St Joseph of Cupertino's Intercession

You guys remember St. Joseph of Cupertino, right?  I've mentioned him here several times before.  He is the patron saint of students and test takers.  You can read all about him here if you are interested.

(Very) long story short in case you aren't interested in reading his life story, he was born in Cupertino in Naples in 1603. He wanted to be a priest but the other priests as well as his mother found him to be dull, lazy, and useless.  He had trouble remembering things when he studied and usually did poorly on tests but he wanted more than anything to be a priest. 

He asked to become a Franciscan, but they initially would not accept him. 'Finally he did join the Capuchins. However, for only a very short period of time. Eight months later, they sent him away. Sources say it was because he could not seem to do anything right. His mother was not at all pleased to have the eighteen-year-old Joseph back home again, so she finally got him accepted as a servant at the Franciscan monastery. He was given the friars habit and put to hard work taking care of the horses.

He finally was able to enter the Franciscan order and, eventually, study for the priesthood. Although he was a good and holy friar, he had a very hard time with studies. During his seminary exams, the examiner happened to ask him to explain the only thing he understood knew well, and so he was ordained a deacon, and later a priest'.*

And this is how he became the saint of test takers.

Why am I telling you all of this?  Because, in 2019, I started asking for St. Joseph of Cupertino's intercession whenever Peter and Sarah had tests or quizzes.  And then ultimately asking for his intercession every morning before they left for school.

Having kids in high school and nearing college is totally different than having kids in elementary school. You can no longer help them study by simply calling out spelling words or helping them memorize science terms.  Frequently they will  need your help with their homework and studying but you can't actually help them - not because you don't want to help them but you may not know or remember  the material or it's concepts or facts they just need to learn and understand on their own. 

Enter an intercessory prayer to St. Joseph of Cupertino.  There are a couple of prayers on the internet but this is the one I use:

O St. Joseph of Cupertino who by your prayer obtained from God to be asked at your examination, the only preposition you knew. Grant that I may like you succeed in the (here mention the name of Examination eg. History paper I ) examination. In return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.
O St. Joseph of Cupertino pray for me
O Holy Ghost enlighten me
Our Lady of Good Studies pray for me
Sacred Head of Jesus, Seat of divine wisdom, enlighten me. 

 Of course, I substitute "me" for my kid's names".  

And when they are really nervous or worried before a test or something they are doing at school, I will tell them I'm praying for them and then I will text them this prayer and remind them to pray for themselves.

This prayer isn't a magic pill for not studying. (Oh how my kids wish that were the case!) But it does bring me peace knowing that by asking for St. Joseph's intercession, I have a holy saint in heaven praying directly for my kids.  It makes me feel like I am helping them even when I am not able to physical help them.

And I will say that this prayer *works*.  My kids have had much success in their school work even when things looked bleak.  (And success isn't always an "A" but sometimes a kid feels successful when they are struggling with the material and can pull out a "C" even though they though everything was hopeless.)

So next time your student is in the midst of studying for a test or struggling with a lesson or you just want to help them a little, ask St. Joseph of Cupertino for his intercession and let me know how he came through for you.

 

 

*Taken from this website.