by

Practical religion. The Christian life

Mysticism

Table of Contents

p. 1 Title Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 3 Prefatory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 3 Cover Text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 4 Preface To The Electronic Edition.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 4 Translator’s Preface To The First Edition.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 8 Translator’s Preface To The Second Edition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 9 Principal Abbreviations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 10 An Outline Of The Life Of St. John. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 13 General Introduction To The Works Of St. John Of The Cross. . . . . . .

p. 45 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 48 The Manuscripts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 52 Ascent of Mount Carmel.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 52 Argument.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 52 Stanzas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 53 Prologue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 56

Book The First. Wherein is described the nature of dark night and how

necessary it is to pass through it to Divine union; and in particular this book

describes the dark night of sense, and desire, and the evils which these work

in the soul.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 56 Book the First.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 56

Chapter I. Sets down the first stanza. Describes two different nights through

which spiritual persons pass, according to the two parts of man, the lower

and the higher. Expounds the stanza which follows.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 57

Chapter II. Explains the nature of this dark night through which the soul

says that it has passed on the road to union.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 59

Chapter III. Speaks of the first cause of this night, which is that of the

privation of the desire in all things, and gives the reason for which it is

called night.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 60

Chapter IV. Wherein is declared how necessary it is for the soul truly to

pass through this dark night of sense, which is mortification of desire, in

order that it may journey to union with God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 64

Chapter V. Wherein the aforementioned subject is treated and continued,

and it is shown by passages and figures from Holy Scripture how necessary

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St. John of the Cross Ascent of Mount Carmel

it is for the soul to journey to God through this dark night of the mortification

of desire in all things.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 67

Chapter VI. Wherein are treated two serious evils caused in the soul by

the desires, the one evil being privative and the other positive.. . . . . . .

p. 69

Chapter VII. Wherein is shown how the desires torment the soul. This is

proved likewise by comparison and quotations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 71

Chapter VIII. Wherein is shown how the desires darken and blind the

soul.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 74

Chapter IX. Wherein is described how the desires defile the soul. This is

proved by comparisons and quotations from Holy Scripture.. . . . . . . . .

p. 76

Chapter X. Wherein is described how the desires weaken the soul in virtue

and make it lukewarm.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 78

Chapter XI. Wherein it is proved necessary that the soul that would attain

to Divine union should be free from desires, however slight they be.. . . .

p. 81

Chapter XII. Which treats of the answer to another question, explaining

what the desires are that suffice to cause the evils aforementioned in the

soul.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 83

Chapter XIII. Wherein is described the manner and way which the soul

must follow in order to enter this night of sense.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 86 Chapter XIV. Wherein is expounded the second line of the stanza.. . . . .

p. 87

Chapter XV. Wherein are expounded the remaining lines of the

aforementioned stanza.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 88

Book The Second. Wherein is treated the proximate means of ascending to

union with God, which is faith; and wherein therefore is described the second

part of this night, which, as we said, belongs to the spirit, and is contained

in the second stanza, which is as follows.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 88 Chapter I. Stanza The Second.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 89

Chapter II. Which begins to treat of the second part or cause of this night,

which is faith. Proves by two arguments how it is darker than the first and

than the third.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 90

Chapter III. How faith is dark night to the soul. This is proved with arguments

and quotations and figures from Scripture.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 93

Chapter IV. Treats in general of how the soul likewise must be in darkness,

in so far as this rests with itself, to the end that it may be effectively guided

by faith to the highest contemplation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 95

Chapter V. Wherein is described what is meant by union of the soul with

God. A comparison is given.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 99

Chapter VI. Wherein is described how it is the three theological virtues that

perfect the three faculties of the soul, and how the said virtues produce

emptiness and darkness within them.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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St. John of the Cross Ascent of Mount Carmel

p. 101

Chapter VII. Wherein is described how strait is the way that leads to eternal

life and how completely detached and disencumbered must be those that

will walk in it. We begin to speak of the detachment of the

understanding.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 105

Chapter VIII. Which describes in a general way how no creature and no

knowledge that can be comprehended by the understanding can serve as

a proximate means of Divine union with God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 108

Chapter IX. How faith is the proximate and proportionate means to the

understanding whereby the soul may attain to the Divine union of love.

This is proved by passages and figures from Divine Scripture.. . . . . . .

p. 109

Chapter X. Wherein distinction is made between all apprehensions and

types of knowledge which can be comprehended by the

understanding.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 110

Chapter XI. Of the hindrance and harm that may be caused by

apprehensions of the understanding which proceed from that which is

supernaturally represented to the outward bodily senses; and how the soul

is to conduct itself therein.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 115

Chapter XII. Which treats of natural imaginary apprehensions. Describes

their nature and proves that they cannot be a proportionate means of

attainment to union with God. Shows the harm which results from inability

to detach oneself from them.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 118

Chapter XIII. Wherein are set down the signs which the spiritual person

will find in himself whereby he may know at what season it behoves him

to leave meditation and reasoning and pass to the state of

contemplation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 120

Chapter XIV. Wherein is proved the fitness of these signs, and the reason

is given why that which has been said in speaking of them is necessary to

progress.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 126

Chapter XV. Wherein is explained how it is sometimes well for progressives

who are beginning to enter upon this general knowledge of contemplation

to make use of natural reasoning and the work of the natural

faculties.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 128

Chapter XVI. Which treats of the imaginary apprehensions that are

supernaturally represented in the fancy. Describing how they cannot serve

the soul as a proximate means to union with God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 133

Chapter XVII. Wherein is described the purpose and manner of God in His

communication of spiritual blessings to the soul by means of the senses.

Herein is answered the question which has been referred to.. . . . . . . .

p. 137

Chapter XVIII. Which treats of the harm that certain spiritual masters may

do to souls when they direct them not by a good method with respect to

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the visions aforementioned. Describes also how these visions may cause

deception even though they be of God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 139

Chapter XIX. >Wherein is expounded and proved how, although visions

and locutions which come from God are true, we may be deceived about

them. This is proved by quotations from Divine Scripture.. . . . . . . . . .

p. 145

Chapter XX. Wherein is proved by passages from Scripture how the sayings

and words of God, though always true, do not always rest upon stable

causes.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 148

Chapter XXI. Wherein is explained how at times, although God answers

the prayers that are addressed to Him, He is not pleased that we should

use such methods. It is also shown how, although He condescend to us

and answer us, He is oftentimes wroth.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 154

Chapter XXII. Wherein is solved a difficulty — namely, why it is not lawful,

under the law of grace, to ask anything of God by supernatural means, as

it was under the old law. This solution is proved by a passage from Saint

Paul.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 161

Chapter XXIII. Which begins to treat of the apprehensions of the

understanding that come in a purely spiritual way, and describes their

nature.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 163

Chapter XXIV. Which treats of two kinds of spiritual vision that come

supernaturally.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 166

Chapter XXV. Which treats of revelations, describing their nature and

making a distinction between them.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 167

Chapter XXVI. Which treats of the intuition of naked truths in the

understanding, explaining how they are of two kinds and how the soul is

to conduct itself with respect to them.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 173

Chapter XXVII. Which treats of the second kind of revelation, namely, the

disclosure of hidden secrets. Describes the way in which these may assist

the soul toward union with God, and the way in which they may be a

hindrance; and how the devil may deceive the soul greatly in this

matter.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 175

Chapter XXVIII. Which treats of interior locutions that may come to the

spirit supernaturally. Says of what kinds they are.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 176

Chapter XXIX. Which treats of the first kind of words that the recollected

spirit sometimes forms within itself. Describes the cause of these and the

profit and the harm which there may be in them.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 180

Chapter XXX. Which treats of the interior words that come to the spirit

formally by supernatural means. Warns the reader of the harm which they

may do and of the caution that is necessary in order that the soul may not

be deceived by them.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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p. 182

Chapter XXXI. Which treats of the substantial words that come interiorly

to the spirit. Describes the difference between them and formal words, and

the profit which they bring and the resignation and respect which the soul

must observe with regard to them.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 184

Chapter XXXII. Which treats of the apprehensions received by the

understanding from interior feelings which come supernaturally to the soul.

