Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.
Saint John Of The Cross.
Confessor.
Doctor Of The Church.
Feast Day 24 November.
Double.
White Vestments.
English: Statue of Saint John of The Cross (Right),
The Chapel of the Convent of The Barefoot Carmelites,
Segovia, Spain.
Statue (Left) is Saint Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, O.Carm.
Español: Segovia - Convento de los Carmelitas Descalzos, Capilla de San Juan de la Cruz.
Photo: 19 March 2017.
Source: Own work.
Author: Zarateman
(Wikimedia Commons)
After Commemorating Saint Teresa of Ávila, who reformed The Order of Mount Carmel, The Church, on this day, honours Saint John of The Cross, who gave her his powerful help in this great work. It was through him that Saint Teresa introduced The Primitive Observance among The Friars of Carmel, as she had done for the Nuns.
He was, in the judgement of The Holy See, the equal of Saint Teresa of Ávila in explaining Divine Mysteries.
“John of The Cross,” said Saint Teresa, “was one of the purest Souls in The Church; God endowed him with great treasures of light, and his understanding was replete with the science of Saints.”
Statues of Saint John of The Cross and Saint Teresa of Ávila
in La Plaza de Las Carmelitas, Beas de Segura, Spain.
Photo: 24 May 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Cosasdebeas
(Wikimedia Commons)
Born in Old Castile in 1542, he took the name of “John of The Cross” on entering The Order of The Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. He had a great devotion to The Passion of Our Lord and his most conspicuous virtue was an abnegation so perfect that he sought after suffering and humiliation (Collect).
He often besought God not to let him pass a day without suffering and to permit him to die where he would be unknown to all. His Prayer was fully heard, for the reform of The Order of Carmel caused him many troubles.
Struck down at Ubeda, Spain, by a cruel disease, he died embracing The Crucifix and exclaiming: “Glory to God,” This was in 1591. He was proclaimed a Doctor of The Church by Pope Pius XI and, by Decree of 24 November 1926, his Mass was altered to the present one.
Mass: In médio.
Commemoration: Saint Chrysogonus.
The short biography given here by (probably) Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, OSB, understandably omits the extreme sufferings that St. John of the cross experienced.
ReplyDeleteDue to bitter disputes between the established Order of Carmelites (O.Carm) and the new group of Discalced Carmelites, on Dec. 2, 1577, the saint was seized by a group of Carmelite priests and some armed collaborators, and taken from Avila to imprisonment at the very large monastery at Toledo:
“ [St John of the Cross] was taken to the Carmelite monastery in Toledo, tried by a court of his fellow friars, and sentenced to prison within the monastery. He was brutally treated there, isolated in a ten-by-six foot cell, and subjected to lashings, dark-ness, extremes in temperature, and near-starvation.
Approximately 9 months later, and perhaps aided by a sympathetic Carmelite friar, after his enduring the bitter cold of Toledo winter with no heat and no blanket and sleeping on the concrete floor of the cell, then the stifling heat of summer, sometime in August 1578 he escaped at night and made his way to the Discalced Carmelite Nuns’ Monastery, who, fortunately let him in, as soon armed patrols began searching for him, and he had he been retaken as a prisoner, it is unknown what they might’ve done to him . -Note by Dante P
We are most grateful to our Historical Correspondent, Dante P, for this important update on Saint John of The Cross's life.
DeleteIs it not fantastical, how The Powers of Darkness even invade Catholic entitites like the Carmelite Order !!!
To try and destroy from within is a very old military technique.
(Cont.) After the dispute was settled between the two Carmelite groups, and after serving for some years as prior at the monastery at Segovia, eventually, the saint was sent for his last years to stay at the Carmelite Monastery at Ubeda.
ReplyDeleteDespite being revered by many of the Carmelites, the prior, Fr. Crisostomo, at this particular house, was very cruel and mean, and continually complained about the expense of medicines and doctor’s care for St. John of the Cross.
It is thought that the saint was slowly dying of an extremely painful cancerous tumor in his back. Yet those who dressed his wounds daily said they smelled like the finest perfumes and roses. He never complained at all, and was often of good cheer and consummate kindness, even until the day he died.
At that point of his death , the room was overwhelmingly flooded with the smell of the finest flowers and perfumes, and no one could doubt the extraordinary nature of these events. At the end, before his death, the monastery prior, who had been so cruel to him, begged the saint’s forgiveness, realizing he had made an enormous miscalculation of the seriousness of his illness. The news of these miracles, the perfume and roses, spread throughout the town, and led to masses of people visiting the convent church for his funeral.
As Zephyrinus knows, St. John of the Cross died December 14, 1591, and was canonized in 1726. As mentioned above, Pius XI declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1926. His spiritual writings are considered the apex of Catholic mystical theology.
One other note : He was known to love Christmastime, and on one occasion, when they were decorating the church for the Nativity of our Lord, he picked up the statue of the Christ Child from the manger scene and danced with it out of pure joy.
So he is a perfect saint, despite his very difficult life, for Advent and Christmas season. -Note by Dante P
Again, a marvellous historical update from Dante P, for which we are most grateful.
DeleteIt is apparent that the life of a Saint is not always easy !!!
To dance with The Christ Child at Christmas-Time is a wonderful picture.