Saint John of the Cross
Mystic and Doctor of the Church
Born	June 24, 1542, Fontiveros, Spain
Died	December 14, 1591), Ubeda, Andalusia, Spain
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church; Church of England; Lutheran Church
Beatified	January 25, 1675 by Pope Clement X
Canonized	December 27, 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII
Major shrine	Tomb of Saint John of the Cross, Segovia, Spain
Feast	December 14
Patronage	contemplative life; contemplatives; mystical theology; mystics; Spanish poets
Saints Portal

For the personification of the average Filipino, see Juan de la Cruz, and for another Saint who lived around the same time and area, see John of Avila

Saint John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) (June 24, 1542 – December 14, 1591) was a major figure in the Catholic Reformation, a Spanish mystic and Carmelite friar born at Fontiveros, a small village near Ávila. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Events War resumes between Francis I of France and Emperor Charles V. This time Henry VIII of England is allied to the Emperor, while James V of Scotland and Sultan Suleiman I are allied to the French. ... Fontiveros is a municipality in Spain in the Ávila province, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. ... Year 1591 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... Capilla del Salvador and Palacio del Deán Ortega Úbeda is a city in the province of Jaén in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain, of about 36,000 inhabitants in 2003, located near a hill of the same name. ... Motto: Andalucía por sí, para España y la humanidad (Andalusia by herself, for Spain, and for humankind) Capital Seville Official language(s) Spanish Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 2nd  87,268 km²  17. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic... The Church of England logo since 1998 The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Year 1675 (MDCLXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... Pope Clement X (July 13, 1590 – July 22, 1676), born Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, was Pope from April 29, 1670 to July 22, 1676. ... Icon of St. ... Events George Friderich Handel becomes a British subject. ... Pope Benedict XIII (February 2, 1649 – February 21, 1730), born Pietro Francesco Orsini, later Vincenzo Maria Orsini, was pope from 1724 until his death. ... Eastern Orthodox shrine Buddhist shrine just outside Wat Phnom. ... The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed. ... The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organising a liturgical year on the level of days by associating each day with one or more saints, and referring to the day as that saints day. ... Saint Quentin is the patron saint of locksmiths and is also invoked against coughs and sneezes. ... Mystical theology is the science which treats of acts and experiences or states of the soul which cannot be produced by human effort or industry even with the ordinary aid of Divine grace. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Image File history File links Gloriole. ... In the Philippines, the name Juan de la Cruz (his alias is Juan Tamad) is symbolically used to represent the average Filipino and usually hes wearing the native Salakot hat, barong tagalog, pants, and slippers (commonly used as step-ins). ... Saint John of Avila (in Spanish Juan de Ávila, Apostle of Andalusia) (b. ... In traditional Christian iconography, Saints are often depicted as having halos. ... June 24 is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 190 days remaining. ... Events War resumes between Francis I of France and Emperor Charles V. This time Henry VIII of England is allied to the Emperor, while James V of Scotland and Sultan Suleiman I are allied to the French. ... is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1591 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Catholic Reformation or the Counter-Reformation was a strong reaffirmation of the doctrine and structure of the Catholic Church, climaxing at the Council of Trent, partly in reaction to the growth of Protestantism. ... The Spanish Mystics are a major feature of the Catholic Reformation in 16th and 17th century Spain. ... The Order of Our Lady of Mt. ... Fontiveros is a municipality in Spain in the Ávila province, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. ... Complete name of this city: Ávila de los Caballeros Ávila is a town in the south of Old Castile, the capital of the province of the same name, now part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. ...

He is renowned for his cooperation with Saint Teresa of Avila in the reformation of the Carmelite order, and for his writings; both his poetry and his studies on the growth of the soul (in the Christian sense of detachment from creatures and attachment to God) are considered the summit of mystical Spanish literature and one of the peaks of all Spanish literature. He is one of the thirty-three Doctors of the Church. Teresa of Avila by Peter Paul Rubens Saint Teresa of Avila (known in religion as Teresa de Jesús, baptised as Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada) was a Spanish Roman Catholic mystic and monastic reformer; born at Avila (53 miles north-west of Madrid), Old Castile, March 28, 1515; died... The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is the self-aware essence unique to a particular living being. ... Christianity percentage by country, purple is highest, orange is lowest Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The term Spanish literature refers to literature written in the Spanish language, including literature composed in Spanish by writers not necessarily from Spain. ... In Roman Catholicism, a Doctor of the Church is a theologian from whose teachings the whole Christian church is held to have derived great advantage and to whom eminent learning and great sanctity have been attributed by a proclamation of the Pope or of an ecumenical council. ...

