The History of Saint John Of The Cross

Born in 1542 in Fontiveros, Old Castile, Spain, John was the son of poor weavers and worked for several years as a servant to the director of a hospital. He attended a Jesuit college and even from his youth, John displayed an understanding of the value of suffering for the love of Christ. At the age of twenty-one, he joined the Carmelite Order and was ordained a priest in 1567.

At his first Mass, he met St. Teresa of Avila. With her collaboration, God chose the two of them as leaders to bring a new fervor to the Carmelite religious life by reforming the Carmelite Order. Although tempted to leave the Carmelites, John and four others founded the Discalced Carmelites in 1568. He then took the name of John of the Cross and founded several monasteries.

John suffered many trials, temptations, and misunderstandings during his reformation work. He was criticized and suffered such jealousy from his religious superiors to the extent that he was thrown into prison in Toledo, Spain in 1577. He remained imprisoned there for nine months and suffered terribly. During this time, he wrote Dark Night of the Soul wherein he described the path to holiness. He wrote of the journey of the soul to union with God as a demanding journey that must be made in the dark night of faith, through hardships.

John of the Cross wrote many other great spiritual works in poetry and prose, which served as a guide for the soul’s journey to God and thus, to a more perfect life. His writings reflect his great knowledge of the mystical union between God and the soul as he addressed the difficulties that are often encountered in spiritual life. His Spiritual Canticle and Living Fame of Love are acclaimed for their deep theological influence. Beyond his superior knowledge of the mystical life, John of the Cross was an extraordinary priestly example to others and a remarkable witness to the gospel. The saint’s own words reflect this: "That you may have pleasure in everything, seek pleasure in nothing. That you may know everything, seek to know nothing. That you may possess all things, seek to possess nothing. That you may be everything, seek to be nothing.”

John of the Cross died in 1591. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI in 1926. In 1948, Pope John Paul II wrote his theological dissertation on the subject of faith from the mystical theology of St. John of the Cross.

Saint John of the Cross, pray for us!