
MOUNT CARMEL

CLOISTERED CONVENT

ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS
The first of the discalced Carmelite friars, John was born in Fontiveros ( Avila), the third son of Gonzalo de Yepes and Catalina Alvarez. John was little more than two years old when his father died. In need of a better means of livelihood for her sons, John's mother, a weaver, moved to Arevalo and then Medina del Campo. In 1551 good fortune came John's way when he was enrolled in a catechism school in Medina for poor boys. This led to his employment as both an orderly and begger for a hospital in the city. The new responsibility enabled him to enter a school operated by the Jesuits and study the humanities under their guidence (1559-63). But unexpectedly he entered the Carmelites at the age of twenty-one, taking the name Juan de Santo Matias. After his novitiate he was sent for studies to Salamanca. Ordained a priest in 1567, he returned to Medina to sing his first Mass. There he met Teresa who recruited him for a contemplative way of life for carmelite friars similar to her nuns, with the exception of preaching and other priestly ministry.She brought him with her on their new foundation in Valladolid and there taught him and allowed him to see and experience the new style of Carmelite life established by her. At this time she made him a new habit, which she especially designed for the discalced Carmelite friars. The first house of friars was opened in Duruelo on 28 November 1568. John served as master of novices for the discalced friars in Duruelo, Mancera de Abajo, and Pastrana. In 1571 he was appointe rector of the new college in Alcala for the discalced friars who would be pursuing studies. But soon after, in 1572, he was named by the nuncio Ormaneto confessor at the Incarnation in Avila to help Teresa in her work of reform there. He remained in this office until 1577 when, in early Desember, as a result of the chapter of Piacenza, he was unjustly seized as a renegrade and imprisoned in the Carmelite monastery of the observance in Toledo. There he suffered until he managed a dramatic escape at night on 15 August 1578. While in prison he composed most of the majestic stanzas of his poem The Spiritual Canticle. After his escape he was sent to Andalucia as vicar of El Calvario. There he began his work of spiritual direction of the discalced Carmelites both friars and nuns, which led to his classic commentaries: The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night, and The Spiritual Canticle.
In 1579 he was named rector of a new house of studies in Baeza for discalced Carmelites living in the south of Spain. In 1582, he was elected to be prior of the house in Granada. He had previously gone to Avila, in 1581, to urge Teresa to come down to Granada to make a foundation for her nuns there, but since she had other commitments at the time, she directed him to assist Anne of Jesus in making this new foundation, which the two of them did in January 1582. It was later in that same year St. Teresa died. While in Granada (1582-88), John did most of his writing. In 1585 he was elected vicar provincial of Andalusia, but continued to live in Granada. This office kept him busy with much travel and a number of new foundations. During those years, crowded with many responsibilities demanding his attention, in the space of two weeks he composed his lofitiest work, The Living Flame of Love. In 1588 he was called back to Castle tp serve as priar of the house in Segovia and serve on the council of the vicar general for the discalced friars and nuns, Nicolas Doria. Because of disagreements among Doria, Gracian, and some of the discalced Carmelite nuns, he was considered a dissenter, set aside from the central government, and destined for the missions to Mexico. While plans were being made for this mission to Mexico, he withdraw to a solitary house in La Penuela in Andalusia in June of 1591. At this time, Diego Evangelista began any information he could that might be useful in caluminating him and having him expelled from the order. On 12 September John grew seriously ill with fever and an infection in his leg. Transferred to Ubeda where he could recieve medical attention, he grew progressively worse until after much suffering he died on 14 December 1591. In 1593 his body was transferred to Segovia. He was beatified on 6 October 1674, and canonized on 27 December 1726. He wa declared a Doctor of the Church on 24 August 1926.
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