Life

Early life and education

He was born into a Jewish converso family in a small community near Avila.^[1] His father died when he was young, and so John, his two older brothers and his widowed mother struggled with poverty, moving around and living in various Castilian villages, with the last being Medina del Campo, to which he moved in 1551. There, he worked at a hospital, and studied the humanities at a Society of Jesus (Jesuit) school from 1559 to 1563. The Society of Jesus was a new organization at the time, having been founded a few years earlier by the Spanish St. Ignatius Loyola. On February 24, 1563 he entered the Carmel order, adopting the name Fr. Juan de Santo Matía. vila is a town in the south of Castile, the capital of the province of the same name, now part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Spain. ... This article or section needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ... Annual temperature average: 11,6ºC Annual range of temperatures: 18,4ºC Annual precipitations: 392 mm/m² Dry months: June, July, August and September Months with average temperatures under 0ºC: none Climate: MEDITERRANEAN CONTINENTALIZED // Introduction Medina del Campo is a small town located in the middle of de... Year 1551 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. ... Seal of the Society of Jesus. ... January 15 - Elizabeth I of England is crowned in Westminster Abbey. ... Events February 1 - Sarsa Dengel succeeds his father Menas as Emperor of Ethiopia February 18 - The Duke of Guise is assassinated while besieging Orléans March - Peace of Amboise. ... Ignatius of Loyola Saint Ignatius of Loyola (December 24, 1491? – July 31, 1556), baptized Íñigo López de Loyola, was the founder of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order commonly known as the Jesuits that was established to strengthen the Church, initially against Protestantism. ... February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 1 - Sarsa Dengel succeeds his father Menas as Emperor of Ethiopia February 18 - The Duke of Guise is assassinated while besieging Orléans March - Peace of Amboise. ...

The following year (1564) he professed as a Carmelite (was promoted from novice status) and moved to Salamanca, where he studied philosophy at the University and at the Colegio de San Andrés. This stay would influence all his later writings, as Fray Luis de León taught biblical studies (Exegesis, Hebrew and Aramaic) at the University. León was one of the foremost experts in Biblical Studies then and had written an important and controversial translation of the Song of Songs into Spanish. (Translation of the Bible into the vernacular was not allowed then in Spain). Events March 27 — Naples bans kissing in public under the penalty of death June 22 — Fort Caroline, the first French attempt at colonizing the New World September 10 — The Battle of Kawanakajima Ottoman Turks invade Malta Modern pencil becomes common in England Conquistadors crossed the Pacific Spanish founded a colony... Salamanca (population 160,000) is a city in western Spain, the capital of the province of Salamanca, which belongs to the autonomous community (region) of Castile-Leon (Castilla y León). ... Fray Luis de León, depicted in a biography by James Fitzmaurice-Kelly Fray Luis Ponce de León (sometimes Luis de León) (born Belmonte, in Cuenca province, of the Castilian region of La Mancha, Spain, in 1527 – 23 August 1591) was a Spanish lyric poet and an Augustinian... Exegesis (from the Greek to lead out) involves an extensive and critical interpretation of an authoritative text, especially of a holy scripture, such as of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, the Talmud, the Midrash, the Quran, etc. ... “Hebrew” redirects here. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ... Song of Solomon is also the title of a novel by Toni Morrison. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ...

Priesthood and association with Saint Teresa de Jesús

Saint John was ordained a priest in 1567, and then indicated his intent to join the strict Carthusian order, which appealed to him because of its encouragement of solitary and silent contemplation. Before this, however, he travelled to Medina del Campo, where he met the charismatic Saint Teresa de Jesús. She immediately talked to him about her reformation projects for the Carmelite order, and asked him to delay his entry into the Carthusians. The following year, on 28 November, he started this reformation at Duruelo together with Fr. Antonio de Jesús de Heredia, and the originally small and impoverished town of Duruelo became a center of religion. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Events The Duke of Alva arrives in the Netherlands with Spanish forces to suppress unrest there. ... Coat of arms of the Carthusian order Monasterio de la Cartuja, a former Carthusian monastery in Seville The Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. ... Annual temperature average: 11,6ºC Annual range of temperatures: 18,4ºC Annual precipitations: 392 mm/m² Dry months: June, July, August and September Months with average temperatures under 0ºC: none Climate: MEDITERRANEAN CONTINENTALIZED // Introduction Medina del Campo is a small town located in the middle of de... Teresa of Avila by Peter Paul Rubens Saint Teresa of Avila (known in religion as Teresa de Jesús, baptised as Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada) was a Spanish Roman Catholic mystic and monastic reformer; born at Avila (53 miles north-west of Madrid), Old Castile, March 28, 1515; died... is the 332nd day of the year (333rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

John, still in his 20s, continued to work as a helper of Saint Teresa until 1577, founding monasteries around Spain and taking active part in their government. These foundations and the reformation process were resisted by a great number of Carmelite friars, some of whom felt that Teresa's version of the order was too strict. Some of these opponents would even try to bar Teresa from entering their convents.

