Difference between revisions of "John of the Cross" - New World Encyclopedia

Revision as of 20:18, 14 July 2008

Saint John of the Cross

Confessor and Doctor of the Church
Born	24 June 1542 in Fontiveros, Spain
Died	December 14 1591 (aged 49) in Ubeda, Andalusia, Spain
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion; Lutheran Church
Beatified	25 January 1675 by Pope Clement X
Canonized	27 December 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII
Major shrine	Tomb of Saint John of the Cross, Segovia, Spain
Feast	14 December 24 November Traditional Catholic Calendar
Patronage	contemplative life; contemplatives; mystical theology; mystics; Spanish poets

For another saint who lived around the same time and area, see John of Avila.

Saint John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) (24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591), born Juan de Yepes Alvarez, was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, and Carmelite friar and priest, born at Fontiveros, a small village near Ávila.

Saint John of the Cross was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered, along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, as a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. He is also known for his writings. Both his poetry and his studies on the growth of the soul are considered the summit of mystical Spanish literature and one of the peaks of all Spanish literature. He was canonized as a saint in 1762 by Pope Benedict XIII. He is one of the thirty-three Doctors of the Church. His original feast day was November 24, since his date of death was impeded by the octave of the Immaculate Conception. The 1969 calendar reforms placed his feast day on his date of death, December 14.

Life

Early life and education

He was born by the name of Juan de Yepes Alvarez^[1] into a Jewish converso family in a small community near Ávila.^[2] His father died when he was young, and so John, his two older brothers and his widowed mother struggled with poverty, moving around and living in various Castilian villages, with the last being Medina del Campo, to which he moved in 1551. There he worked at a hospital and studied the humanities at a Society of Jesus (Jesuit) school from 1559 to 1563. The Society of Jesus was a new organization at the time, having been founded a few years earlier by the Spanish St. Ignatius Loyola. On 24 February 1563 he entered the Carmelite order, adopting the name Fr. Juan de Santo Matía.

The following year (1564) he professed as a Carmelite (was promoted from novice status) and moved to Salamanca, where he studied theology and philosophy at the University and at the Colegio de San Andrés. This stay would influence all his later writings, as Fray Luis de León taught biblical studies (Exegesis, Hebrew and Aramaic) at the University. León was one of the foremost experts in Biblical Studies then and had written an important and controversial translation of the Song of Songs into Spanish. (Translation of the Bible into the vernacular was not allowed then in Spain).

Priesthood and association with Saint Teresa de Jesús

Saint John was ordained a priest in 1567, and then indicated his intent to join the strict Carthusian order, which appealed to him because of its encouragement of solitary and silent contemplation. Before this, however, he travelled to Medina del Campo, where he met the charismatic Saint Teresa de Jesús. She immediately talked to him about her reformation projects for the Carmelite order, and asked him to delay his entry into the Carthusians. The following year, on 28 November, he started this reformation at Duruelo together with Fr. Antonio de Jesús de Heredia, and the originally small and impoverished town of Duruelo became a center of religion.

John, still in his 20s, continued to work as a helper of Saint Teresa until 1577, founding monasteries around Spain and taking active part in their government. These foundations and the reformation process were resisted by a great number of Carmelite friars, some of whom felt that Teresa's version of the order was too strict. Some of these opponents would even try to bar Teresa from entering their convents.

The followers of St. John and St. Teresa differentiated themselves from the non-reformed communities by calling themselves the "discalced," i.e., barefoot, and the others the "calced" Carmelites.

Imprisonment, writings, torture, death and recognition

On the night of 3 to 4 December 1577, following his refusal to relocate after his superior's orders and allegedly because of his attempts to reform life within the Carmelite order, he was taken prisoner by his superiors, and jailed in Toledo, where he was kept under a brutal regimen that included public lashing before the community at least weekly, and severe isolation in a tiny stifling cell barely large enough for his body. He managed to escape nine months later, on 15 August 1578. In the meantime, he had composed a great part of his most famous poem Spiritual Canticle during this imprisonment; his harsh sufferings and spiritual endeavours are then reflected in all of his subsequent writings.

