John of the Cross

John of the Cross (1542–1591), born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez, was a Spanish Carmelite friar and mystic poet, and with Teresa of Ávila a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. He entered the Carmelite Order in 1563 and studied at Salamanca.

Ordained in 1567, he joined Teresa of Ávila's reform, and in 1568 opened the first reformed house at Duruelo, taking the name John of the Cross. In 1577 unreformed Carmelites seized him and carried him to Toledo; in a cell barely ten feet by six he was lashed weekly, yet composed much of the Spiritual Canticle and escaped through a window in 1578.

He became Vicar Provincial of Andalusia in 1585 and founded monasteries, but was later removed, and died in 1591. His works, including Dark Night of the Soul, are classics of Spanish mysticism; he was canonized in 1726 and named Doctor of the Church in 1926.