Describes their cause, and the manner wherein the soul must conduct itself

so that they may not obstruct its road to union with God.. . . . . . . . . . .

p. 187

Book The Third. Which treats of the purgation of the active night of the

memory and will. Gives instruction how the soul is to behave with respect

to the apprehensions of these two faculties, that it may come to union with

God, according to the two faculties aforementioned, in perfect hope and

charity.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 187 Chapter I.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 187

Chapter II. Which treats of the natural apprehensions of the memory and

describes how the soul must be voided of them in order to be able to attain

to union with God according to this faculty.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 192

Chapter III. Wherein are described three kinds of evil which come to the

soul when it enters not into darkness with respect to knowledge and

reflections in the memory. Herein is described the first.. . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 194

Chapter IV. Which treats of the second kind of evil that may come to the

soul from the devil by way of the natural apprehensions of the

memory.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 195

Chapter V. Of the third evil which comes to the soul by way of the distinct

natural knowledge or the memory.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 196

Chapter VI. Of the benefits which come to the soul from forgetfulness and

emptiness of all thoughts and knowledge which it may have in a natural

way with respect to the memory.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 197

Chapter VII. Which treats or the second kind or apprehension of the memory

— namely, imaginary apprehensions — and of supernatural

knowledge.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 198

Chapter VIII. Of the evils which may be caused in the soul by the knowledge

of supernatural things, if it reflect upon them. Says how many these evils

are.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 199

Chapter IX. Of the second kind of evil, which is the peril of falling into

self-esteem and vain presumption.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 200

Chapter X. Of the third evil that may come to the soul from the devil, through

the imaginary apprehensions of the memory.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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p. 201

Chapter XI. Of the fourth evil that comes to the soul from the distinct

supernatural apprehensions of the memory, which is the hindrance that it

interposes to union.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 202

Chapter XII. Of the fifth evil that may come to the soul in supernatural

imaginary forms and apprehensions, which is a low and unseemly judgment

or God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 203

Chapter XIII. Of the benefits which the soul receives through banishing

from itself the apprehensions of the imagination. This chapter answers a

certain objection and explains a difference which exists between

apprehensions that are imaginary, natural and supernatural.. . . . . . . .

p. 207

Chapter XIV. Which treats of spiritual knowledge in so far as it may concern

the memory.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 207

Chapter XV. Which sets down the general method whereby the spiritual

person must govern himself with respect to this sense.. . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 209

Chapter XVI. Which begins to treat of the dark night of the will. Makes a

division between the affections of the will.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 211

Chapter XVII. Which begins to treat of the first affections of the will.

Describes the nature of joy and makes a distinction between the things in

which the will can rejoice.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 211

Chapter XVIII. Which treats of joy with respect to temporal blessings.

Describes how joy in them must be directed to God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 214

Chapter XIX. Of the evils that may befall the soul when it sets its rejoicing

upon temporal blessings.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 217

Chapter XX. Of the benefits that come to the soul from its withdrawal of

joy from temporal things.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 219

Chapter XXI. Which describes how it is vanity to set the rejoicing of the will

upon the good things of nature, and how the soul must direct itself, by

means of them, to God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 221

Chapter XXII. Of the evils which come to the soul when it sets the rejoicing

of its will upon the good things of nature.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 223

Chapter XXIII. Of the benefits which the soul receives from not setting its

rejoicing upon the good things of nature.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 225

Chapter XXIV. Which treats of the third kind of good thing whereon the will

may set the affection of rejoicing, which kind pertains to sense. Indicates

what these good things are and of how many kinds, and how the will has

to be directed to God and purged of this rejoicing.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 227

Chapter XXV. Which treats of the evils that afflict the soul when it desires

to set the rejoicing of its will upon the good things of sense.. . . . . . . . .

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p. 228

Chapter XXVI. Of the benefits that come to the soul from self-denial in

rejoicing as to things of sense, which benefits are spiritual and

temporal.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 230

Chapter XXVII. Which begins to treat of the fourth kind of good — namely,

the moral. Describes wherein this consists, and in what manner joy of the

will therein is lawful.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 232

Chapter XXVIII. Of seven evils into which a man may fall if he set the

rejoicing of his will upon moral good.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 235

Chapter XXIX. Of the benefits which come to the soul through the

withdrawal of its rejoicing from moral good.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 236

Chapter XXX. Which begins to treat of the fifth kind of good wherein the

will may rejoice, which is the supernatural. Describes the nature of these

supernatural good things, and how they are distinguished from the spiritual,

and how joy in them is to be directed to God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 238

Chapter XXXI. Of the evils which come to the soul when it sets the rejoicing

of the will upon this kind of good.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 241

Chapter XXXII. Of two benefits which are derived from the renunciation of

rejoicing in the matter of the supernatural graces.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 242

Chapter XXXIII. Which begins to treat of the sixth kind of good wherein the

soul may rejoice. Describes its nature and makes the first division under

this head.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 243

Chapter XXXIV. Of those good things of the spirit which can be distinctly

apprehended by the understanding and the memory. Describes how the

will is to behave in the matter of rejoicing in them.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 243

Chapter XXXV. Of the delectable spiritual good things which can be

distinctly apprehended by the will. Describes the kinds of these.. . . . . .

p. 245

Chapter XXXVI. Which continues to treat of images, and describes the

ignorance which certain persons have with respect to them.. . . . . . . . .

p. 247

Chapter XXXVII. Of how the rejoicing of the will must be directed, by way

of the images, to God, so that the soul may not go astray because of them

or be hindered by them.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 248

Chapter XXXVIII. Continues to describe motive good. Speaks of oratories

and places dedicated to prayer.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 250

Chapter XXXIX. Of the way in which oratories and churches should be

used, in order to direct the spirit to God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 251

Chapter XL. Which continues to direct the spirit to interior recollection with

reference to what has been said.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 252

Chapter XLI. Of certain evils into which those persons fall who give

themselves to pleasure in sensible objects and who frequent places of

devotion in the way that has been described.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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p. 253

Chapter XLII. Of three different kinds of place for devotion and of how the

will should conduct itself with regard to them.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 254

Chapter XLIII. Which treats of other motives for prayer that many persons

use — namely, a great variety of ceremonies.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 255

Chapter XLIV. Of the manner wherein the rejoicing and strength of the will

must be directed to God through these devotions.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 258

Chapter XLV. Which treats of the second kind of distinct good, wherein the

will may rejoice vainly.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 260 Indexes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 260 Index of Scripture References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 262 Latin Words and Phrases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

x

St. John of the Cross Ascent of Mount Carmel

Translated and edited, with an Introduction,

by E. ALLISON PEERS

from the critical edition of

P. SILVERIO DE SANTA TERESA, C.D.

St. John of the Cross Ascent of Mount Carmel

2

St. John of the Cross Ascent of Mount Carmel

Thus has Thomas Merton described St. John of the Cross, echoing the considered judgment of most

authorities on the spiritual life; and here in this volume is the great mystic’s most widely appealing

it examines every category of spiritual experience, the spurious as well as the authentic. With rare

insight into human psychology it not only tells how to become more closely united with God, but

spells out in vivid detail the pitfalls to avoid.

In his Apostolic Letter proclaiming St. John of the Cross a Doctor of the Church, Pope Pius XI

wrote that he "points out to souls the way of perfection as though illumined by light from on high,

in his limpidly clear analysis of mystical experience. And although [his works] deal with difficult

and hidden matters, they are nevertheless replete with such lofty spiritual doctrine and are so well

adapted to the understanding of those who study them that they can rightly be called a guide and

handbook for the man of faith who proposes to embrace a life of perfection."

appeared in any European language."

famous tribute — that his writings "possess the same authority in mystical theology as the writings

of St. Thomas possess in dogmatic theology" — remains the most fitting testimonial to his august

place among spiritual writers.

