St. John of the Cross, Our Holy Father
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS (Juan de Yepes), Priest and Doctor of the Church, is a key figure in St. Teresa’s reform of the Carmelite Order. His writings hold a unique place in the Church’s history of mystical theology and in the literary heritage of Spain. Within this quiet, unassuming man, austere yet gentle, reflective yet outgoing and friendly, burned the relentless flames of total commitment and profound mystical experience. John was born in the village of Fontiveros, Spain, some twenty-five miles from Avila, in 1542.
At twenty-one, he entered the Carmelite Monastery in Medina del Campo, where he obtained permission to follow the Carmelite Rule more strictly. Soon after his ordination to the priesthood, he met St. Teresa. He was 25 and she 52. Immediately enthused with him, Teresa wrote: “Although he is small in stature (just about five feet), I believe he is great in the sight of God.” She persuaded him to begin, with several other friars, her reform within the Carmelite Order. In this, he suffered many trials and persecutions, including being imprisoned for eight months in Toledo by Carmelites who were opposed to the reform. It was in this prison that, despite terrible physical and spiritual sufferings, he composed the poems that were to be the basis for his future writings. John credited Our Lady’s help with his success in escaping from the prison.
In the following years he held a number of administrative offices and served as spiritual director for Carmelite nuns, friars, and lay people. His most important accomplishment, however, was the composition of his four major works: The Ascent of Mt. Carmel, The Dark Night of the Soul, The Spiritual Canticle, and The Living Flame of Love. All his writings are commentaries on his poems, which are ranked among the greatest in Spanish literature.
St. John died at Ubeda on December 14, 1591. He was canonized by Benedict XIII in 1725 and declared a Doctor of the Church, the Mystical Doctor, by Pope Pius XI in 1926. The Carmelite Order celebrates his feast on December 14.
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“Talk to this Father, I beg you,…although he is small, I know that he is great in the eyes of God…” (St. Teresa, Letter 13)
After John’s ordination in 1567, he returned to Medina del Campo to sing his first Mass. At the same time, Saint Teresa was in the same city, making her second foundation of Discalced Nuns. She had also obtained permission from the General of the Order, Juan Bautista Rubeo (Rossi) to establish some monasteries for friars, provided she could find and purchase a house for them. The first to volunteer (although with some misgivings on Teresa’s part!) was the Carmelite prior in Medina, Antonio de Heredia. Teresa, however, kept looking for her “firm foundation stone,” and found it in the person of Fray Juan de Santo Matia. She learned of him through his classmate and arranged for him to visit the parlor: “And when I spoke with this young friar, he pleased me very much. …Telling him what I was attempting to do, I begged him to wait until the Lord would give us a monastery…He promised me he would remain as long as he wouldn’t have to wait long.” (Foundations 3:17)
A few months later, Saint Teresa found the house for her friars in a tiny village, Duruelo. The “house” she had been given was, more precisely, a run-down shack. Despite its condition, she was assured by Fray Antonio that “he would be willing to live not only there but in a pigsty. Fray John of the Cross was of the same mind.” (Foundations 13:4)
Teresa left Antonio to gather the furnishings and other items needed for their house. Meanwhile, she brought Fray John of the Cross with her on the foundation to Valladolid, in order to teach him about the Discalced way of life; “so that he would have a clear understanding of everything, whether it concerned mortification or the style of both our community life and the recreation we have together. …He was so good that I, at least, could have learned much more from him than he from me. Yet this is not what I did, but I taught him about the lifestyle of the Sisters.” (Foundations, 13:5)
At the beginning of October of 1568, John and an unnamed stonemason arrived in Duruelo to prepare the house. At the end of November, Antonio de Heredia and two other friars joined John, and on November 28, 1568, the first Mass was said in the “little stable of Bethlehem,” and the Discalced Carmelite friars had their official beginning.
While references to Mary are not prolific in the writings of St. John of the Cross, she is always the reference point in his description of the soul’s ascent to God and perfect union with Him. “Such was the glorious Virgin, Our Lady, who having been raised to this high estate (union with God) from the beginning . . . was always moved by the Holy Spirit” (Ascent III: 2:10).