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John of the Cross
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Saint John of the Cross |
| Saints: John of the Cross |
John of the Cross (1542–91), Carmelite friar and virtual founder of the Discalced Carmelite friars. He was also one of Spain's foremost poets, mystics, and mystical theologians. Born of a noble but impoverished Toledan family, Juan de Yepes was brought up by his widowed mother, went to a poor-school at Medina del Campo, and was apprenticed to a silk-weaver. But he showed no aptitude for this trade, went to a Jesuit college, and joined the Carmelite Order in 1563; he studied theology at Salamanca and was ordained priest in 1567. At this time he thought of becoming a monk of the Carthusian Order, then flourishing. Instead he was persuaded by Theresa of Avila to join the Discalced Reform, which she had initiated for the nuns and which she had been authorized to make available for two houses of friars. One of these was the poverty-stricken house of Duruelo, where John began the reformed way of life. In 1571 he became rector of Alcala, a study house attached to the University, and from 1572 to 1577 confessor to the nuns of Avila, the mother-house of Theresa's reform.
But in 1575 he had been seized and imprisoned by the Calced Carmelite friars following a General Chapter in Piacenza, which both rejected the reform and refused to give its houses independence. The place of his confinement was Toledo, its conditions appalling, yet it was there that he wrote some of his finest poetry. He escaped after nine months; a little later the Discalced were separated from the Calced and in 1579 John founded a college at Baeza and was rector for three years. Prior at Granada from 1582 (the year of Theresa's death) and at Segovia from 1588, he suffered at the end of his life harsh treatment from Nicholas Doria, the Discalced Carmelites' vicar-general. He was deprived of his offices and banished to Ubeda, in the province of Andalusia, where he died in 1591. This bare recital of the external events of John's life gives no idea of the warmth of this wonderful mystic, so much admired by his disciples and by Theresa, yet also the victim of jealousy and power-politics during one of the most repressive periods of the Church's history.
A man of very small physical stature, John, as poet and mystic, is among the giants. What was rare about him was the combination of deep poetic sensitivity and articulateness with the rigorous thought-training of Thomist philosophy and theology. Written as commentaries on his poems, his spiritual works stress the need for active asceticism as well as the far deeper purification of the soul by divine grace and by the unsought humiliations of external agents. Through a life of pure faith and love of God, the soul eventually attains the deepest mystical union. John's writings are theologically substantial and that is why he is regarded not only as a mystic but also as a supreme Doctor of Mystical Theology. He was beatified in 1675, canonized in 1726, and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1926. The cult of John was not confined to his own Order, whose persecution reflects little credit on either branch of it, but has spread not only throughout the R.C. Church but also wherever the contemplative life is valued. Feast: 14 December.
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- Lives by Bruno de Jésus-Marie, Saint Jean de la Croix (1929, revised 1961; Eng. tr. 1932) and Crisogono de Jesus (revised by Matias del Nino Jesus, 1964); E. A. Peers, Handbook to the Life and Times of St. Theresa and St. John of the Cross (1954); A Benedictine of Stanbrook, The Mediaeval Mystical Tradition and St. John of the Cross (1954); E. A. Peers, Studies of the Spanish Mystics (
2nd edn. 1951), pp 227–88. Works of St. John of the Cross, ed. Silverio de Santa Teresa (1929–31) and Luciano del SS. Sacramento (1946); English translations by E. A. Peers (3 vols. , revised edn. 1953) and K. Kavanaugh and O. Rodriguez (1966). Poems translated by Roy Campbell (1951) and K. Jones (1994). See also J. Baruzi, Saint Jean de la Croix et le problème de l'expérience mystique (2nd edn. 1931) and E. W. T. Dicken, The Crucible of Love (1963)
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Saint John of the Cross |
John of the Cross, Saint, Span. Juan de la Cruz, 1542-91, Spanish mystic and poet, Doctor of the Church. His name was originally Juan de Yepes. He was a founder of the Discalced Carmelites and a close friend of St. Theresa of Ávila, who guided him in his spiritual life. Because of his ardor in pursuing St. Teresa's reforms he antagonized the hierarchy. In 1577 he was imprisoned in Toledo and was subjected to physical and mental tortures. It was in his prison cell that St. John wrote his famous Spiritual Canticle and began his Songs of the Soul. These poems-a blend of exquisite lyricism and profound mystical thought-are among the finest creations of the Golden Age of Spanish literature. St. John is regarded by many as Spain's finest lyric poet. After an escape (1578) considered by many to be miraculous, he went to Andalusia, where his last years were spent in a constant struggle against his opponents and in the creation of masterly prose treatises on mystical theology, notably The Dark Night of the Soul and The Ascent of Mount Carmel. Feast: Nov. 24.
Bibliography
See translation of his complete works by E. A. Peers (3 vol., 1953) and of his poems by J. F. Nims (1959); E. A. Peers, The Spirit of Flame (1943); R. Sencourt, Carmelite and Poet (1944); L. Cristiani, St. John of the Cross (tr. 1962); G. Brenan, St. John of the Cross (1973).
| Quotes By: St. John of the Cross |
Quotes:
"Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according to his good pleasure and rest in him."
"Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved."
"In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone."
"Take God for your spouse and friend and walk with him continually, and you will not sin and will learn to love, and the things you must do will work out prosperously for you."
"It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others."
"If you purify your soul of attachment to and desire for things, you will understand them spiritually. If you deny your appetite for them, you will enjoy their truth, understanding what is certain in them."