After returning to a normal life, he went on with the reformation and the founding of monasteries for the new Discalced Carmelite order, which he had helped found along with his fellow St. Teresa de Ávila.

He died on 14 December 1591. His writings were first published in 1618, and he was canonized by Benedict XIII in 1726. In 1926, he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI. When inserted into the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1738, his feast day was assigned to 24 November.^[3] Pope Paul VI moved it to the dies natalis (birthday to heaven) of the saint, 14 December.^[4]

The Church of England commemorates him as a "Teacher of the Faith" on the same date.

Literary Works

St. John of the Cross is considered one of the foremost poets in the Spanish language. Although his complete poems add up to less than 2500 verses, two of them—the Spiritual Canticle and Dark Night of the Soul are widely considered to be among the best poems ever written in Spanish, both for their formal stylistic point of view and their rich symbolism and imagery.

The Spiritual Canticle is an eclogue in which the bride (representing the soul) searches for the bridegroom (representing Jesus Christ), and is anxious at having lost him; both are filled with joy upon reuniting. It can be seen as a free-form Spanish version of the Song of songs at a time when translations of the Bible into the vernacular were forbidden.

Dark Night of the Soul (from which the spiritual term Dark Night of the Soul takes its name) narrates the journey of the soul from her bodily home to her union with God. It happens during the night, which represents the hardships and difficulties she meets in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator. There are several steps in this night, which are related in successive stanzas. The main idea of the poem can be seen as the painful experience that people endure as they seek to grow in spiritual maturity and union with God. A year after writing this poem, in 1586 he wrote a commentary on Dark Night of the Soul with the same title. This commentary explains the meaning of the poem verse by verse. Canadian world music artist Loreena McKennitt composed the music for and recorded a "song" version of the poem on her 1994 album The Mask and Mirror.

St. John also wrote four treatises on mystical theology, two of them concerning the two poems above, and supposedly explaining the meaning of the poems verse by verse and even word by word. He actually proves unable to follow this scheme and writes freely on the subject he is treating at each time.

The third work, Ascent of Mount Carmel is a more systematic study of the ascetical endeavour of a soul looking for perfect union, God, and the mystical events happening along the way. A four stanza work, Living Flame of Love describes a greater intimacy, as the soul responds to God's love. These, together with his Dichos de Luz y Amor, or "Sayings of Light and Love," and St. Teresa's writings, are the most important mystical works in Spanish, and have deeply influenced later spiritual writers all around the world. Among these can be named T. S. Eliot, Thérèse de Lisieux, Edith Stein (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), and Thomas Merton. John has also influenced philosophers (Jacques Maritain), theologians (Hans Urs von Balthasar), and pacifists (Dorothy Day, Daniel Berrigan, and Philip Berrigan). He is also mentioned in Allen Ginsberg's groundbreaking poem "Howl."

Notes

↑ Roddriguez, Jose Vincente, Biographical Narrative. God Speaks in the Night. The Life, Times, and Teaching of St. John of the Cross, Washington D.C.: ICS Publications, 1991, p. 3
↑ Norman Roth, Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, pp. 157, 369
↑ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 110
↑ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 146

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Dark Night of the Soul: A Masterpiece in the Literature of Mysticism (Translated and Edited by E. Allison Peers), Doubleday, 1959. ISBN 978-0385-02930-8

External links

St John of the Cross, Dec 14 - Solemnity
Books written by St John of the Cross including St Teresa of Avila
St. John of the Cross and his influence on St. Therese of Lisieux
Catholic Encyclopedia on John of the Cross
The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross at Discalced Carmelites in the Australian Region
The Metaphysics of Mysticism: The Mystical Philosophy of Saint John of the Cross Biography of St. John of the Cross
Christian Classics Ethereal Library: St. John of the Cross
Short film based on St. John of the Cross' Dark Night of the Soul
St. John of the Cross on the Mystical Site www.mysticism.nl
Carmel's Heights - This CD album is an attempt to share with all, some of Carmel's Saints - real persons of flesh and blood - who share with us in song their own spiritual experiences.
Carmelite Vocation
Poetry of John of the Cross
Discalced Carmelite Calendar and Saints
Index of Carmelite Websites
Thomas Merton on St. John of the Cross

