John of the Cross
| Saint John of the Cross | |
|---|---|
Saint John of the Cross by Francisco de Zurbarán, 1656
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| Religious founder, priest and Doctor of the Church | |
| Born | 1542 Fontiveros, Ávila, Spain |
| Died | December 14, 1591 (aged 49) Úbeda, Jaén, 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 (General Roman Calendar, 1738–1969) |
| Patronage | Contemplative life; contemplatives; mystical theology; mystics; Spanish poets |
Saint John of the Cross (Spanish: San Juan de la Cruz; 1542 – 14 December 1591) was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, a Roman Catholic saint, a Carmelite friar and a priest who was born at Fontiveros, Old Castile.
John of the Cross was a reformer in the Carmelite Order of his time and the movement he helped initiate, along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, eventually led to the establishment of the Discalced Carmelites, though neither he nor Teresa were alive when the two orders separated. 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 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII. He is one of the thirty-six Doctors of the Church.
He was born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez into a converso family (descendents of Jewish converts to Christianity) in Fontiveros, near Ávila, a town of around 2,000 people. His father, Gonzalo, was an accountant to richer relatives who were silk merchants. However, when in 1529 he married John's mother, Catalina, who was an orphan of a lower class, Gonzalo was rejected by his family and forced to work with his wife as a weaver. John's father died in 1545, while John was still only around three years old. Two years later, John's older brother Luis died, probably as a result of insufficient nourishment caused by the penury to which John's family had been reduced. After this, John's mother Catalina took John and his surviving brother Francisco, and moved first in 1548 to Arévalo, and then in 1551 to Medina del Campo, where she was able to find work weaving.
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