John was born in Castile in 1542 — eve of Spain’s century of greatness, to which he himself was

to add such lustre. He studied under the Jesuits and worked for six years in a hospital. Entering the

Carmelites in 1563, he was professed a year later and sent to the great University of Salamanca.

He was ordained in 1567 but, shrinking from the apostolate of a priest in the world, considered

entering the Carthusians, a hermitical order.

Then came the turning point in his life. He met St. Teresa of Ávila, who was pursuing her epic

work of restoring the pristine, stricter observance of the Carmelite rule. John and two other members

of the order took the vows of the Discalced (or reformed) Carmelites the following year, binding

themselves to a more rigorous way of life which included daily (and nightly) recitation of the Divine

Office in choir, perpetual abstinence from meat, and additional fasting.

Yet his religious vows were but a part of the rigors John was to undergo. The main branch of the

order, the Calced Carmelites, so opposed the Reform that they twice had John kidnapped and jailed

— providentially, so it proved, for much of his writing was done in prison.

The greater part of his twenty-three years as a Discalced Carmelite, however, was spent in filling

a number of important posts in the order, among them Rector of two colleges, Prior, Definator, and

Vicar-Provincial. But it was in one of his lesser offices that he was to spend the most decisive years

of his life: he was confessor to the Carmelite nuns at Ávila, where St. Teresa was Superior.

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St. John of the Cross Ascent of Mount Carmel

The secret of St. John’s unique contribution to mystical theology was not simply his mysticism,

for there have been other mystics; not even his profound grasp of Scripture, dogma, Thomism, and

spiritual literature, for there have also been learned mystics. What sets him apart is his extraordinary

poetic vision. To write of mystical experience is to try to express the inexpressible. Because he was

a great poet St. John of the Cross was able, in the realm of mysticism, to push the frontiers of human

expression beyond where any writer has succeeded in venturing before or since. This poetic intensity

St. John of the Cross died in 1591, was beatified less than a century later in 1675, was canonized

in 1726, and was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI in 1926.

This electronic edition was scanned in 1994 from an uncopyrighted 1962 Image Books edition.

The entire text and some of the footnotes have been reproduced. Nearly 1000 footnotes (and parts

of footnotes) describing variations among manuscripts have been omitted. Page number references

in the footnotes have been changed to chapter and section where possible. This edition has been

proofread once, but additional errors may remain.

FOR at least twenty years, a new translation of the works of St. John of the Cross has been an urgent

necessity. The translations of the individual prose works now in general use go back in their original

form to the eighteen-sixties, and, though the later editions of some of them have been submitted to

a certain degree of revision, nothing but a complete retranslation of the works from their original

Spanish could be satisfactory. For this there are two reasons.

First, the existing translations were never very exact renderings of the original Spanish text even

in the form which held the field when they were first published. Their great merit was extreme

readableness: many a disciple of the Spanish mystics, who is unacquainted with the language in

which they wrote, owes to these translations the comparative ease with which he has mastered the

main lines of St. John of the Cross’s teaching. Thus for the general reader they were of great utility;

for the student, on the other hand, they have never been entirely adequate. They paraphrase difficult

expressions, omit or add to parts of individual sentences in order (as it seems) to facilitate

comprehension of the general drift of the passages in which these occur, and frequently retranslate

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from the Vulgate the Saint’s Spanish quotations from Holy Scripture instead of turning into English

the quotations themselves, using the text actually before them.

A second and more important reason for a new translation, however, is the discovery of fresh

manuscripts and the consequent improvements which have been made in the Spanish text of the

works of St. John of the Cross, during the present century. Seventy years ago, the text chiefly used

based, as we shall later see, upon an edition going back as far as 1703, published before modern

methods of editing were so much as imagined. Both the text of the B.A.E. edition and the unimportant

commentary which accompanied it were highly unsatisfactory, yet until the beginning of the present

century nothing appreciably better was attempted.

In the last twenty years, however, we have had two new editions, each based upon a close study of

the extant manuscripts and each representing a great advance upon the editions preceding it. The

three-volume Toledo edition of P. Gerardo de San Juan de la Cruz, C.D. (1912–14), was the first

attempt made to produce an accurate text by modern critical methods. Its execution was perhaps

less laudable than its conception, and faults were pointed out in it from the time of its appearance,

but it served as a new starting-point for Spanish scholars and stimulated them to a new interest in

St. John of the Cross’s writings. Then, seventeen years later, came the magnificent five-volume

edition of P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, C.D. (Burgos, 1929-31), which forms the basis of this present

translation. So superior is it, even on the most casual examination, to all its predecessors that to

eulogize it in detail is superfluous. It is founded upon a larger number of texts than has previously

been known and it collates them with greater skill than that of any earlier editor. It can hardly fail

to be the standard edition of the works of St. John of the Cross for generations.

Thanks to the labours of these Carmelite scholars and of others whose findings they have

incorporated in their editions, Spanish students can now approach the work of the great Doctor

with the reasonable belief that they are reading, as nearly as may be, what he actually wrote.

English-reading students, however, who are unable to master sixteenth-century Spanish, have

hitherto had no grounds for such a belief. They cannot tell whether, in any particular passage, they

are face to face with the Saint’s own words, with a translator’s free paraphrase of them or with a

gloss made by some later copyist or early editor in the supposed interests of orthodoxy. Indeed,

they cannot be sure that some whole paragraph is not one of the numerous interpolations which

has its rise in an early printed edition — i.e., the timorous qualifications of statements which have

seemed to the interpolator over-bold. Even some of the most distinguished writers in English on

St. John of the Cross have been misled in this way and it has been impossible for any but those

who read Spanish with ease to make a systematic and reliable study of such an important question

as the alleged dependence of Spanish quietists upon the Saint, while his teaching on the mystical

life has quite unwittingly been distorted by persons who would least wish to misrepresent it in any

particular.

Spanish Mystics (in which, as it was published in 1927, I had not the advantage of using P. Silverio’s

edition) that I first realized the extent of the harm caused by the lack of an accurate and modern

translation. Making my own versions of all the passages quoted, I had sometimes occasion to

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compare them with those of other translators, which at their worst were almost unrecognizable as

versions of the same originals. Then and there I resolved that, when time allowed, I would make a

fresh translation of the works of a saint to whom I have long had great devotion — to whom, indeed,

I owe more than to any other writer outside the Scriptures. Just at that time I happened to visit the

Discalced Carmelites at Burgos, where I first met P. Silverio, and found, to my gratification, that

his edition of St. John of the Cross was much nearer publication than I had imagined. Arrangements

for sole permission to translate the new edition were quickly made and work on the early volumes

was begun even before the last volume was published.

These preliminary notes will explain why my chief preoccupation throughout the performance of

this task has been to present as accurate and reliable a version of St. John of the Cross’s works as

impracticable: and such constantly occurring Spanish habits as the use of abstract nouns in the

cannot always be reproduced. Yet wherever, for stylistic or other reasons, I have departed from the

Spanish in any way that could conceivably cause a misunderstanding, I have scrupulously indicated

this in a footnote. Further, I have translated, not only the text, but the variant readings as given by

slightly from the readings of the text that it is impossible to render the differences in English. I beg

students not to think that some of the smaller changes noted are of no importance; closer examination

will often show that, however slight they may seem, they are, in relation to their context, or to some

particular aspect of the Saint’s teaching, of real interest; in other places they help to give the reader

an idea, which may be useful to him in some crucial passage, of the general characteristics of the

manuscript or edition in question. The editor’s notes on the manuscripts and early editions which

he has collated will also be found, for the same reason, to be summarized in the introduction to

each work; in consulting the variants, the English-reading student has the maximum aid to a judgment

of the reliability of his authorities.

