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St John of the Cross - a general introduction
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Final Years
In the summer of 1588, John was
elected third councillor to the vicar general for the discalced, Father
Nicolás Doria, and had to return to Segovia in Castile, where in this capacity
he was also prior. At his new site, one with a splendid view of Segovia
and the surrounding area, he spent a good portion of his time again in
manual labour, designing an addition to the monastery, quarrying stone
for it, and working on its construction. He no longer wrote, but spent
more time in prayer, going off to a cave on the property where he could
view the countryside and have solitude for his deep contemplation. He had
brought his latest work, The Living Flame of Love, to an unexpectedly swift
close, confessing that he did not want to explain any further about the
breathing of the Holy Spirit in the soul, "for I am aware of being
incapable of so doing, and were I to try, it might seem less than it is.
Never one to shun those who came for help, John continued his ministry
of spiritual direction; the business matters of the order's government
were always claiming attention as well. In fact, these latter sparked another
conflict, this time among the discalced themselves. The clash began when
Nicolás Doria called an extraordinary chapter in June 1590 for the purpose
of undertaking two controversial moves. First he wanted to abandon jurisdiction
over the nuns, a reprisal against Madre Ana de Jesús who opposed his plans;
Doria had hoped both to make changes in Teresa's constitutions and to govern
the nuns through a body of councillors rather than through one friar appointed
to the task. Second, he proposed the expulsion of Teresa's close collaborator,
Father Jerónimo Gracián, from the discalced Carmelites. Fray John spoke
in opposition to both moves. In the chapter the following year, different
councillors were elected to assist Doria, and John remained without an
office, a fact that was more a problem for others than for himself. When
the news got about, some began raising strong protests. But John looked
at things differently, as he so often did, and expressed his mind in a
letter to the prioress in Segovia:
Do not let what is happening to me, daughter, cause you any grief, for
it does not cause me any. What greatly grieves me is that one who is not
at fault is blamed. Men do not do these things, but God, who knows what
is suitable for us and arranges things for our own good. Think nothing
else but that God ordains all, and where there is no love, put love, and
you will draw out love [July 6, 1591].
Doria, in what seemed a rebuff, sent John of the Cross back into Andalusia,
to an isolated monastery called La Peñuela, a solitude like Duruelo or
El Calvario. However, John was to stay there only in preparation for a
mission to Mexico where he was to lead a group of 12 friars. He was happy
in the solitude, but some ugly manoeuvrings began to disturb the peace
of his friends, whom he had helped as spiritual director, and shattered
the impressive silence of La Peñuela. Fray Diego Evangelista, with bitter
resentment against his former superior, was going about threatening and
intimidating, trying to gather information against the spiritual friar
so as to have him expelled from the discalced. Fray Diego never had time
to proceed far with his designs. In mid-September John began to suffer
a slight fever caused by an inflammation of the leg. Thinking it nothing
serious, he paid little attention, but when it persisted he was forced
to make the journey to Ubeda for the medical assistance that was unavailable
at La Peñuela. Given the choice between Baeza and Ubeda, he chose Ubeda,
"for at Baeza they know me very well, and in Ubeda nobody knows
me. " It was the last journey of his life.
The prior of the monastery at Ubeda, Fray Francisco Crisóstomo, did not
welcome the sick man. Learned and famous as a preacher, Fray Crisóstomo
had his weaknesses, among them a tendency to be mean and rigid. A sick
friar was a nuisance and an expense as far as he was concerned, and he
showed his vexation; nor did he care for people who were supposedly holy.
John's sickness grew worse. His leg was already ulcerated, and the disease,
erysipelas, spread to his back where a new fist-sized tumour formed. On
December 13, Fray John of the Cross, knowing that time was running short,
called for the prior and begged pardon for all the trouble he had caused.
This profoundly changed the prior, who himself then begged forgiveness
and left the cell in tears, totally transformed. According to witnesses
Fray Francisco Crisóstomo later died in the odour of sanctity. That same
night, when the friars began to recite the prayers for the dying, Fray
John of the Cross begged, "No, read some verses from the Song of
Songs, " and then exclaimed, "Oh, what precious pearls!
" At midnight, without agony, without struggle, he died, repeating
the words of the psalmist: "Into your hands, O Lord, I commend
my spirit. " The favours he had asked for in his last years he
had now received: not to die as a superior, to die in a place where he
was unknown, and to die after having suffered much.
Purchase the official
English translation of the Collected Works of St John of the Cross, at ICS Publications,
Washington DC.
 Now
also on CD-Rom - Digital Library
The following information has been provided courtesy of ICS Publications. The
copyright of all materials is held by the Washington Provinceof the Discalced
Carmelites. Permission is hereby granted solely for private use of these texts
on which ICS Publications hold the copyright.
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