The followers of St. John and St. Teresa differentiated themselves from the non-reformed communities by calling themselves the "discalced", i.e. barefoot, and the others the "calced" Carmelites.

Imprisonment, writings, torture, death and recognition

On the night of 3 to 4 December 1577, following his refusal to relocate after his superior's orders and allegedly because of his attempts to reform life within the Carmelite order, he was taken prisoner by his superiors, and jailed in Toledo, where he was kept under a brutal regimen that included public lashing before the community at least weekly, and severe isolation in a tiny stifling cell barely large enough for his body. He managed to escape nine months after, on 15 August 1578. In the meantime, he had composed a great part of his most famous poem Spiritual Canticle during this imprisonment; his harsh sufferings and spiritual endeavours are then reflected in all of his subsequent writings. Events March 17 - formation of the Cathay Company to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold May 28 - Publication of the Bergen Book, better known as the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, one of the Lutheran confessional writings. ... For other uses, see Toledo (disambiguation). ... Events January 31 - Battle of Gemblours - Spanish forces under Don John of Austria and Alexander Farnese defeat the Dutch. ...

After returning to a normal life, he went on with the reformation and the founding of monasteries for the new Discalced Carmelites order which he had helped settling along with his fellow St. Teresa de Ávila. The Discalced Carmelites, or Barefoot Carmelites, is a Roman Catholic mendicant order. ...

He died on 14 December 1591, his writings were first published in 1618, and he was canonized by Benedict XIII in 1726. In 1926 he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI. is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1591 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... Events March 8 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but on May 15 confirms the discovery). ... Icon of St. ... Pope Benedict XIII (February 2, 1649 – February 21, 1730), born Pietro Francesco Orsini, later Vincenzo Maria Orsini, was pope from 1724 until his death. ... Events George Friderich Handel becomes a British subject. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... In Roman Catholicism, a Doctor of the Church (Latin doctor, teacher, from Latin docere, to teach) is a saint from whose writings the whole Christian Church is held to have derived great advantage and to whom eminent learning and great sanctity have been attributed by a proclamation of a pope... Pope Pius XI (Latin: ; Italian: Pio XI; May 31, 1857 – February 10, 1939), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, reigned as Pope from February 6, 1922 and as sovereign of Vatican City from 1929 until his death on February 10, 1939. ...

The Church of England commemorates him as a "Teacher of the Faith". The Church of England logo since 1998 The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ...

Literary works

St. John of the Cross is considered one of the foremost poets in the Spanish language. Although his complete poems add up to less than 2500 verses, two of them—the Spiritual Canticle and Dark Night of the Soul are widely considered to be among the best poems ever written in Spanish, both for their formal stylistic point of view and their rich symbolism and imagery. This article is about the international language known as Spanish. ... Dark Night of the Soul is a term used to describe a specific phase in a persons spiritual life. ... Stylistics is the study of style used in literary, and verbal language and the effect the writer/speaker wishes to communicate to the reader/hearer. ...

The Spiritual Canticle is an eclogue in which the bride (representing the soul) searches for the bridegroom (representing Jesus Christ), and is anxious at having lost him; both are filled with joy upon reuniting. It can be seen as a free-form Spanish version of the Song of songs at a time when translations of the Bible into vernacular were forbidden. An eclogue is a poem in a classical style on a pastoral subject. ... The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is the self-aware essence unique to a particular living being. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Song of Solomon is also the title of a novel by Toni Morrison. ...

Dark Night of the Soul (from which the spiritual term Dark Night of the Soul takes its name) narrates the journey of the soul from her bodily home to her union with God. It happens during the night, which represents the hardships and difficulties she meets in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator. There are several steps in this night, which are related in successive stanzas. Canadian world music artist Loreena McKennitt composed the music for and recorded a "song" version of the poem on her 1994 album The Mask and Mirror. Dark Night of the Soul is a term used to describe a specific phase in a persons spiritual life. ... The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is the self-aware essence unique to a particular living being. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... Loreena McKennitt live on stage Loreena McKennitt, C.M. (b. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... The Mask and Mirror is an album by Loreena McKennitt released in 1994. ...

St. John also wrote three treatises on mystical theology, two of them concerning the two poems above, and supposedly explaining the meaning of the poems verse by verse and even word by word. He actually proves unable to follow this scheme and writes freely on the subject he is treating at each time. Mysticism (ancient Greek mysticon = secret) is meditation, prayer, or theology focused on the direct experience of union with divinity, God, or Ultimate Reality, or the belief that such experience is a genuine and important source of knowledge. ... Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ...

