LEVITATION. – A term designating phenomena involving the lifting, movement, and suspension in the air of heavy objects, and most often the human body, without visible support or controllable physical action.
Many such cases are recorded in hagiographical history. One of the most notable is that of St. Joseph of Copertino (1603–63), whose beatification process cites more than 70 instances of bodily rapture occurring in the city of Copertino and its surroundings. He was seen flying from the center of the church to the pulpit, covering a distance of about 25 meters, sometimes carrying his confessor and other people with him. Pope Urban VIII witnessed one of these levitations, as did the Grand Admiral of Castile (in 1645) and John Frederick of Brunswick (in 1649), who, deeply impressed by this event and by the holiness of the Servant of God, abjured the Lutheran heresy. Other historically verified levitations include those of St. Stephen of Hungary, St. Peter of Alcantara, St. Francis Xavier, St. Andrew Fournet, the Venerable Francis Suárez, and others. Among the levitations of objects, ecclesiastical history records several instances involving statues, images, crucifixes, and the like. One of the most famous, investigated through official inquiries, is the miracle of the monstrance of Faversham, which remained suspended for nearly two days during a church fire (May 26–27, 1608), and the miracle of the Most Holy Sacrament in Turin, which gave rise to the Church of Corpus Domini. To this type of levitation is also attributed the transportation of the Holy House of Loreto.
The phenomenon of levitation is attested in Buddhist, Islamic, and Taoist traditions, as well as in mediumistic occurrences. There are also pseudo-levitations of a physiological or pathological nature, which are not true levitations but illusions experienced by patients. Nor should certain forms of somnambulism and acrobatic hysteria—where the afflicted maintain extraordinary positions as a result of imaginative impulses commanding exceptional agility—be confused with levitation.
Among levitations of demonic origin, one is reported by Sulpicius Severus in the life of St. Martin, describing a possessed person lifted and held in the air by the saint, and another is that of the possessed woman Francesca Fontaine, which occurred in Louviers in 1591; her acts are preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de Paris (ms. 24/122, fonds français).
Theological, medical, and metapsychical sciences (v.) study levitation and its interpretation. Modern theories draw significant distinctions between levitations of religious origin and those of non-religious origin, explaining the phenomena sometimes by angelic or divine intervention, sometimes by diabolical action—whether manifest or concealed under spiritualistic or metapsychical appearances—without excluding little-understood human capacities, whereby, under certain psychological conditions, the human body might alter its physical properties, especially during states of mystical or ecstatic union, whether or not they involve ecstasy.
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**LEVITES** (Heb. *levî*, pl. *lĕvîjjîm*; Gr. λευΐται, pl. -ται). – The professional name of those assigned to subordinate roles in the Hebrew cult, Levi (v.), which was divided into three sub-tribes: Gershon, Kohath, Merari (v.).
Descendants of Kohath were Moses (v.) and Aaron (v.), to whose family the priesthood was reserved. Other families distinguished themselves in the time of David. These matters are treated especially in the books of *Numbers*, *Chronicles*, *Ezra*, and *Nehemiah*.
In the Mosaic age, the history of the tribe begins with the adherence of the “sons of Levi” to Moses, who came down from the mountain and protested against the establishment of the golden calf, breaking the tablets of the law. They were entrusted with carrying out the punitive decimation among the other tribes (Ex. 32:26–29). This fidelity to Yahweh earned them the honorable privilege of being consecrated to divine worship.
Hence also the praise in the “Blessing of Moses” (Deut. 33:9), though some (F. Hummelauer, *Comm. in Num.*, Paris 1899, p. 168 ff.) have conjectured that this refers hypothetically to the fidelity that, alone among all the tribes, the entire tribe of Levi would have shown toward Moses at the time of the general defection at Kadesh.
The once-common association of “Levi” with *levit* and *levit*, names of priests and priestesses of the god Wadd found in inscriptions from Ulla in the Median region, is unfounded (cf. E. König, *Geschichte der alt. Religion*, Gütersloh 1923, p. 270, n. 2), given the relatively late date of the texts themselves. Still less worthy of consideration is the hypothesis that Mosaic history begins with a sanctuary in southern Palestine, such as Kadesh (qôdhef, “sanctuary”), where a certain Moses, a Midianite priest, together with other “Levites,” organized nomadic groups (the Israelites), of whom he became the leader.
At the burnt offering made by Moses in ratifying the Sinai covenant, young firstborn representatives of the “priestly people” served alongside him (Ex. 24:5), perhaps assisting the priests, who are not mentioned here but who seem already to have existed (Ex. 19:22–24). Subsequently, these functions were transferred (cf. *Num. 3:12–13*; hence the regulations concerning the “redemption” in *Num. 3:40–51*; cf. vv. 14–39) to the members of the Levitical tribe (Num. 2–3), which had already provided the priests from the family of Aaron (Ex. 28–29; cf. Lev. 8–9) and to which Moses himself belonged.
