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John of the Cross Spain (1542 - 1591) Timeline Christian : Catholic Poems by John of the Cross Books - Links |
In his early 20s, John entered the Carmelite order and moved to Salamanca to further his studies. Among his other teachers was the well-known mystic and poet Fray Luis de Leon.
Still in his 20s, the young John of the Cross first met the woman who would become his mentor, Teresa of Avila, who was in her 50s at the time. Teresa of Avila was a mystic, a writer, a social activist, and a founder of several monasteries. She had begun a reform movement within the Carmelite Order, advocating for a return to simplicity and the essential spirituality that should be at the heart of any monastic order. John of the Cross joined her movement of Discalced Carmelites and quickly became a leading figure himself.
Members of the unreformed Carmelites felt threatened by the critique from this new movement, and they turned to force, imprisoning and even torturing John of the Cross. He was held in a tiny cell in Toledo for nine months, until he escaped.
As terrible as this experience must have been, it was during his time of imprisonment that John's spirituality and poetry began to blossom. The experience of losing everything, of being supremely vulnerable, seems to have brought John of the Cross to a profound state of openness and spiritual insight.
It was during his imprisonment that John began to write poetry.
Once he escaped from prison, John continued his work with Teresa of Avila, founding new monasteries and advocating for their spiritual reforms. He spent the rest of his life as a spiritual director among the Discalced Carmelites.
His two best known works, the Spiritual Canticle and Dark Night of the Soul, are considered masterpieces of Spanish poetry and esoteric Christianity. Besides these, he wrote many other short poems, along with extensive commentaries on the meaning of his poetry as they relate to the soul's experience of divine reality.
Poems by John of the Cross
- Dark Night
- Full of Hope I Climbed the Day
- I Entered the Unknown
- I Live Yet Do Not Live in Me
- Love's Living Flame
- Not for All the Beauty
- Song of the Soul That Delights in Knowing God by Faith
- The Fountain
- The Sum of Perfection
- Without a Place and With a Place
- On the Communion of the Three Persons (from Romance on the Gospel)
Recommended Books: John of the Cross
Related Links
Christian Classics Etherial Library: St. John of the Cross
http://www.ccel.org/j/john_cross/
Several works by John of the Cross in PDF format, including the Dark Night of the Soul and Spiritual Canticle. Some links to articles about him, as well.