Peter of Alcantara

In order to gain permission to build a few friaries for the very poor, to whom he devoted his life, this Spanish saint of the 16th century once walked barefoot all the way to Rome. Even more physically impressive, he was said to have possessed the gift of levitation, and not in the solemn, slowly rising manner of a modern illusionist — midway through a certain prayer, Peter would utter a painful cry and shoot through the sky as if fired from a gun.