The “curse” pronounced upon the tribal leader (Gen. 49:5–7) was expiated through religious zeal and reversed (so also R. Kittel, *Die Religion des Volkes Isr.*, Leipzig 1921, pp. 39, 44) by the Mosaic rehabilitation (Deut. 33:8–11). Jacob’s saying is of exceptional importance for its undoubted authenticity (which thus attests the existence of Levi before the institution of the priesthood): in an age of full Levitical prestige, that is, after Moses, such a saying could neither have been made nor transmitted. In Deut. 14:29 the Levites are mentioned alongside foreigners because the passage speaks of the beneficiaries of tithes: orphans, widows, and the poor in general. The hypothesis that the Levites were individuals chosen from all the tribes does not explain either the name Levi or the particular bond with Simeon (Gen. 34:49, 5). It cannot therefore be said (W. O. E. Oesterley–E. H. Robinson, *Hebrew Religion*, London 1937, p. 164) that it is uncertain whether “Levite” was originally a *nomen gentis* or an *nomen officii*.
Their initiation took place through rites (Ex. 29; cf. Ex. 40; Lev. 8–9; 21), which then became traditional, including especially the laying on of hands (Num. 8:6–15). At the first census, they numbered 8,580 (Num. 4:48). The three groups—Gershonites, Kohathites, and Merarites—were assigned specialized functions and specific positions near the Ark during its marches and in the camp (Ex. 3).
Service began at the age of 25 (Num. 8:24), but only from the age of 30 did it include heavy work, such as the transport of the Ark (Num. 4:3, 47), and it lasted until the age of 50. There is no evidence that they wore special vestments at that time. They were not counted among the warriors (Num. 2:33).
In the division of the Promised Land, they did not receive a territorial region but were given forty-eight cities with pasturelands (Num. 35:7), distributed among all the other tribes (Num. 35:1–8; *Josh. 21:2 ff.*); their sustenance was to be provided by the entire people through a share of war booty (Num. 31:30) and through tithes (Num. 18:21–24; cf. Lev. 27:30). In Deut. 12:19; 14:27, and elsewhere, the people are exhorted not to withhold their necessities. The Levites, in turn, were to give a tithe to the priests (Num. 18:20–32; Neh. 10:38–39). Some uncertainties in the early organization of the Levites and priests are echoed in the episode of Judg. 17:7–12.
David, in his comprehensive reform of religious institutions, also defined the functions of the Levites, who in the meantime had greatly increased in number: in the census that the king took in his old age, the Levites numbered 30,000 (1 Chr 23:28–31).
During the transport of the Ark to the Davidic tent (ibid., 15:2), the Levites, who were also responsible for music, were dressed like the king in a "linen robe" (ibid., 15:27). David organized the services of the various sub-tribes (ibid., 23:6–23), always subordinate to the "sons of Aaron" (ibid., 28; cf. 27), lowering the age of entry into service to twenty (ibid., 27). Their functions were specified in many ways: alongside the Levites in general, particular importance was given to the musicians (ibid., 25) and the gatekeepers (ibid., 26), but there were many other offices as well (ibid., 26:20ff.). The musicians, numbering 288 (ibid., 25:7; cf. 23:5), came from the families of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, also mentioned as authors of psalms (Ps 50, 62, 73–83, 88; cf. 89).
At the time of the apostasy in the north, the Levites again proved their fidelity to Yahweh, for which reason they were expelled by Jeroboam (2 Chr 11:13–14; 13:9; 1 Kgs 12:31). The descendants of some priests, who at that time and in the following decades had accommodated themselves to idolatry, were later demoted to the status of simple Levites (Ezek 44:10–14; ibid., 48:13, where the corrupt are simply called Levites). Under subsequent kings, the Levites appear in other roles as well: religious teachers for the people (2 Chr 17:8), collectors of offerings (ibid., 24:4–6), overseers of food stores (ibid., 31:12), and restorers of the Temple (ibid., 34:12).
In the religious framework outlined by Ezekiel, the Levites are sharply restricted in their functions, subordinated to the priests (Ezek 44:10–11). In Ezekiel’s context, there is a tone of reproach toward the Levites compared to the priests of the Zadokite line. Alongside this observation, one must also note the small number of Levites who returned (about 350: Ezra 2:41–42; Neh 7:45, 56; cf. Ezra 8:15–19) compared to the priests (about 4,300: Ezra 2:36–39), who were more zealous in their Yahwistic and nationalistic spirit (though many of them, like the Levites, were guilty of contracting mixed marriages: Ezra 9:1; 10:5, 23).
The Levites who returned settled partly in Jerusalem (cf. the episode in Neh 13:10–11, 30) and partly scattered in other cities (ibid., 7:72). They remained essentially divided into the classes of "Levites, musicians, gatekeepers" (Ezra 5:70; Neh 7:73; 12:46) and employed in various minor services (Neh 11:46), in instruction (ibid., 8:9), etc.; they also contributed to the physical reconstruction of the city (ibid., 3:17).
As ministers of the sanctuary in a secondary order, they retained ancient privileges (e.g., exemption from taxes: Flavius Josephus, *Antiquitates Judaicae*, 12.3.3) and new ones (e.g., the use of linen garments like the priests: ibid., 20.9.6–7), and were occupied in various roles (judges: ibid., 4.8.14, etc.). They continued in these roles in later periods down to the New Testament (Luke 10:32; John 1:19; Acts 4:36), though with various complications in the legal and ceremonial arrangements of Talmudic Judaism.
In Judaism, there was sometimes an expectation that the Messiah would be a priest of the tribe of Levi (Testament of Levi 18; Testament of Judah 25; Assumption of Moses 9:1).