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

John of the Cross ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

History of "John of the Cross"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

[1] Roddriguez, Jose Vincente, Biographical Narrative. God Speaks in the Night. The Life, Times, and Teaching of St. John of the Cross, Washington D.C.: ICS Publications, 1991, p. 3

[2] Norman Roth, Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain, Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, pp. 157, 369

[3] Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 110

[4] Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 146

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{ready}}
 {{Infobox Saint
 |name=Saint John of the Cross
-|birth_date=April 7, 1542
+|birth_date=24 June 1542
-|death_date=December 14, 1591)
+|death_date={{Death date and age|1591|12|14|1542|06|24}}
-|feast_day=December 14; November 24
+|feast_day=14 December<br/>24 November Traditional Catholic Calendar
-|venerated_in=[[Roman Catholic Church]]; [[Church of England]]; [[Lutheran Church]]
+|venerated_in=[[Roman Catholic Church]]; [[Anglican Communion]]; [[Lutheran Church]]
 |image=JohnCross.jpg
 |imagesize=205px
@@ Line 11: / Line 10: @@
 |birth_place=[[Fontiveros]], [[Spain]]
 |death_place=[[Ubeda]], [[Andalusia]], [[Spain]]
-|titles=Mystic and Doctor of the Church
+|titles=Confessor and Doctor of the Church
-|beatified_date=January 25, 1675
+|beatified_date=25 January 1675
 |beatified_place=
 |beatified_by=[[Pope Clement X]]
-|canonized_date=December 27, 1726
+|canonized_date=27 December 1726
 |canonized_place=
 |canonized_by=[[Pope Benedict XIII]]
@@ Line 26: / Line 25: @@
 |prayer_attrib=
 }}
-:''For the personification of the average Filipino, see [[Juan de la Cruz]], and for another Saint who lived around the same time and area, see [[John of Avila]]''
+:''For another saint who lived around the same time and area, see [[John of Avila]]''.
-'''[[Saint]] John of the Cross''' ''(San Juan de la Cruz)'' (June 24, 1542 – December 14, 1591) was a major figure in the [[Catholic Reformation]], a [[Spanish mystics|Spanish mystic]] and [[Carmelites|Carmelite]] friar and priest born at [[Fontiveros]], a small village near [[Ávila]].
+'''Saint John of the Cross''' ''(San Juan de la Cruz)'' (24 June 1542 &ndash; 14 December 1591), born '''Juan de Yepes Alvarez''', was a major figure of the [[Counter-Reformation]], a [[Spanish mystics|Spanish mystic]], and [[Carmelites|Carmelite]] [[friar]] and [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priest]], born at [[Fontiveros]], a small village near [[Ávila]].
+Saint John of the Cross was a reformer of the [[Carmelite Order]] and is considered, along with [[Saint Teresa of Ávila]], as a founder of the [[Discalced Carmelites]]. He is also known for his writings. Both his poetry and his studies on the growth of the [[soul]] are considered the summit of [[mysticism|mystical]] Spanish literature and one of the peaks of all [[Spanish literature]]. He was [[canonized]] as a [[saint]] in 1762 by [[Pope Benedict XIII]]. He is one of the thirty-three [[Doctors of the Church]]. His original feast day was November 24, since his date of death was impeded by the octave of the Immaculate Conception. The 1969 calendar reforms placed his feast day on his date of death, December 14.
-He is renowned for his cooperation with [[Teresa of Avila|Saint Teresa of Avila]] in the reformation of the Carmelite order, and for his writings; both his poetry and his studies on the growth of the [[soul]] (in the [[Christianity|Christian]] sense of detachment from creatures and attachment to [[God]]) are considered the summit of [[mysticism|mystical]] Spanish literature and one of the peaks of all [[Spanish literature]]. He is one of the thirty-three [[Doctors of the Church]].
 ==Life==
 ===Early life and education===
