jesus himself was perhaps the greatest psychic of all.

This is a controversial topic, especially for those Christian fundamentalists because they have been taught that ALL psychics and the supernatural are taboo - but this is simply not true. The below might help others to begin to understand why.

Some people of the Christian fundamentalist doctrine have been taught that ALL psychics and the supernatural are taboo to the Christian religion. There’s a good reason for the way some people comprehend this as valid in their belief, but is erroneous on their part. The Scriptures do not say that the supernatural is wrong – the people misinterpreting the scriptures do. Logically, when so much of the Bible is in fact supernatural, how could this be true? What the Scriptures are warning us about are psychics who work for Satan’s “team”. There are both good and bad on each side. If someone professes to be psychic, but doesn’t mention scriptures or the Creator - then they’re to be avoided because the information they are relaying is probably false. I’ll try to break it down for all of you so you can judge for yourselves.

The Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 18, verses 10-12 are what many people base their views of psychics on. It says in part (I’ll quote what pertains to the subject),”There should not be found in you anyone ...who employs divination, one who practices magic or anyone who looks for omens or a sorcerer, or one who binds others with a spell or anyone who consults a spirit medium or a professional foreteller of events or anyone who inquires of the dead. For everybody doing these things is something detestable to God.” Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (HCSB)

Do those Scriptures apply to all modern day psychics; and, did they apply to all psychics in olden Bible days? Before we make a judgment call, let’s look at another Holy Scripture found at Isaiah 8:19. After all, the Scriptures are accurate in what they say, so, we should use them as a guide, but, we need to understand them in the context they were given. The Scripture says, “When they say to you, “Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people consult their God? [Should they consult] the dead on behalf of the living?” Isaiah 8:19 (HCSB)

You noted in the above Scripture that it spelled out the type of mediums to stay away from. They did what? “When they say to you, “Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter...” When you think of muttering, what comes to mind? Perhaps what comes to mind are things that shouldn’t be said or that are untrue? That was pointed out in the Scripture to differentiate from Satan’s mediums, and those that are not of satanic origin; the reason for that is because Satan gives his followers similar psychic abilities, so it was necessary to draw a line between the two different psychic groups that existed in those days. Those who “mutter” and who practice magic, sorcery and witchcraft are to be avoided because they are of satanic origin. That does NOT go for ALL psychics as God also has his own psychics. Remember what I said about both sides having humans working with them in the Spiritual War?

Even today, Satan’s demons imitate deceased people through the use of talking boards like the Ouija Board or similar devices. That’s why you always have to be on guard against the evil side of the psychic coin. To say that absolutely all psychics are evil, is to say that the apostles and Christ were evil; for they too were psychic. Christ being the most psychic of the group. Now how silly is that? We know they weren’t evil. And all psychics are not evil either. Then you have John that wrote the Book of Revelation. How do people think he got those Revelations? It was given to him through his psychic mind, as was done with all Bible writers that were inspired by the Creator to write what he imparted to them by spiritual means. How else do you think it was that God spoke to them?

This clearly shows that there were two different kinds of psychics in existence. There is the good and there is the evil. Just like the Spiritual War of good verses evil. There are two sides in everything; always two sides to a coin. The Creator’s Word informs us,”Test everything. Hold on to the good...” 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (HCSB)

[edit on 5-9-2010 by ReginaAdonnaAaron]

Originally posted by ReginaAdonnaAaron

This is a controversial topic, especially for those Christian fundamentalists because they have been taught that ALL psychics and the supernatural are taboo - but this is simply not true.

[edit on 5-9-2010 by ReginaAdonnaAaron]

Thanks for your contribution. I am a Christian, but not fundamentalist at all. I believe we are still trying to understand what Jesus Christ said and why He came.

I wonder if the saint still consider themselves as part of a church once they left our world.

There are some truly mind-blowing stories about the powers possessed by some of the saints.
Charles A. Coulombe, a religious and historical author was on Art Bell's talk show a few years ago,
and stated the vatican has some incredible artifacts, including a solid oak table with 2 burned-in
handprints where St Theresa (I'm not positive, but I think it was Theresa) laid her hands. Supposedly
she 'generated' such intense energy that it nearly 'vaporized' the wood.
I believe Coulombe was given permission to see some cool vatican stuff, but he said he was sure that, aside from what he'd seen, there is some really top-secret stuff behind the vatican walls.
He spoke at length about the supernatural powers of some saints. I find it fascinating that supposedly some of them were so holy, and had such an energy, that 'power' was even passed on to objects or articles of clothing they handled\wore!

Emmanuel Swedenborg

There are three well known incidents of psychic ability reported in literature about Swedenborg.[48] The first was from July 29, 1759, when during a dinner in Gothenburg, he excitedly told the party at six o' clock that there was a fire in Stockholm (405 km away), that it consumed his neighbour's home and was threatening his own. Two hours later, he exclaimed with relief that the fire stopped three doors from his home. Two days later, reports confirmed every statement to the precise hour that Swedenborg first expressed the information.

Yet they are all wittnesses accounts. Counts only little when judging the existence of such phenomenas - Individual experience would end all doubts though, individually I mean.

-v

reply to post by Trueman


Their ability to understand god is psychic itself,since god is everything and nothing is him.