John of the Cross Life
THE LIFE OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS (1542-1591)
St. John of the Cross was a religious reformer acting under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as was his contemporary, St. Teresa of Avila, with whom he worked in Segovia, Spain. He labored to restore piety and true spirituality among the Carmelite Order of religious in the Church of his time. Reformers are unpopular among the wayward they attempt to reform, as history clearly points out. Reformers are very often persecuted and even killed by their own, as were most of the prophets and Christ, himself. The Carmelite friars looked on John’s endeavors as a rebellion against the Order itself, and so condemned him as a fugitive and an apostate. They tracked him down, put him into prison, and treated him severely.
Through it all, John demonstrated the deepest humility and patient endurance bonding himself totally to God’s divine love. This trust was highly rewarded. Through his ordeal, God favored him with spiritual insights given to few others. He once said to St. Teresa, “Be not surprised if I show so great a love for sufferings: God gave me a high idea of their merit and value when I was in the prison of Toledo.”
His desire was to so completely unite himself with the “suffering Christ” that he would frequently ask three things of God: (One) That he might not pass one day of his life without suffering something; (Two) That he might not die superior of the Order; (Three) That he might end his life in humiliation, disgrace, and contempt. At the very name of the cross he fell into ecstasy.
Hearing Christ once say to him, “John, what compensation do you ask of me for your labors?” He answered, “Lord, I ask no other recompense than to suffer and be condemned for your love.”
One day, a lady coming to confession to him was so struck with a heavenly light which radiated from his soul and penetrated her own. She immediately laid aside her jewels and gaudy attire, and consecrated herself to God in strict retirement, to the astonishment of the whole city of Segovia.
God rewarded and exalted him during and after his death with many miracles. He was twice miraculously rescued from drowning in his childhood and preserved from many dangers through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom he had a special devotion. The saint evidenced other mystical experiences witnessed by others such as the time he was observed at prayer in the chapel levitating in a state of ecstasy with his head touching the ceiling, a sign of divine favor experienced by such other saints as St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Alphonsus of Liguori, St. Joseph of Cupertino to name a few. He describes other mystical experiences in his work Living Flame of Love, including the spiritual wounding of the heart, transverberation, the perfected union with Christ in the “Mystical marriage”, and receiving the visible wounds of Christ in the Stigmata.
Following his death at the age of 49, friars witnessed a brilliant light emanating from his tomb. The saint’s body was found to be intact when it was ordered to be moved to another burial location. To hasten decomposition of the flesh in order to later retrieve the bones as relics, the body was covered with a layer of lime and reburied. Nine months later the tomb was again opened and the body was still found to be perfectly preserved, as it today enshrined in a reliquary of marble and bronze in Segovia, Spain.
His masterful spiritual writings, still sold in book stores today, rank among the highest mystical and theological works in the history of the Church. These include The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night of the Soul and The Spiritual Canticle. St. John of the Cross was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726, and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI in 1926.
Source: Butler’s Lives of the Saints, Vol. IV, The Catholic Press, Inc. Chicago 1934
Also: Mysteries, Marvels Miracles in the Lives of the Saints. – John Carroll Cruz; Tan Books and Publishers, Inc. Illinois 1997
Script of radio drama on the life of St. John of the Cross in production by Catholic Radio Dramas.com – written by Dennis Alberts