John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
John of the Cross was a Spanish Carmelite friar, mystic, and poet, co-founder of the Discalced Carmelite reform with Teresa of Avila. Imprisoned by his own order during the conflict over the reform, he composed in his cell much of the poetry that, with its accompanying prose commentaries, makes him the supreme mystical poet of the Spanish language. The Dark Night of the Soul, the Spiritual Canticle, and the Ascent of Mount Carmel articulate an uncompromising apophatic theology in which the soul approaches God through the progressive emptying of all that is not God. He was named a Doctor of the Church in 1926.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Spanish
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Christian
Selected quotes
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Attributed to John of the Cross:
“In the dark night of the soul, bright flows the river of God.”
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Attributed to John of the Cross:
“To come to enjoy what you have not, you must go by a way in which you enjoy not.”
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Attributed to John of the Cross:
“If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.”
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Attributed to John of the Cross:
“In the evening of life, we shall be judged on love.”
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Attributed to John of the Cross:
“What we need most in order to make progress is to be silent before this great God.”