-He was born into a Jewish [[converso]] family in a small community near [[Avila]].<ref>Norman Roth, ''Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain'', (Madison, WI: The University of Wisconcin Press, 1995, 157, 369. ISBN 0299142302)</ref> His father died when he was young, and so John, his two older brothers and his widowed mother struggled with poverty, moving around and living in various [[Castile (historical region)|Castilian]] villages, with the last being [[Medina del Campo]], to which he moved in 1551.  There, he worked at a hospital, and studied the humanities at a [[Society of Jesus]] (Jesuit) school from 1559 to 1563.  The Society of Jesus was a new organization at the time, having been founded a few years earlier by the Spanish St. [[Ignatius Loyola]].  On February 24, 1563 he entered the Carmel order, adopting the name Fr. Juan de Santo Matía.
+He was born by the name of ''Juan de Yepes Alvarez''<ref>Roddriguez, Jose Vincente, Biographical Narrative. ''God Speaks in the Night. The Life, Times, and Teaching of St. John of the Cross'', Washington D.C.: ICS Publications, 1991, p. 3 </ref> into a Jewish [[converso]] family in a small community near [[Ávila]].<ref>Norman Roth, ''Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain'', Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, pp. 157, 369</ref> His father died when he was young, and so John, his two older brothers and his widowed mother struggled with poverty, moving around and living in various [[Castile (historical region)|Castilian]] villages, with the last being [[Medina del Campo]], to which he moved in 1551. There he worked at a hospital and studied the humanities at a [[Society of Jesus]] (Jesuit) school from 1559 to 1563. The Society of Jesus was a new organization at the time, having been founded a few years earlier by the Spanish St. [[Ignatius Loyola]]. On 24 February 1563 he entered the Carmelite order, adopting the name Fr. Juan de Santo Matía.
-The following year (1564) he professed as a Carmelite (was promoted from novice status) and moved to [[Salamanca]], where he studied philosophy at the University and at the Colegio de San Andrés. This stay would influence all his later writings, as [[Luis Ponce de León|Fray Luis de León]] taught biblical studies ([[Exegesis]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]]) at the University.  León was one of the foremost experts in Biblical Studies then and had written an important and controversial translation of the [[Song of Songs]] into [[Spanish language|Spanish]].  (Translation of the [[Bible]] into the vernacular was not allowed then in Spain).
+The following year (1564) he professed as a Carmelite (was promoted from novice status) and moved to [[Salamanca]], where he studied theology and philosophy at the University and at the Colegio de San Andrés. This stay would influence all his later writings, as [[Luis Ponce de León|Fray Luis de León]] taught biblical studies ([[Exegesis]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]]) at the University. León was one of the foremost experts in Biblical Studies then and had written an important and controversial translation of the [[Song of Songs]] into [[Spanish language|Spanish]]. (Translation of the [[Bible]] into the vernacular was not allowed then in Spain).
 ===Priesthood and association with Saint Teresa de Jesús===
-Saint John was ordained a [[priest]] in 1567, and then indicated his intent to join the strict [[Carthusian]] order, which appealed to him because of its encouragement of solitary and silent contemplation. Before this, however, he travelled to [[Medina del Campo]], where he met the charismatic Saint [[Teresa of Avila|Teresa de Jesús]]. She immediately talked to him about her reformation projects for the Carmelite order, and asked him to delay his entry into the Carthusians.  The following year, on 28 November, he started this reformation at Duruelo together with Fr. Antonio de Jesús de Heredia, and the originally small and impoverished town of Duruelo became a center of religion.
+Saint John was ordained a [[priest]] in 1567, and then indicated his intent to join the strict [[Carthusian]] order, which appealed to him because of its encouragement of solitary and silent contemplation. Before this, however, he travelled to [[Medina del Campo]], where he met the charismatic Saint [[Teresa of Avila|Teresa de Jesús]]. She immediately talked to him about her reformation projects for the Carmelite order, and asked him to delay his entry into the Carthusians. The following year, on 28 November, he started this reformation at Duruelo together with Fr. Antonio de Jesús de Heredia, and the originally small and impoverished town of Duruelo became a center of religion.
