John of the Cross

John of the Cross (1), St (1542–91), Spanish mystic and joint founder of the Discalced Carmelites. He became a Carmelite in 1563. He was dissatisfied with the prevalent laxity of the Order and with St Teresa's aid he brought her Reform to include friars. After the anti-Reformist General Chapter of the Calced Carmelites (i.e. of the Mitigated Observance) in 1575, he was imprisoned in 1577. He escaped after nine months, and the separation of the Calced and Discalced Carmelites was effected in 1579–80. John became Prior of Granada in 1582 and of Segovia in 1588. He incurred the hostility of the Vicar General of the Discalced Carmelites, was banished to Andalusia in 1591, and died after a severe illness.

His extensive writings on the mystical life consist of commentaries which he built up on three of his poems, which are among the greatest in Spanish. The Spiritual Canticle treatise expounds its rich imagery in terms of the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways. It is less systematic than the Ascent of Mount Carmel and the Dark Night of the Soul (a single unfinished treatise) which deals with the purgation of the soul through the ‘night of the senses’ and the ‘night of the spirit’. These nights have an active and passive aspect: actively the soul detaches itself from dependence on things of the senses (including sensible devotion) and adheres in faith to God alone; passively, God acts to fit it for the transforming Union with Himself, described in the Living Flame. Though presented in schematic form, these nights are not consecutive phases but complementary parts of a single process, the purifying of the soul for transformation and participation in God. Feast day, 14 Dec. (formerly 24 Nov.).