Also known as
• Doctor of Mystical Theology
Memorial
• 14 December
Profile
Our Saint today is a well known and depressing Spanish mystic and Doctor of the Church. John was a Carmelite lay brother who lived more strictly than their order required. Then he was persuaded by Saint Teresa of Avila to begin the discalced or barefoot reform within the Carmelite Order, he took the name John of the Cross. He tried to make the Monks live MORE austerely.
He became the master of novices and as you may have guessed initially; his reforms did not set well with some of his brothers. Can you imagine telling these guys who sit on stones, work and pray all day, eating bread and water that they have to give up their high living?
Eventually he was made Vicar-general of Andalusia, Spain. His reforms revitalized the Order. He was a great spiritual writer. He wrote the poem Dark Night of the Soul where ones journey to God is portrayed as a journey at night through three stages ending in unity with Him. John’s writing is pretty heavy, and very depressing at times, but interestingly, many of those we would call Holy People, like Mother Theresa, pass through these dark, spiritually flavorless periods in their faith journeys.
Born
• 24 June 1542, Spain
Died
• 14 December 1591, Spain of natural causes
Patronage
• contemplative life
• contemplatives
• mystical theology
• mystics
• Spanish poets
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