Concentration upon the aim of obtaining the most precise possible rendering of the text has led me

to sacrifice stylistic elegance to exactness where the two have been in conflict; it has sometimes

been difficult to bring oneself to reproduce the Saint’s often ungainly, though often forceful,

repetitions of words or his long, cumbrous parentheses, but the temptation to take refuge in graceful

paraphrases has been steadily resisted. In the same interest, and also in that of space, I have made

certain omissions from, and abbreviations of, other parts of the edition than the text. Two of P.

Silverio’s five volumes are entirely filled with commentaries and documents. I have selected from

the documents those of outstanding interest to readers with no detailed knowledge of Spanish

religious history and have been content to summarize the editor’s introductions to the individual

works, as well as his longer footnotes to the text, and to omit such parts as would interest only

specialists, who are able, or at least should be obliged, to study them in the original Spanish.

1 The footnotes are P. Silverio's except where they are enclosed in square brackets.

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The decision to summarize in these places has been made the less reluctantly because of the frequent

unsuitability of P. Silverio’s style to English readers. Like that of many Spaniards, it is so discursive,

and at times so baroque in its wealth of epithet and its profusion of imagery, that a literal translation,

for many pages together, would seldom have been acceptable. The same criticism would have been

applicable to any literal translation of P. Silverio’s biography of St. John of the Cross which stands

at the head of his edition (Vol. I, pp. 7-130). There was a further reason for omitting these

biographical chapters. The long and fully documented biography by the French Carmelite, P. Bruno

de Jésus-Marie, C.D., written from the same standpoint as P. Silverio’s, has recently been translated

into English, and any attempt to rival this in so short a space would be foredoomed to failure. I

have thought, however, that a brief outline of the principal events in St. John of the Cross’s life

would be a useful preliminary to this edition; this has therefore been substituted for the biographical

sketch referred to.

In language, I have tried to reproduce the atmosphere of a sixteenth-century text as far as is consistent

with clarity. Though following the paragraph divisions of my original, I have not scrupled, where

this has seemed to facilitate understanding, to divide into shorter sentences the long and sometimes

straggling periods in which the Saint so frequently indulged. Some attempt has been made to show

the contrast between the highly adorned, poetical language of much of the commentary on the

‘Spiritual Canticle’ and the more closely shorn and eminently practical, though always somewhat

position in this respect should also be clear from the style of the translation.

Quotations, whether from the Scriptures or from other sources, have been left strictly as St. John

of the Cross made them. Where he quotes in Latin, the Latin has been reproduced; only his quotations

in Spanish have been turned into English. The footnote references are to the Vulgate, of which the

Douai Version is a direct translation; if the Authorized Version differs, as in the Psalms, the variation

has been shown in square brackets for the convenience of those who use it.

A word may not be out of place regarding the translations of the poems as they appear in the prose

commentaries. Obviously, it would have been impossible to use the comparatively free verse

renderings which appear in Volume II of this translation, since the commentaries discuss each line

and often each word of the poems. A literal version of the poems in their original verse-lines,

however, struck me as being inartistic, if not repellent, and as inviting continual comparison with

the more polished verse renderings which, in spirit, come far nearer to the poet’s aim. My first

intention was to translate the poems, for the purpose of the commentaries, into prose. But later I

hit upon the long and metrically unfettered verse-line, suggestive of Biblical poetry in its English

dress, which I have employed throughout. I believe that, although the renderings often suffer

artistically from their necessary literalness, they are from the artistic standpoint at least tolerable.

The debts I have to acknowledge, though few, are very large ones. My gratitude to P. Silverio de

Santa Teresa for telling me so much about his edition before its publication, granting my publishers

the sole translation rights and discussing with me a number of crucial passages cannot be disjoined

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from the many kindnesses I have received during my work on the Spanish mystics, which is still

proceeding, from himself and from his fellow-Carmelites in the province of Castile. In dedicating

this translation to them, I think particularly of P. Silverio in Burgos, of P. Florencio del Ni–o Jesús

in Madrid, and of P. Crisógono de Jesús Sacramentado, together with the Fathers of the ‘Convento

de la Santa’ in vila.

The long and weary process of revising the manuscript and proofs of this translation has been

greatly lightened by the co-operation and companionship of P. Edmund Gurdon, Prior of the Cartuja

de Miraflores, near Burgos, with whom I have freely discussed all kinds of difficulties, both of

substance and style, and who has been good enough to read part of my proofs. From the quiet library

of his monastery, as well as from his gracious companionship, I have drawn not only knowledge,

but strength, patience and perseverance. And when at length, after each of my visits, we have had

to part, we have continued our labours by correspondence, shaking hands, as it were, ‘over a vast’

and embracing ‘from the ends of opposd winds.’

Finally, I owe a real debt to my publishers for allowing me to do this work without imposing any

such limitations of time as often accompany literary undertakings. This and other considerations

which I have received from them have made that part of the work which has been done outside the

study unusually pleasant and I am correspondingly grateful.

E. ALLISON PEERS.

University of Liverpool.

Feast of St. John of the Cross,

November 24, 1933.

Note. — Wherever a commentary by St. John of the Cross is referred to, its title is given in italics

DURING the sixteen years which have elapsed since the publication of the first edition, several

reprints have been issued, and the demand is now such as to justify a complete resetting. I have

taken advantage of this opportunity to revise the text throughout, and hope that in some of the more

difficult passages I may have come nearer than before to the Saint’s mind. Recent researches have

necessitated a considerable amplification of introductions and footnotes and greatly increased the

length of the bibliography.

The only modification which has been made consistently throughout the three volumes relates to

St. John of the Cross’s quotations from Scripture. In translating these I still follow him exactly,

even where he himself is inexact, but I have used the Douia Version (instead of the Authorized, as

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in the first edition) as a basis for all Scriptural quotations, as well as in the footnote references and

the Scriptural index in Vol. III.

Far more is now known of the life and times of St. John of the Cross than when this translation of

of P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, C.D, now General of his Order, and to the admirably documented

Obras de San Juan de la Cruz) in the year after his untimely death. This increased knowledge is

reflected in many additional notes, and also in the ‘Outline of the Life of St. John of the Cross’

(Vol. I, pp. xxv–xxviii), which, for this edition, has been entirely recast. References are given to

background too full to be reproduced in footnotes and too complicated to be compressed. The

Handbook also contains numerous references to contemporary events, omitted from the ‘Outline’

as being too remote from the main theme to justify inclusion in a summary necessarily so condensed.

My thanks for help in revision are due to kindly correspondents, too numerous to name, from many

parts of the world, who have made suggestions for the improvement of the first edition; to the Rev.

Professor David Knowles, of Cambridge University, for whose continuous practical interest in this

translation I cannot be too grateful; to Miss I.L. McClelland, of Glasgow University, who has read

a large part of this edition in proof; to Dom Philippe Chevallier, for material which I have been

able to incorporate in it; to P. José Antonio de Sobrino, S.J., for allowing me to quote freely from

Fathers of the International Carmelite College at Rome, whose learning and experience, are, I hope,

faintly reflected in this new edition.

E.A.P.

June 30, 1941.

PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS

A.V.—Authorized Version of the Bible (1611).

D.V.—Douai Version of the Bible (1609).

Peers from the critical edition of P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, C.D. London, Sheed and Ward, 1946.

3 vols.

Burns Oates and Washbourne, 1953.

edition of P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, C.D. London, Burns Oates and Washburne, 1951. 2 vols.

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N.L.M.—National Library of Spain (Biblioteca Nacional), Madrid.

P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, C.D. Burgos, 1929-31. 5 vols.

2nd ed., London, S.P.C.K., 1951. Vol. II, London, Sheldon Press, 1930.

obra. Madrid, 1950.

1542. Birth of Juan de Yepes at Fontiveros (Hontiveros), near vila.

The day generally ascribed to this event is June 24 (St. John Baptist’s Day). No documentary

evidence for it, however, exists, the parish registers having been destroyed by a fire in 1544. The

chief evidence is an inscription, dated 1689, on the font of the parish church at Fontiveros.