The third work, Ascent of Mount Carmel is a more systematic study of the ascetical endeavour of a soul looking for perfect union, God, and the mystical events happening along the way. These, together with his Dichos de Amor y de Paz, or "Sayings of Love and Peace," and St. Teresa's writings, are the most important mystical works in Spanish, and have deeply influenced later spiritual writers all around the world. Among these can be named T. S. Eliot, Thérèse de Lisieux, Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), and Thomas Merton. John has also influenced philosophers (Jacques Maritain), theologians (Hans Urs von Balthasar), and pacifists (Dorothy Day, Daniel Berrigan, and Philip Berrigan). He is also mentioned in Allen Ginsberg's groundbreaking poem "Howl." The Ascent of Mount Carmel is the third major work of St. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Teresa of Avila by Peter Paul Rubens Saint Teresa of Avila (known in religion as Teresa de Jesús, baptised as Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada) was a Spanish Roman Catholic mystic and monastic reformer; born at Avila (53 miles north-west of Madrid), Old Castile, March 28, 1515; died... Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. ... For other women with similar names, see Saint Teresa Saint Thérèse de Lisieux (January 2, 1873 – September 30, 1897), or more properly Sainte Thérèse de lEnfant-Jésus et de la Sainte Face (Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy... Edith Stein (October 12, 1891 – August 9, 1942) was a German philosopher, a Carmelite nun, martyr, and saint of the Catholic Church, who died at Auschwitz. ... Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was one of the most influential Catholic authors of the 20th century. ... Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (November 18, 1882 – April 28, 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. ... Hans Urs von Balthasar (August 12, 1905—June 26, 1988) was a Swiss theologian and was nominated to be a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Pacifism is opposition to the practice of war. ... Dorothy Day was declared Servant of God when a cause for sainthood was opened for her by Pope John Paul II. Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897– November 29, 1980) was an American journalist turned social activist and devout member of the Catholic Church. ... Daniel Berrigan at the Third Annual Staten Island Freedom & Peace Festival, Oct. ... Philip Berrigan Philip Berrigan (October 5, 1923 – December 6, 2002) was an internationally renowned American peace activist, Christian anarchist and former Roman Catholic priest. ... Irwin Allen Ginsberg (IPA: ) (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet. ... Howl and Other Poems was published in the fall of 1956 as number four in the Pocket Poets Series from City Lights Books This article is about the poem by Allen Ginsberg. ...

See Also

• Carmelite Vocation
• Carmelite Rule of St. Albert
• Book of the First Monks
• Constitutions of the Carmelite Order
• Saint Raphael Kalinowski, the first friar to be sainted (in 1991 by Pope John Paul II) in the Order of Discalced Carmelites since Saint John of the Cross
• Byzantine Discalced Carmelites
• Christian Meditation
• Spanish Renaissance literature

The eremitic Rule of St. ... The Book of the First Monks[1] is a medieval Christian work in the contemplative and eremetic tradition of the Carmelites. ... The Constitutions of the Carmelite Order stand as an expression of the ideals and spirit of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. ... Saint Raphael Kalinowski (Polish: ) (September 1, 1835 – November 15, 1907) was a Polish Discalced Carmelite friar born as Józef Kalinowski in the city of Wilno, in Poland under Russian occupation (currently, Vilnius, Lithuania). ... Official papal image of John Paul II. His Holiness Pope John Paul II, né Karol Józef Wojtyła (born May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, Poland), is the current Pope — the Bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church. ... The Byzantine Discalced Carmelites [1] are a community of cloistered nuns of the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church living committed to a life of prayer, according to the tradition and lifestyle of the Discalced Carmelites. ... Christian meditation is meditation in a Christian context. ... The Spanish Renaissance literature is the literature written in Spain during the Renaissance. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

John of the Cross

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

John of the Cross

• St John of the Cross, Dec 14 - Solemnity
• Books written by St John of the Cross including St Teresa of Avila
• Catholic Encyclopedia on John of the Cross
• The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross at Discalced Carmelites in the Australian Region
• The Metaphysics of Mysticism: The Mystical Philosophy of Saint John of the Cross Biography of St. John of the Cross
• Christian Classics Ethereal Library: St. John of the Cross
• Short film based on St. John of the Cross' Dark Night of the Soul
• St. John of the Cross on the Mystical Site www.mysticism.nl
• Carmel's Heights - This CD album is an attempt to share with all, some of Carmel's Saints - real persons of flesh and blood - who share with us in song their own spiritual experiences.
• The Poetry of John of the Cross
• Discalced Carmelite Calendar and Saints

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ... Image File history File links Wikisource-logo. ... The original Wikisource logo. ...

References