-John, still in his 20s, continued to work as a helper of Saint Teresa until 1577, founding monasteries around Spain and taking active part in their government.  These foundations and the reformation process were resisted by a great number of Carmelite friars, some of whom felt that Teresa's version of the order was too strict.  Some of these opponents would even try to bar Teresa from entering their convents.
+John, still in his 20s, continued to work as a helper of Saint Teresa until 1577, founding monasteries around Spain and taking active part in their government. These foundations and the reformation process were resisted by a great number of Carmelite friars, some of whom felt that Teresa's version of the order was too strict. Some of these opponents would even try to bar Teresa from entering their convents.
-The followers of St. John and St. Teresa differentiated themselves from the non-reformed communities by calling themselves the "discalced," i.e. barefoot, and the others the "calced" Carmelites.
+The followers of St. John and St. Teresa differentiated themselves from the non-reformed communities by calling themselves the "discalced," i.e., barefoot, and the others the "calced" Carmelites.
 ===Imprisonment, writings, torture, death and recognition===
-On the night of 3 to 4 December 1577, following his refusal to relocate after his superior's orders and allegedly because of his attempts to reform life within the Carmelite order, he was taken prisoner by his superiors, and jailed in [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], where he was kept under a brutal regimen that included public lashing before the community at least weekly, and severe isolation in a tiny stifling cell barely large enough for his body.  He managed to escape nine months after, on 15 August 1578.  In the meantime, he had composed a great part of his most famous poem [http://www.karmel.at/ics/john/cn.html ''Spiritual Canticle''] during this imprisonment; his harsh sufferings and spiritual endeavors are then reflected in all of his subsequent writings.
+On the night of 3 to 4 December 1577, following his refusal to relocate after his superior's orders and allegedly because of his attempts to reform life within the Carmelite order, he was taken prisoner by his superiors, and jailed in [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], where he was kept under a brutal regimen that included public lashing before the community at least weekly, and severe isolation in a tiny stifling cell barely large enough for his body. He managed to escape nine months later, on 15 August 1578. In the meantime, he had composed a great part of his most famous poem [http://www.karmel.at/ics/john/cn.html ''Spiritual Canticle''] during this imprisonment; his harsh sufferings and spiritual endeavours are then reflected in all of his subsequent writings.
-After returning to a normal life, he went on with the reformation and the founding of monasteries for the new [[Discalced Carmelites|Discalced Carmelite]] order which he had helped settling along with his fellow St. Teresa de Ávila.
+After returning to a normal life, he went on with the reformation and the founding of monasteries for the new [[Discalced Carmelites|Discalced Carmelite]] order, which he had helped found along with his fellow St. Teresa de Ávila.
-He died on 14 December 1591, his writings were first published in 1618, and he was [[canonization|canonized]] by [[Pope Benedict XIII|Benedict XIII]] in 1726. In 1926 he was declared a [[Doctor of the Church]] by [[Pope Pius XI]]. His feast day is observed on the 24 of November by [[Traditional Catholics]].
+He died on 14 December 1591. His writings were first published in 1618, and he was [[canonization|canonized]] by [[Pope Benedict XIII|Benedict XIII]] in 1726. In 1926, he was declared a [[Doctor of the Church]] by [[Pope Pius XI]]. When inserted into the [[Roman Catholic calendar of saints]] in 1738, his feast day was assigned to 24 November.<ref>''Calendarium Romanum'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 110</ref>