? c. 1543. Death of Juan’s father. ‘After some years’ the mother removes, with her family, to

Arévalo, and later to Medina del Campo.

? c. 1552-6. Juan goes to school at the Colegio de los Ni–os de la Doctrina, Medina.

c. 1556-7. Don Antonio lvarez de Toledo takes him into a Hospital to which he has retired, with

the idea of his (Juan’s) training for Holy Orders under his patronage.

? c. 1559-63. Juan attends the College of the Society of Jesus at Medina.

c. 1562. Leaves the Hospital and the patronage of lvarez de Toledo.

1563. Takes the Carmelite habit at St. Anne’s, Medina del Campo, as Juan de San Matías (Santo

Matía).

The day is frequently assumed (without any foundation) to have been the feast of St. Matthias

(February 24), but P. Silverio postulates a day in August or September and P. Crisógono thinks

February definitely improbable.

1564. Makes his profession in the same priory — probably in August or September and certainly

not earlier than May 21 and not later than October.

Arts (1564-7).

2 Cf. Translator’s Preface to the First Edition, II.

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1565 (January 6). Matriculates at the University of Salamanca.

1567. Receives priest’s orders (probably in the summer).

1567 (? September). Meets St. Teresa at Medina del Campo. Juan is thinking of transferring to the

Carthusian Order. St. Teresa asks him to join her Discalced Reform and the projected first foundation

for friars. He agrees to do so, provided the foundation is soon made.

1567 (November). Returns to the University of Salamanca, where he takes a year’s course in

theology.

1568. Spends part of the Long Vacation at Medina del Campo. On August 10, accompanies St.

Teresa to Valladolid. In September, returns to Medina and later goes to Avila and Duruelo.

1568 (November 28). Takes the vows of the Reform Duruelo as St. John of the Cross, together

with Antonio de Heredia (Antonio de Jesus), Prior of the Calced Carmelites at Medina, and José

de Cristo, another Carmelite from Medina.

1570 (June 11). Moves, with the Duruelo community, to Mancera de Abajo.

1570 (October, or possibly February 1571). Stays for about a month at Pastrana, returning thence

to Mancera.

1571 (? January 25). Visits Alba de Tormes for the inauguration of a new convent there.

1571 (? April). Goes to Alcalá de Henares as Rector of the College of the Reform and directs the

Carmelite nuns.

1572 (shortly after April 23). Recalled to Pastrana to correct the rigours of the new novice-master,

Angel de San Gabriel.

1572 (between May and September). Goes to vila as confessor to the Convent of the Incarnation.

Remains there till 1577.

1574 (March). Accompanies St. Teresa from vila to Segovia, arriving on March 18. Returns to vila

about the end of the month.

1575-6 (Winter of: before February 1576). Kidnapped by the Calced and imprisoned at Medina

del Campo. Freed by the intervention of the Papal Nuncio, Ormaneto.

1577 (December 2 or 3). Kidnapped by the Calced and carried off to the Calced Carmelite priory

at Toledo as a prisoner.

1577-8. Composes in prison 17 (or perhaps 30) stanzas of the ‘Spiritual Canticle’ (i.e., as far as the

stanza: ‘Daughters of Jewry’); the poem with the refrain ‘Although ‘tis night’; and the stanzas

beginning ‘In principio erat verbum.’ He may also have composed the paraphrase of the psalm

Vol. II of this edition.)

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1578 (August 16 or shortly afterwards). Escapes to the convent of the Carmelite nuns in Toledo,

and is thence taken to his house by D. Pedro González de Mendoza, Canon of Toledo.

1578 (October 9). Attends a meeting of the Discalced superiors at Almodóvar. Is sent to El Calvario

as Vicar, in the absence in Rome of the Prior.

1578 (end of October). Stays for ‘a few days’ at Beas de Segura, near El Calvario. Confesses the

nuns at the Carmelite Convent of Beas.

1578 (November). Arrives at El Calvario.

1578-9 (November-June). Remains at El Calvario as Vicar. For a part of this time (probably from

the beginning of 1579), goes weekly to the convent of Beas to hear confessions. During this period,

Canticle (translated in Vol. II).

1579 (June 14). Founds a college of the Reform at Baeza. 1579-82. Resides at Baeza as Rector of

the Carmelite college. Visits the Beas convent occasionally. Writes more of the prose works begun

at El Calvario and the rest of the stanzas of the ‘Spiritual Canticle’ except the last five, possibly

with the commentaries to the stanzas.

1580. Death of his mother.

1581 (March 3). Attends the Alcalá Chapter of the Reform. Appointed Third Definitor and Prior

of the Granada house of Los Mártires. Takes up the latter office only on or about the time of his

election by the community in March 1582.

1581 (November 28). Last meeting with St. Teresa, at vila. On the next day, sets out with two nuns

for Beas (December 8–January 15) and Granada.

1582 (January 20). Arrives at Los Mártires.

1582-8. Mainly at Granada. Re-elected (or confirmed) as Prior of Los Mártires by the Chapter of

Almodóvar, 1583. Resides at Los Mártires more or less continuously till 1584 and intermittently

afterwards. Visits the Beas convent occasionally. Writes the last five stanzas of the ‘Spiritual

at the request of Doña Ana de Peñalosa.

1585 (May). Lisbon Chapter appoints him Second Definitor and (till 1587) Vicar-Provincial of

Andalusia. Makes the following foundations: Málaga, February 17, 1585; Córdoba, May 18, 1586;

La Manchuela (de Jaén), October 12, 1586; Caravaca, December 18, 1586; Bujalance, June 24,

1587.

1587 (April). Chapter of Valladolid re-appoints him Prior of Los Mártires. He ceases to be Definitor

and Vicar-Provincial.

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1588 (June 19). Attends the first Chapter-General of the Reform in Madrid. Is elected First Definitor

1588 (August 10). Becomes Prior of Segovia, the central house of the Reform and the headquarters

of the Consulta. Acts as deputy for the Vicar-General, P. Doria, during the latter’s absences.

Madrid.

1591 (June 1). The Madrid Chapter-General deprives him of his offices and resolves to send him

to Mexico. (This latter decision was later revoked.)

1591 (August 10). Arrives at La Pe–uela.

1591 (September 12). Attacked by fever. (September Leaves La Pe–uela for beda. (December 14)

Dies at beda.

January 25, 1675. Beatified by Clement X.

December 26, 1726. Canonized by Benedict XIII.

August 24, 1926. Declared Doctor of the Church Universal by Pius XI.

WITH regard to the times and places at which the works of St. John of the Cross were written, and

also with regard to the number of these works, there have existed, from a very early date, considerable

differences of opinion. Of internal evidence from the Saint’s own writings there is practically none,

and such external testimony as can be found in contemporary documents needs very careful

examination.

There was no period in the life of St. John of the Cross in which he devoted himself entirely to

writing. He does not, in fact, appear to have felt any inclination to do so: his books were written in

response to the insistent and repeated demands of his spiritual children. He was very much addicted,

on the other hand, to the composition of apothegms or maxims for the use of his penitents and this

custom he probably began as early as the days in which he was confessor to the Convent of the

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Incarnation at vila, though his biographers have no record of any maxims but those written at Beas.

One of his best beloved daughters however, Ana María de Jesús, of the Convent of the Incarnation,

declared in her deposition, during the process of the Saint’s canonization, that he was accustomed

to ‘comfort those with whom he had to do, both by his words and by his letters, of which this witness

received a number, and also by certain papers concerning holy things which this witness would

greatly value if she still had them.’ Considering, the number of nuns to whom the Saint was director

at vila, it is to be presumed that M. Ana María was not the only person whom he favoured. We may

safely conclude, indeed, that there were many others who shared the same privileges, and that, had

we all these ‘papers,’ they would comprise a large volume, instead of the few pages reproduced

elsewhere in this translation.