See more famous quotes by
St. John of the Cross
| Wikipedia: John of the Cross |
Not to be confused with John Joseph of the Cross.
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2009) |
| Saint John of the Cross | |
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| Confessor and Doctor of the Church | |
| Born | 24 June 1542, Fontiveros, Spain |
| Died | December 14, 1591 (aged 49), Ubeda, Andalusia, Spain |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion; Lutheran Church |
| Beatified | 25 January 1675 by Pope Clement X |
| Canonized | 27 December 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII |
| Major shrine | Tomb of Saint John of the Cross, Segovia, Spain |
| Feast | 14 December 24 November (General Roman Calendar, 1738-1969) |
| Patronage | contemplative life; contemplatives; mystical theology; mystics; Spanish poets |
Saint John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) (24 June 1542 — 14 December 1591), born Juan de Yepes Alvarez, was a major figure of the Catholic Reformation, a Spanish mystic, and Carmelite friar and priest, born at Hontoveros, Old Castile.
Saint John of the Cross was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered, along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, as a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. He is also known for his writings. Both his poetry and his studies on the growth of the soul are considered the summit of mystical Spanish literature and one of the peaks of all Spanish literature. He was canonized as a saint in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII. He is one of the thirty-three Doctors of the Church. When his feast day was inserted into the General Roman Calendar in 1738, it was assigned at first to 24 November, since his date of death was impeded by the then existing octave of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This obstacle was removed in 1955 and in 1969 his feast day was moved to his date of death, 14 December.
Contents |
Life
Early life and education
St. John was born by the name of Juan de Yepes Alvarez[1] into a Jewish converso family in a small community near Ávila.[2] 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.[dubious ] 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 24 February 1563 he entered the Carmelite order, adopting the name Fr. Juan de Santo Matía.
The following year (1564) he professed as a Carmelite (was promoted from novice status) and moved to Salamanca, where he studied theology and 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).
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.
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 later, on 15 August 1578, through a small window in a room adjoining his cell. (He had managed to pry the cell door off its hinges earlier that day). 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. The paper was passed to him by one of the friars guarding his cell.[3]
After returning to a normal life, he went on with the reformation and the founding of monasteries for the new Discalced Carmelite order, which he had helped found along with his fellow St. Teresa de Ávila.
He died on 14 December 1591, of erysipelas (cellulitis). 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. When inserted into the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1738, his feast day was assigned to 24 November.[4] Pope Paul VI moved it to the dies natalis (birthday to heaven) of the saint, 14 December.[5]
The Church of England commemorates him as a "Teacher of the Faith" on the same date.
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.
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 the vernacular were forbidden.
Dark Night of the Soul (from which the spiritual term 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. The main idea of the poem can be seen as the painful experience that people endure as they seek to grow in spiritual maturity and union with God. A year after writing this poem, in 1586 he wrote a commentary on Dark Night of the Soul with the same title. This commentary explains the meaning of the poem verse by verse.
St. John also wrote four 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.
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. A four stanza work, Living Flame of Love describes a greater intimacy, as the soul responds to God's love. These, together with his Dichos de Luz y Amor, or "Sayings of Light and Love," 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). Pope John Paul II wrote his theological dissertation on the mystical theology of Saint John of the Cross. Saint John is also mentioned in Allen Ginsberg's groundbreaking poem Howl,[6] and is beautifully quoted by Jonas Mekas in his epic film-diary work 'Walden'.
See also
- Book of the First Monks
- Byzantine Discalced Carmelites
- Calendar of saints (Church of England)
- Carmelite Rule of St. Albert
- Christian Meditation
- Constitutions of the Carmelite Order
- Miguel Asín Palacios
- Saint Raphael Kalinowski, the first friar to be canonized (in 1991 by Pope John Paul II) in the Order of Discalced Carmelites since Saint John of the Cross
- Spanish Renaissance literature
- Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites
Books
- Dark Night of the Soul: A Masterpiece in the Literature of Mysticism (Translated and Edited by E. Allison Peers), Doubleday, 1959. ISBN 978-0385-02930-8
- The Poems of Saint John of the Cross (English Versions and Introduction by Willis Barnstone), Indiana University Press, 1968, revised 2nd ed. New Directions, 1972. ISBN 0-8112-0449-9
- Dark Night Of The Soul, Saint John of The Cross (Translated by Mirabai Starr), Riverhead Books, New York, 2002, ISBN 1-57322-974-1
- Poems of St John of The Cross (Burns and Oates), 1993, by Professor Kathleen Jones
References
- ^ Roddriguez, Jose Vincente, Biographical Narrative. God Speaks in the Night. The Life, Times, and Teaching of St. John of the Cross, Washington D.C.: ICS Publications, 1991, p. 3
- ^ Norman Roth, Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, pp. 157, 369
- ^ Dark night of the soul. Translation by Mirabai Starr. ISBN 1-57322-974-1 p.8.
- ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 110
- ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 146
- ^ [1]
External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John of the Cross |
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: John of the Cross |
- Books written by St John of the Cross including St Teresa of Avila
- St. John of the Cross and his influence on St. Therese of Lisieux
- 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.
- Carmelite Vocation
- Discalced Carmelite Calendar and Saints
- Index of Carmelite Websites
- Thomas Merton on St. John of the Cross
- Translation of The Dark Night of the Soul
- Works by or about John of the Cross in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
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