+[[Pope Paul VI]] moved it to the ''dies natalis'' (birthday to heaven) of the saint, 14 December.<ref>''Calendarium Romanum'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 146</ref>
-The [[Church of England]] commemorates him as a "Teacher of the Faith."
+The [[Church of England]] commemorates him as a "Teacher of the Faith" on the same date.
 ==Literary Works==
-St. John of the Cross is considered one of the foremost poets in the [[Spanish language]].  Although his complete poems add up to less than 2500 verses, two of them—the ''Spiritual Canticle'' and ''[[Dark Night of the Soul]]'' are widely considered to be among the best poems ever written in Spanish, both for their formal [[Stylistics (linguistics)|stylistic]] point of view and their rich [[symbolism]] and imagery.
+St. John of the Cross is considered one of the foremost poets in the [[Spanish language]]. Although his complete poems add up to less than 2500 verses, two of them&mdash;the ''Spiritual Canticle'' and ''[[Dark Night of the Soul]]'' are widely considered to be among the best poems ever written in Spanish, both for their formal [[Stylistics (linguistics)|stylistic]] point of view and their rich [[symbolism]] and imagery.
-The ''Spiritual Canticle'' is an [[eclogue]] in which the bride (representing the [[soul]]) searches for the bridegroom (representing [[Christian views of Jesus|Jesus Christ]]), and is anxious at having lost him; both are filled with joy upon reuniting.  It can be seen as a free-form Spanish version of the [[Song of songs]] at a time when translations of the Bible into vernacular were forbidden.
-''Dark Night of the Soul'' (from which the spiritual term [[Dark Night of the Soul]] takes its name) narrates the journey of the [[soul]] from her bodily home to her union with [[God]].  It happens during the night, which represents the hardships and difficulties she meets in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator.  There are several steps in this night, which are related in successive stanzas.  Canadian world music artist [[Loreena McKennitt]] composed the music for and recorded a "song" version of the poem on her 1994 album ''[[The Mask and Mirror]]''.
+The ''Spiritual Canticle'' is an [[eclogue]] in which the bride (representing the [[soul]]) searches for the bridegroom (representing [[Christian views of Jesus|Jesus Christ]]), and is anxious at having lost him; both are filled with joy upon reuniting. It can be seen as a free-form Spanish version of the [[Song of songs]] at a time when translations of the Bible into the vernacular were forbidden.
-St. John also wrote three treatises on [[mystical]] [[theology]], two of them concerning the two poems above, and supposedly explaining the meaning of the poems verse by verse and even word by word. He actually proves unable to follow this scheme and writes freely on the subject he is treating at each time.
+''Dark Night of the Soul'' (from which the spiritual term [[Dark Night of the Soul]] takes its name) narrates the journey of the [[soul]] from her bodily home to her union with [[God]]. It happens during the night, which represents the hardships and difficulties she meets in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator. There are several steps in this night, which are related in successive stanzas. The main idea of the poem can be seen as the painful experience that people endure as they seek to grow in spiritual maturity and union with God. A year after writing this poem, in 1586 he wrote a commentary on ''Dark Night of the Soul'' with the same title. This commentary explains the meaning of the poem verse by verse. Canadian world music artist [[Loreena McKennitt]] composed the music for and recorded a "song" version of the poem on her 1994 album ''[[The Mask and Mirror]]''.
-The third work, ''[[Ascent of Mount Carmel]]'' is a more systematic study of the ascetical endeavor of a soul looking for perfect union, God, and the [[mysticism|mystical]] events happening along the way. These, together with his ''Dichos de Amor y de Paz'', or "Sayings of Love and Peace," and [[Teresa of Avila|St. Teresa]]'s writings, are the most important mystical works in Spanish, and have deeply influenced later spiritual writers all around the world. Among these can be named [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Thérèse de Lisieux]], [[Edith Stein]] (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), and [[Thomas Merton]].  John has also influenced philosophers ([[Jacques Maritain]]), theologians ([[Hans Urs von Balthasar]]), and [[pacifists]] ([[Dorothy Day]], [[Daniel Berrigan]], and [[Philip Berrigan]]). He is also mentioned in [[Allen Ginsberg]]'s groundbreaking poem "[[Howl]]."