There is a well-known story, preserved in the documents of the canonization process, of how, on

a December night of 1577, St. John, of the Cross was kidnapped by the Calced Carmelites of vila

important papers, he contrived, on the next morning, to escape, and returned to the Incarnation to

destroy them while there was time to do so. He was missed almost immediately and he had hardly

gained his cell when his pursuers were on his heels. In the few moments that remained to him he

had time to tear up these papers and swallow some of the most compromising. As the original

assault had not been unexpected, though the time of it was uncertain, they would not have been

very numerous. It is generally supposed that they concerned the business of the infant Reform, of

which the survival was at that time in grave doubt. But it seems at least equally likely that some of

them might have been these spiritual maxims, or some more extensive instructions which might

be misinterpreted by any who found them. It is remarkable, at any rate, that we have none of the

Saint’s writings belonging to this period whatever.

All his biographers tell us that he wrote some of the stanzas of the ‘Spiritual Canticle,’ together

with a few other poems, while he was imprisoned at Toledo. ‘When he left the prison,’ says M.

Magdalena del Espíritu Santo, ‘he took with him a little book in which he had written, while there,

that begin "Whither has vanishd?" as far as the stanzas beginning "Daughters of Jewry." The

remainder of them the Saint composed later when he was Rector of the College at Baeza. Some of

the expositions were written at Beas, as answers to questions put to him by the nuns; others at

Granada. This little book, in which the Saint wrote while in prison, he left in the Convent of Beas

and on various occasions I was commanded to copy it. Then someone took it from my cell — who,

I never knew. The freshness of the words in this book, together with their beauty and subtlety,

caused me great wonder, and one day I asked the Saint if God gave him those words which were

so comprehensive and so lovely. And he answered: "Daughter, sometimes God gave them to me

3 [H., III, ii.]

4 M. Magdalena is a very reliable witness, for she was not only a most discreet and able woman, but was also one of those who

were very near to the saint and gained most from his spiritual direction. The quotation is from MS. 12,944.

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M. Isabel de Jesús María, who was a novice at Toledo when the Saint escaped from his imprisonment

there, wrote thus from Cuerva on November 2, 1614. ‘I remember, too, that, at the time we had

him hidden in the church, he recited to us some lines which he had composed and kept in his mind,

and that one of the nuns wrote them down as he repeated them. There were three poems — all of

them upon the Most Holy Trinity, and so sublime and devout that they seem to enkindle the reader.

In this house at Cuerva we have some which begin:

"Far away in the beginning,

The frequent references to keeping his verses in his head and the popular exaggeration of the

hardships (great though these were) which the Saint had to endure in Toledo have led some writers

to affirm that he did not in fact write these poems in prison but committed them to memory and

transferred them to paper at some later date. The evidence of M. Magdalena, however, would appear

to be decisive. We know, too, that the second of St. John of the Cross’s gaolers, Fray Juan de Santa

María, was a kindly man who did all he could to lighten his captive’s sufferings; and his superiors

It seems, then, that the Saint wrote in Toledo the first seventeen (or perhaps thirty) stanzas of the

‘Spiritual Canticle,’ the nine parts of the poem ‘Far away in the beginning . . .,’ the paraphrase of

a considerable output of work, for, except perhaps when his gaoler allowed him to go into another

room, he had no light but that of a small oil-lamp or occasionally the infiltration of daylight that

penetrated a small interior window.

Apart from the statement of M. Magdalena already quoted, little more is known of what the Saint

wrote in El Calvario than of what he wrote in Toledo. From an amplification made by herself of

the sentences to which we have referred it appears that almost the whole of what she had copied

was taken from her; as the short extracts transcribed by her are very similar to passages from the

Saint’s writings we may perhaps conclude that much of the other material was also incorporated

before leaving Beas.

It was in El Calvario, too, and for the nuns of Beas, that the Saint drew the plan called the ‘Mount

as the frontispiece to this volume) of which copies were afterwards multiplied and distributed

among Discalced houses. Its author wished it to figure at the head of all his treatises, for it is a

5 MS. 12,738, fol. 835. Ft. Jerónimo de S. José, too, says that the nuns of Toledo also copied certain poems from the Saint’s

dictation. M. Ana de S. Alberto heard him say of his imprisonment: ‘God sought to try me, but His mercy forsook me not. I

made some stanzas there which begin: "Whither hast vanishd, Beloved"; and also those other verses, beginning "Far above the

many rivers That in Babylon abound." All these verses 1 sent to Fray José de Jesús María, who told me that he was interested

in them and was keeping them in his memory in order to write them out.’

6 [H., III, ii.]

a copy with his own hand for each of our breviaries; later, he added to these copies and made some changes.’

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graphical representation of the entire mystic way, from the starting-point of the beginner to the

very summit of perfection. His first sketch, which still survives, is a rudimentary and imperfect

one; before long, however, as M. Magdalena tells us, he evolved another that was fuller and more

comprehensive.

Just as we owe to PP. Gracián and Salazar many precious relics of St. Teresa, so we owe others of

St. John of the Cross to M. Magdalena. Among the most valuable of these is her own copy of the

Discalced province of Upper Andalusia in the diocese of Granada. It was found there by P. Andrés

de la Encarnación, of whom we shall presently speak, and who immediately made a copy of it,

legally certified as an exact one and now in the National Library of Spain (MS. 6,296).

The superiority of the second plan over the first is very evident. The first consists simply of three

parallel lines corresponding to three different paths — one on either side of the Mount, marked

‘Road of the spirit of imperfection’ and one in the centre marked ‘Path of Mount Carmel. Spirit of

perfection.’ In the spaces between the paths are written the celebrated maxims which appear in

certain others. At the top of the drawing are the words ‘Mount Carmel,’ which are not found in the

second plan, and below them is the legend: ‘There is no road here, for there is no law for the

righteous man,’ together with other texts from Scripture.

The second plan represents a number of graded heights, the loftiest of which is planted with trees.

Three paths, as in the first sketch, lead from the base of the mount, but they are traced more

artistically and have a more detailed ascetic and mystical application. Those on either side, which

denote the roads of imperfection, are broad and somewhat tortuous and come to an end before the

higher stages of the mount are reached. The centre road, that of perfection, is at first very narrow

but gradually broadens and leads right up to the summit of the mountain, which only the perfect

perfection, from which spring various virtues, are portrayed with much greater detail than in the

first plan. As we have reproduced the second plan in this volume, it need not be described more

fully.

We know that St. John of the Cross used the ‘Mount’ very, frequently for all kinds of religious

instruction. ‘By means of this drawing,’ testified one of his disciples, ‘he used to teach us that, in

order to attain to perfection, we must not desire the good things of earth, nor those of Heaven; but

that we must desire naught save to seek and strive after the glory and honour of God our Lord in

all things . . . and this "Mount of Perfection" the said holy father himself expounded to this Witness

9 Fray Martin de San José in MS. 12,738, fol. 125.

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was accustomed often to go into retreat. It was certainly here that he wrote the remaining stanzas

which he composed rather later, at Granada. One likes to think that these loveliest of his verses

were penned by the banks of the Guadalimar, in the woods of the Granja de Santa Ann, where he

was in the habit of passing long hours in communion with God. At all events the stanzas seem more

in harmony with such an atmosphere than with that of the College.

With regard to the last five stanzas, we have definite evidence from a Beas nun, M. Francisca de

la Madre de Dios, who testifies in the Beatification process (April 2, 1618) as follows:

And so, when the said holy friar John of the Cross was in this convent one Lent (for

his great love for it brought him here from the said city of Granada, where he was

prior, to confess the nuns and preach to them) he was preaching to them one day in

the parlour, and this witness observed that on two separate occasions he was rapt

and lifted up from the ground; and when he came to himself he dissembled and said:

‘You saw how sleep overcame me!’ And one day he asked this witness in what her

prayer consisted, and she replied: ‘In considering the beauty of God and in rejoicing

that He has such beauty.’ And the Saint was so pleased with this that for some days

he said the most sublime things concerning the beauty of God, at which all marvelled.

