Juan de Ávila
| Saint John of Ávila | |
|---|---|
A portrait by El Greco (1580)
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| Priest, Doctor of the Church and Apostle of Andalusia |
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| Born |
6 January 1499 Almodóvar del Campo, Ciudad Real, Spain |
| Died | 10 May 1569 (aged 69) Montilla, Córdoba, Spain |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church (Spain) |
| Beatified | 12 November 1893 by Pope Leo XIII |
| Canonized | 31 May 1970 by Pope Paul VI |
| Major shrine | Church of the Incarnation Montilla, Córdoba, Spain |
| Feast | 10 May |
| Patronage | Andalusia, Spain, Spanish secular clergy |
| Influenced | St. Teresa of Ávila, St. John of God, St. Francis Borgia and Ven. Louis of Granada. |
John of Ávila (Spanish: Juan de Ávila; 6 January 1499– 10 May 1569) was a Spanish priest, preacher, scholastic author, and religious mystic, who has been declared a saint and Doctor of the Church by the Catholic Church. He is called the "Apostle of Andalusia", for his extensive ministry in that region.
He was born in Almodóvar del Campo, in the Province of Ciudad Real, to Alfonso de Ávila, of Jewish converso descent, and Catalina Xixón (or Gijón), a wealthy and pious couple. At the age of fourteen, in 1513, he was sent to the University of Salamanca to study law; he withdrew in 1517, however, without receiving a degree.
Returning home, Ávila spent the next three years in the practice of austere piety. His sanctity impressed a Franciscan friar journeying through Almodóvar, on whose advice he resumed his studies by matriculating at the University of Alcalá de Henares (which was moved to the national capital in the 19th century and renamed the Complutense University of Madrid). There he undertook the study of philosophy and theology, in which he was fortunate to have as his teacher the noted Dominican friar Domingo de Soto. It appears that Ávila earned his bachelor's degree during his years at Alcalá and then left without completing requirements for the licentiate degree.
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