Spanish Mystic, Carmelite Friar, and Priest Candler School of Theology, 2016

1. Saint John of the Cross
Spanish Mystic, Carmelite Friar and Priest
By J.R. Atkins, MBA

2. Early Life
• He was born Juan de Yepes y Álvare, June 24,
1541
• Father, Gonzalo, was an accountant to family silk
merchants
• Gonzalo married Catalina, an orphan of lower
class
• Gonzalo was rejected by his family and forced to
work with his wife as a weaver
• John’s father and brother died when he was
young (3,5)
• They moved to Medina del Campo so mother
could work weaving

3. Education
• John received a basic education then studied
humanities at a Jesuit school
• At age 22, he entered the Carmelite Order of
Ignatius of Loyola and adopted the name
John of St Matthias, 1563
• At age 23, he traveled to Salamanca to study
Theology and Philosophy, 1564
• At age 25, He was ordained a Carmelite
priest, 1567

4. Joining the Reform of Teresa
• He met Teresa of Avila in 1567
• John found a new monastery for friars, the first
for men, following the Teresa’s principals on
November 18, 1568
• On the same day, John changed his name to John
of the Cross
• The first monastery was in Durelo, between Avila
and Salamanca
• Others soon followed
• The Carmelite followers of Teresa become
known as "discalced", i.e., barefoot, to
differentiating themselves from the non-
reformed friars and nuns.

5. Spiritual Director and
Confessor
• Teresa was appointed the prioress of the
Monastery of the Incarnation there in 1571
• In 1572, John went to Avila and became the
spiritual director and confessor for Teresa
and the other 130 nuns there
• In 1574, John accompanied Teresa in the
foundation of a new monastery in Segovia
• John seems to have remained in Ávila
between 1572 and 1577

6. The Cross
• Between 1574-1577, John has a vision
of the crucified Christ
• He creates his first drawing of Christ
"from above“
• In 1641, this drawing was placed in a
small monstrance and kept in Ávila.
• This drawing inspired the artist
Salvador Dalí's 1951 work Christ of
Saint John of the Cross.

7. Carmelite Tensions
• 1575–1577 a great increase in the tensions among
the Spanish Carmelite friars over the reforms of
Teresa and John
• The Order was overseen by Canonical Visitors from
the Dominican Order with one appointed to
Castile (North) and a second to Andalusia (South)
with substantial powers
• In Castile, there was a balance of interests of the
Discalced Carmelites against those of the friars
and nuns who did not desire reform
• In Andalusia, tensions rose due to his clear
preference for the Discalced friars

8. Arrest
• In January 1576, John was arrested in Medina del
Campo by some Carmelite friars but soon released
• On December 2, 1577, a group of Carmelites
opposed to reform broke into John's dwelling in
Ávila and took him prisoner
• John was brought before a court of friars, accused
of disobeying ordinances and he received
punishment of imprisonment.
• He was jailed in the Carmelite monastery
in Toledo, where he was kept under a brutal
regimen that included public lashing before the
community at least weekly,

9. Imprisonment
• John was kept in severe isolation in a tiny stifling cell
measuring ten feet by six feet, barely large enough for
his body.
• Except when rarely permitted an oil lamp, he had to
stand on a bench to read his breviary by the light
through the hole into the adjoining room
• He had no change of clothing and a penitential diet of
water, bread and scraps of salt fish
• During this imprisonment, he composed a great part of
his most famous poem Spiritual Canticle, as well as a
few shorter poems
• He managed to escape after 9 months later, through a
small window in a room adjoining his cell. He had
managed to pry the cell door off its hinges earlier that
day

10. Reform Continues
• John is nursed back to health by Teresa's nuns in
Toledo, then a Hospital of Santa Cruz
• In October of 1578 the Carmelites demand that
the Pope separate them from the rest of the
Carmelite Order
• John was appointed superior of El Calvario, an
isolated monastery of around thirty friars, he
composes his commentary on his poem, The
Spiritual Canticle
• In 1579 he moved to Baeza, to serve as rector of a
new college, the Colegio de San Basilio, to support
the studies of Discalced friars

11. Separation and Death
• On June 22 1580, Pope Gregory XIII authorized a
separation between the Calced and Discalced
Carmelites
• John of the Cross was elected one of the "Definitors" of
the community, and wrote a set of constitutions for
them
• By 1581, there were 22 houses, some 300 friars and
200 nuns in the Discalced Carmelites
• In October of 1582 Teresa dies
• In May 1585, John was elected Provincial Vicar of
Andalusia, a post which required him to travel
frequently, as many as 15,500 miles
• In 1590, John was removed from his post after
disagreeing with reforms
• He died on December 14, 1591

12. Veneration
• He was initially buried at Úbeda
• The Body was secretly moved to Segovia
• The Pope intervenes
• A compromise was reached Úbeda would receive one leg and one
arm of the corpse
• The head and torso was retained by the monastery at Segovia
• he was only beatified in 1675 by Pope Clement X
• was canonized by Benedict XIII in 1726
• His feast day is December 14
• In 1926, he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI,
recognized as having been of particular importance, particularly
regarding their contribution to theology or doctrine.

13. Sources
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_the_Cross
• https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-john-of-the-cross/
• https://www.ccel.org/ccel/john_cross
• http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/kelvingrove/about/collectio
n-highlights/Pages/Christ-of-St-John-on-the-Cross.aspx
• J.R. Atkins, MBA – j.r.atkins@emory.edu