And thus, under the influence of this love, he composed five stanzas, beginning

‘Beloved, let us sing, And in thy beauty see ourselves portray’d.’ And in all this he

showed that there was in his breast a great love of God.

From a letter which this nun wrote from Beas in 1629 to P. Jerónimo de San José, we gather that

the stanzas were actually written at Granada and brought to Beas, where

. . . with every word that we spoke to him we seemed to be opening a door to the

fruition of the great treasures and riches which God had stored up in his soul.

If there is a discrepancy here, however, it is of small importance; there is no doubt as to the

approximate date of the composition of these stanzas and of their close connection with Beas.

The most fruitful literary years for St. John of the Cross were those which he spent at Granada.

Saint’s closest disciple, P. Juan Evangelista, bear witness to this. The latter writes from Granada

to P. Jerónimo de San José, the historian of the Reform:

10 [H., IV, i.]

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With regard to having seen our venerable father write the books, I saw him write

Vicar-Provincial, at the request of Doña Ana de Peñalosa, and he wrote it in fifteen

days when he was very busy here with an abundance of occupations. The first thing

In another letter (February 18, 1630), he wrote to the same correspondent:

With regard to our holy father’s having written his books in this home, I will say

what is undoubtedly true — namely, that he wrote here the commentary on the

here to take the habit, which was a year and a half after the foundation of this house;

These and other testimonies might with advantage be fuller and more concrete, but at least they

place beyond doubt the facts that we have already set down. Summarizing our total findings, we

may assert that part of the ‘Spiritual Canticle,’ with perhaps the ‘Dark Night,’ and the other poems

enumerated, were written in the Toledo prison; that at the request of some nuns he wrote at El

Calvario (1578-79) a few chapters of the Ascent and commentaries on some of the stanzas of the

‘Canticle’; that he composed further stanzas at Baeza (1579-81), perhaps with their respective

he wrote before the end of 1585, the first year in which he was Vicar-Provincial.

Other writings, most of them brief, are attributed to St. John of the Cross; they will be discussed

in the third volume of this edition, in which we shall publish the minor works which we accept as

and the large number of copies have made it difficult to establish correct texts. To this question we

shall return later.

The characteristics of the writings of St. John of the Cross are so striking that it would be difficult

to confuse them with those of any other writer. His literary personality stands out clearly from that

11 MS. 12,738, fol. 1,431. The letter is undated as to the year.

12 MS. 12,738, fol. 1,435.

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of his Spanish contemporaries who wrote on similar subjects. Both his style and his methods of

exposition bear the marks of a strong individuality.

If some of these derive from his native genius and temperament, others are undoubtedly reflections

of his education and experience. The Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy, then at the height of its

splendour, which he learned so thoroughly in the classrooms of Salamanca University, characterizes

the whole of his writings, giving them a granite-like solidity even when their theme is such as to

defy human speculation. Though the precise extent of his debt to this Salamancan training in

philosophy has not yet been definitely assessed, the fact of its influence is evident to every reader.

It gives massiveness, harmony and unity to both the ascetic and the mystical work of St. John of

the Cross — that is to say, to all his scientific writing.

Deeply, however, as St. John of the Cross drew from the Schoolmen, he was also profoundly

indebted to many other writers. He was distinctly eclectic in his reading and quotes freely (though

less than some of his Spanish contemporaries) from the Fathers and from the mediaeval mystics,

especially from St. Thomas, St. Bonaventura, Hugh of St. Victor and the pseudo-Areopagite. All

that he quotes, however, he makes his own, with the result that his chapters are never a mass of

citations loosely strung together, as are those of many other Spanish mystics of his time.

of mystical science and from their summit looks down upon and dominates the plain below and

the paths leading upward. We may well wonder what a vast contribution to the subject he would

have made had he been able to expound all the eight stanzas of his poem since he covered so much

ground in expounding no more than two. Observe with what assurance and what mastery of subject

and method he defines his themes and divides his arguments, even when treating the most abstruse

and controversial questions. The most obscure phenomena he appears to illumine, as it were, with

one lightning flash of understanding, as though the explanation of them were perfectly natural and

easy. His solutions of difficult problems are not timid, questioning and loaded with exceptions, but

clear, definite and virile like the man who proposes them. No scientific field, perhaps, has so many

zones which are apt to become vague and obscure as has that of mystical theology; and there are

those among the Saint’s predecessors who seem to have made their permanent abode in them. They

give the impression of attempting to cloak vagueness in verbosity, in order to avoid being forced

into giving solutions of problems which they find insoluble. Not so St. John of the Cross. A scientific

dictator, if such a person were conceivable, could hardly express himself with greater clarity. His

phrases have a decisive, almost a chiselled quality; where he errs on the side of redundance, it is

not with the intention of cloaking uncertainty, but in order that he may drive home with double

force the truths which he desires to impress.

No less admirable are, on the one hand, his synthetic skill and the logic of his arguments, and, on

the other, his subtle and discriminating analyses, which weigh the finest shades of thought and

dissect each subject with all the accuracy of science. To his analytical genius we owe those finely

balanced statements, orthodox yet bold and fearless, which have caused clumsier intellects to

misunderstand him. It is not remarkable that this should have occurred. The ease with which the

unskilled can misinterpret genius is shown in the history of many a heresy.

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How much of all this St. John of the Cross owed to his studies of scholastic philosophy in the

University of Salamanca, it is difficult to say. If we examine the history of that University and read

of its severe discipline we shall be in no danger of under-estimating the effect which it must have

produced upon so agile and alert an intellect. Further, we note the constant parallelisms and the

comparatively infrequent (though occasionally important) divergences between the doctrines of

St. John of the Cross and St. Thomas, to say nothing of the close agreement between the views of

St. John of the Cross and those of the Schoolmen on such subjects as the passions and appetites,

the nature of the soul, the relations between soul and body. Yet we must not forget the student tag:

Quod natura non dat, Salamtica non praestat. Nothing but natural genius could impart the vigour

and the clarity which enhance all St. John of the Cross’s arguments and nothing but his own deep

and varied experience could have made him what he may well be termed — the greatest psychologist

in the history of mysticism.

Eminent, too, was St. John of the Cross in sacred theology. The close natural connection that exists

between dogmatic and mystical theology and their continual interdependence in practice make it

impossible for a Christian teacher to excel in the latter alone. Indeed, more than one of the heresies

that have had their beginnings in mysticism would never have developed had those who fell into

them been well grounded in dogmatic theology. The one is, as it were, the lantern that lights the

path of the other, as St. Teresa realized when she began to feel the continual necessity of consulting

theological teachers. If St. John of the Cross is able to climb the greatest heights of mysticism and

remain upon them without stumbling or dizziness it is because his feet are invariably well shod

with the truths of dogmatic theology. The great mysteries — those of the Trinity, the Creation, the

Incarnation and the Redemption — and such dogmas as those concerning grace, the gifts of the

Spirit, the theological virtues, etc., were to him guide-posts for those who attempted to scale, and

to lead others to scale, the symbolic mount of sanctity.

It will be remembered that the Saint spent but one year upon his theological course at the University

of Salamanca, for which reason many have been surprised at the evident solidity of his attainments.

But, apart from the fact that a mind so keen and retentive as that of Fray Juan de San Matías could

absorb in a year what others would have failed to imbibe in the more usual two or three, we must

of necessity assume a far longer time spent in private study. For in one year he could not have

studied all the treatises of which he clearly demonstrates his knowledge — to say nothing of many

others which he must have known. His own works, apart from any external evidence, prove him

to have been a theologian of distinction.

