Birth and Ordination
on Nov 19, 2008 in Biography John de Yepes, youngest child of Gonzalo de Yepes and Catherine Alvarez, poor silk weavers of Toledo, knew from his earliest years the hardships of life. The father, originally of a good family but disinherited on account of his marriage below his ra...

Writings
on Nov 19, 2008 in Writings St. John left the following works, which for the first time appeared at Barcelona in 1619. * "The Ascent of Mount Carmel", an explanation of some verses beginning: "In a dark night with anxious love inflamed". This work was to have

The Dark Night of the Soul
on Nov 19, 2008 in Theology His axiom is that the soul must empty itself of self in order to be filled with God, that it must be purified of the last traces of earthly dross before it is fit to become united with God. In the application of this simple maxim he shows the most un...

Work with St. Teresa
on Nov 19, 2008 in Biography St. Teresa He made the acquaintance of St. Teresa, who had come to Medina to found a convent of nuns, and who persuaded him to remain in the Carmelite Order and to assist her in the establishment of a monastery of friars carrying out the primitive rule. He acco...

Illness, Death, Beatification, and Sainthood
on Nov 19, 2008 in Sainthood Biography Death As his illness increased he was removed to the monastery of Ubeda, where he at first was treated very unkindly, his constant prayer, "to suffer and to be despised", being thus literally fulfilled almost to the end of his life. But at last even h

Monastic Work
on Nov 19, 2008 in Biography St. John was ordered by his provincial to return to the house of his profession (Medina), and, on his refusing to do so, owing to the fact that he held his office not from the order but from the Apostolic delegate, he was taken prisoner in the night...

John of the Cross: Monastic Work
on Nov 19, 2008 in Biography St. John was ordered by his provincial to return to the house of his profession (Medina), and, on his refusing to do so, owing to the fact that he held his office not from the order but from the Apostolic delegate, he was taken prisoner in the night...

John of the Cross: Writings
on Nov 19, 2008 in Writings St. John left the following works, which for the first time appeared at Barcelona in 1619. * "The Ascent of Mount Carmel", an explanation of some verses beginning: "In a dark night with anxious love inflamed". This work was to have comprised four...

Theology
on Nov 19, 2008 in Writings Theology It has been recorded that during his studies St. John particularly relished psychology; this is amply borne out by his writings. He was not what one would term a scholar, but he was intimately acquainted with the "Summa" of St. Thomas Aquinas, a