St John of the Cross' Life Illustrates the Paradox of the Cross

December 14 is feast day of Saint John of the Cross. Reformer, Mystic and Doctor of the Church.

St. John of the Cross OCD (Spanish: born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez; 24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591) known as the mystical doctor was a 16th century reformer of the Carmelite way of life. Together with Saint Teresa of Avila, he lived the primitive Rule of their Order, and paid a dear price for his commitment to reform and authentic living: opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, imprisonment. He came to know the cross acutely, to experience the dying of Jesus, as he sat month after month in his dark, damp, narrow cell with only his God.




Saint John was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest, Christian mystic, Carmelite friar of Converso ancestry, a major figure of the Counter-Reformation in Spain, and one of the Doctors of the Church.

Saint John of the Cross,known for his writings, was mentored by and corresponded with the older Carmelite nun Teresa of Ávila. Both his poetry and his studies on the development of the soul, particularly his Noche Obscura, are considered the summit of mystical Christian literature and among the greatest works of all Spanish literature. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. In 1926, he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI

 In the darkness of the dungeon, John’s spirit came into the Light. There are many mystics, many poets; John is unique as mystic-poet, expressing in his prison-cross the ecstasy of mystical union with God in the Spiritual Canticle.

As man-Christian-Carmelite, he experienced in himself a purifying ascent; as spiritual director, he sensed it in others; as psychologist-theologian, he described and analyzed it in his prose writings. His prose works are outstanding in underscoring the cost of discipleship, the path of union with God: rigorous discipline, abandonment, purification. Uniquely and strongly John underlines the gospel paradox: The cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy, darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial to self to union with God. If you want to save your life, you must lose it. John is truly “of the Cross.”