In both fields, the dogmatic and the mystical he was greatly aided by his knowledge of Holy

Scripture, which he studied continually, in the last years of his life, to the exclusion, as it would

seem, of all else. Much of it he knew by heart; the simple devotional talks that he was accustomed

to give were invariably studded with texts, and he made use of passages from the Bible both to

justify and to illustrate his teaching. In the mystical interpretation of Holy Scripture, as every student

of mysticism knows, he has had few equals even among his fellow Doctors of the Church Universal.

Testimonies to his mastery of the Scriptures can be found in abundance. P. Alonso de la Madre de

had a great gift and facility for the exposition of the Sacred Scripture, principally of the Song of

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that same Magdalena del Espíritus Santo to whom we have several times referred, affirms that St.

John of the Cross would frequently read the Gospels to the nuns of Beas and expound the letter

He was very fond of reading in the Scriptures, and I never once saw him read any

never read from any book save the Bible. His conversation, whether at recreation

or at other times, was continually of God, and he spoke so delightfully that, when

he discoursed upon sacred things at recreation, he would make us all laugh and we

used greatly to enjoy going out. On occasions when we held chapters, he would

Fray Pablo de Santa María, who had also heard the Saint’s addresses, wrote thus:

He was a man of the most enkindled spirituality and of great insight into all that

concerns mystical theology and matters of prayer; I consider it impossible that he

could have spoken so well about all the virtues if he had not been most proficient

in the spiritual life, and I really think he knew the whole Bible by heart, so far as

one could judge from the various Biblical passages which he would quote at chapters

and in the refectory, without any great effort, but as one who goes where the Spirit

Nor was this admiration for the expository ability of St. John of the Cross confined to his

fellow-friars, who might easily enough have been led into hero-worship. We know that he was

thought highly of in this respect by the University of Alcalá de Henares, where he was consulted

as an authority. A Dr. Villegas, Canon of Segovia Cathedral, has left on record his respect for him.

And Fray Jerónimo de San José relates the esteem in which he was held at the University of Baeza,

which in his day enjoyed a considerable reputation for Biblical studies:

the Holy Scriptures, and skill in expounding them, as ‘inspired’ and ‘Divine.’

his ‘beast.’

16 MS. 12,738, fol. 559. P. Alonso writes similarly in a letter to Fray Jerónimo de San José: ‘And in this matter of speaking of God

and expounding passages from Scripture he made everyone marvel, for they never asked him about a passage which he could

not explain in great detail, and sometimes at recreation the whole hour and much more went by in the explanation of passages

about which they asked him’ (fol. 1,431).

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There were at that time at the University of Baeza many learned and spiritually

doctors . . . would repair to our venerable father as to an oracle from heaven and

would discuss with him both their own spiritual progress and that of souls committed

to their charge, with the result that they were both edified and astonished at his skill.

They would also bring him difficulties and delicate points connected with Divine

letters, and on these, too, he spoke with extraordinary energy and illumination. One

of these doctors, who had consulted him and listened to him on various occasions,

said that, although he had read deeply in St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom

and other saints, and had found in them greater heights and depths, he had found in

none of them that particular kind of spirituality in exposition which this great father

The Scriptural knowledge of St. John of the Cross was, as this passage makes clear, in no way

merely academic. Both in his literal and his mystical interpretations of the Bible, he has what we

may call a ‘Biblical sense,’ which saves him from such exaggerations as we find in other expositors,

both earlier and contemporary. One would not claim, of course, that among the many hundreds of

applications of Holy Scripture made by the Carmelite Doctor there are none that can be objected

to in this respect; but the same can be said of St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory or St. Bernard,

and no one would assert that, either with them or with him, such instances are other than most

exceptional.

To the three sources already mentioned in which St. John of the Cross found inspiration we must

add a fourth — the works of ascetic and mystical writers. It is not yet possible to assert with any

exactness how far the Saint made use of these; for, though partial studies of this question have been

attempted, a complete and unbiased treatment of it has still to be undertaken. Here we can do no

more than give a few indications of what remains to be done and summarize the present content of

We may suppose that, during his novitiate in Medina, the Saint read a number of devotional books,

included works which were translated into Spanish by order of Cardinal Cisneros. The demands

of a University course would not keep him from pursuing such studies at Salamanca; the friar who

chose a cell from the window of which he could see the Blessed Sacrament, so that he might spend

hours in its company, would hardly be likely to neglect his devotional reading. But we have not a

syllable of direct external evidence as to the titles of any of the books known to him.

Nor, for that matter, have we much more evidence of this kind for any other part of his life. Both

his early Carmelite biographers and the numerous witnesses who gave evidence during the

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canonization process describe at great length his extraordinary penances, his love for places of

retreat beautified by Nature, the long hours that he spent in prayer and the tongue of angels with

which he spoke on things spiritual. But of his reading they say nothing except to describe his

attachment to the Bible, nor have we any record of the books contained in the libraries of the

religious houses that he visited. Yet if, as we gather from the process, he spent little more than three

hours nightly in sleep, he must have read deeply of spiritual things by night as well as by day.

Some clues to the nature of his reading may be gained from his own writings. It is true that the

clues are slender. He cites few works apart from the Bible and these are generally liturgical books,

such as the Breviary. Some of his quotations from St. Augustine, St. Gregory and other of the

Fathers are traceable to these sources. Nevertheless, we have not read St. John of the Cross for long

before we find ourselves in the full current of mystical tradition. It is not by means of more or less

literal quotations that the Saint produces this impression; he has studied his precursors so thoroughly

that he absorbs the substance of their doctrine and incorporates it so intimately in his own that it

becomes flesh of his flesh. Everything in his writings is fully matured: he has no juvenilia. The

mediaeval mystics whom he uses are too often vague and undisciplined; they need someone to

select from them and unify them, to give them clarity and order, so that their treatment of mystical

theology may have the solidity and substance of scholastic theology. To have done this is one of

the achievements of St. John of the Cross.

We are convinced, then, by an internal evidence which is chiefly of a kind in which no chapter and

verse can be given, that St. John of the Cross read widely in mediaeval mystical theology and

assimilated a great part of what he read. The influence of foreign writers upon Spanish mysticism,

though it was once denied, is to-day generally recognized. It was inevitable that it should have been

considerable in a country which in the sixteenth century had such a high degree of culture as Spain.

Plotinus, in a diluted form, made his way into Spanish mysticism as naturally as did Seneca into

Spanish asceticism. Plato and Aristotle entered it through the two greatest minds that Christianity

has known — St. Augustine and St. Thomas. The influence of the Platonic theories of love and

beauty and of such basic Aristotelian theories as the origin of knowledge is to be found in most of

the Spanish mystics, St. John of the Cross among them.

The pseudo-Dionysius was another writer who was considered a great authority by the Spanish

mystics. The importance attributed to his works arose partly from the fact that he was supposed to

have been one of the first disciples of the Apostles; many chapters from mystical works of those

days all over Europe are no more than glosses of the pseudo-Areopagite. He is followed less,

however, by St. John of the Cross than by many of the latter’s contemporaries.

Other influences upon the Carmelite Saint were St. Gregory, St. Bernard and Hugh and Richard of

St. Victor, many of whose maxims were in the mouths of the mystics in the sixteenth century. More

important, probably, than any of these was the Fleming, Ruysbroeck, between whom and St. John

of the Cross there were certainly many points of contact. The Saint would have read him, not in

the original, but in Surius’ Latin translation of 1552, copies of which are known to have been current

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and various other writers.

Many of the ideas and phrases which we find in St. John of the Cross, as in other writers, are, of

course, traceable to the common mystical tradition rather than to any definite individual influence.

The striking metaphor of the ray of light penetrating the room, for example, which occurs in the

mystical writers ever since his time. The figures of the wood consumed by fire, of the ladder, the

mirror, the flame of love and the nights of sense and spirit had long since become naturalized in

mystical literature. There are many more such examples.

The originality of St. John of the Cross is in no way impaired by his employment of this cu