+St. John also wrote four treatises on [[mystical]] [[theology]], two of them concerning the two poems above, and supposedly explaining the meaning of the poems verse by verse and even word by word. He actually proves unable to follow this scheme and writes freely on the subject he is treating at each time.
-==See also==
+The third work, ''[[Ascent of Mount Carmel]]'' is a more systematic study of the ascetical endeavour of a soul looking for perfect union, God, and the [[mysticism|mystical]] events happening along the way. A four stanza work, ''Living Flame of Love'' describes a greater [[intimacy]], as the [[soul]] responds to God's love. These, together with his ''Dichos de Luz y Amor'', or "Sayings of Light and Love," and [[Teresa of Avila|St. Teresa]]'s writings, are the most important mystical works in Spanish, and have deeply influenced later spiritual writers all around the world. Among these can be named [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Thérèse de Lisieux]], [[Edith Stein]] (Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), and [[Thomas Merton]]. John has also influenced philosophers ([[Jacques Maritain]]), theologians ([[Hans Urs von Balthasar]]), and [[pacifists]] ([[Dorothy Day]], [[Daniel Berrigan]], and [[Philip Berrigan]]). He is also mentioned in [[Allen Ginsberg]]'s groundbreaking poem "[[Howl]]."
-*[[Carmelite Rule of St. Albert]]
-*[[Book of the First Monks]]
-*[[Constitutions of the Carmelite Order]]
-*Saint [[Raphael Kalinowski]], the first friar to be sainted (in 1991 by Pope [[John Paul II]]) in the Order of Discalced Carmelites since Saint John of the Cross
-*[[Byzantine Discalced Carmelites]]
-*[[Christian Meditation]]
-*[[Spanish Renaissance literature]]
-*[[Miguel Asín Palacios]]
 ==Notes==
 {{reflist}}
+==References==
+*''Dark Night of the Soul: A Masterpiece in the Literature of Mysticism (Translated and Edited by E. Allison Peers)'', [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]], 1959. ISBN 978-0385-02930-8
 ==External links==
+*[http://www.carmelite-seremban.org/Spirituality/saint45.html St John of the Cross, Dec 14 - Solemnity]
-All links retrieved November 28, 2007
+*[http://www.carmelite-seremban.org/Spirituality/books.html Books written by St John of the Cross] including St Teresa of Avila
 *[http://www.thereseoflisieux.org/therese-and-john-of-the-cross/ St. John of the Cross and his influence on St. Therese of Lisieux]
 *[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08480a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia on John of the Cross]
@@ Line 87: / Line 80: @@
 *[http://www.johnofthecross.com The Metaphysics of Mysticism: The Mystical Philosophy of Saint John of the Cross] Biography of St. John of the Cross
 *[http://www.ccel.org/j/john_cross/?show=worksBy Christian Classics Ethereal Library: St. John of the Cross]
+*[http://www.post-videoart.com/video/160.html Short film based on St. John of the Cross' ''Dark Night of the Soul'']
 *[http://home.wxs.nl/~brouw724/Juan.html St. John of the Cross on the Mystical Site www.mysticism.nl]
+*[http://www.carmelite-seremban.org/Heights/index.html Carmel's Heights] - This CD album is an attempt to share with all, some of Carmel's Saints - real persons of flesh and blood - who share with us in song their own spiritual experiences.
 *[http://www.karmel.at/ics/edith/stein_9.html Carmelite Vocation]
 *[http://www.carmelite.com/saints/john/works/p_10.htm Poetry of John of the Cross]
+*[http://www.carmelite-seremban.org/Spirituality/carmelite_calendar.html Discalced Carmelite Calendar and Saints]
+*[http://carmelites.info  Index of Carmelite Websites]
 *[http://www.cin.org/saints/jcross-merton.html Thomas Merton on St. John of the Cross]
-{{Churchdoctor}}
 [[Category:Biography]]
 [[Category:Writers and poets]]
-{{credit|174470128}}
+{{credit|223961993}}