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St. John of The Cross
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십자가의 성 요한
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John OF THE CROSS, SAINT, original name JUAN DE YEPES Y ÁLVAREZ (b. June 24, 1542, Fontiveros, Spain--d. Dec. 14, 1591, Ubeda; canonized 1726; feast day December 14), one of the greatest Christian mystics and Spanish poets, doctor of the church, reformer of Spanish monasticism, and cofounder of the contemplative order of Discalced Carmelites. (see also
Discalced Carmelite Father)
John became a Carmelite monk at Medina del Campo, Spain, in 1563 and was ordained priest in 1567.
St. Teresa of Ávila, the celebrated mystic, enlisted his help (1568) in her restoration of Carmelite life to its original observance of austerity. A year later, at Duruelo, he opened the first Discalced Carmelite monastery. Reform, however, caused friction within the order and led to his imprisonment, first in 1576 and again in 1577 at Toledo, where he wrote some of his finest poetry. Escaping in August 1578, he later won high office in the order, becoming vicar provincial of Andalusia from 1585 to 1587. Near the end of his life the Discalced Carmelites were again troubled by dissension, and he withdrew to absolute solitude.
John schematized the steps of mystical ascent--a self-communion that in quietude leads the individual from the inharmonious distractions of the world to the sublime peace of reunion between the soul and God. John's schematization combines a poetic sensitivity for the nuances of mystical experience with a theological and philosophical precision guided by his study of St. Thomas Aquinas. By virtue of his intense poems, "Cántico espiritual" ("The Spiritual Canticle"), "Noche obscura del alma" ( "The Dark Night of the Soul"), and "Llama de amor viva" ("The Living Flame of Love"), he achieves preeminence in Spanish mystical literature, expressing the experience of the mystical union between the soul and Christ. (see also
Christianity, divine union)
In "Noche," perhaps his best known work, he describes the process by which the soul sheds its attachment to everything and eventually passes through a personal experience of Christ's Crucifixion to his glory. The lyric consists of eight stanzas "in which the soul sings of the fortunate adventure that it had in passing through the dark night of faith . . . to union with the Beloved."
Though John reaches peaks of lyricism, he also presents the reader with considerable difficulties because his approach is rigorously intellectual. The same word may recur twice within four lines of a poem with a different symbolism on each occasion.
E.A. Peers's St. John of the Cross appeared in 1932, followed by his Handbook to the Life and Times of St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross in 1954. The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross were translated into English by K. Kavanaugh and O. Rodriguez in 1964. The revised edition of J.F. Nims's English translation of The Poems of St. John of the Cross appeared in 1968.
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요한네스 (Johannes). (영)Saint John of the Cross.
본명은 Juan de Yepes y Álvarez.
1542. 6. 24 스페인 폰티베로스~1591. 12. 14
우베다.
1726년 성인으로 추증되었으며,
축일은 12월 14일.
그리스도교 대(大)신비주의자,
스페인 시인, 교회박사,
스페인 수도원운동 개혁자, 명상수도회인
'맨발의 카르멜회'(Discalced Carmelites)
공동설립자.
1563년 스페인 메디나델캄포에서 카르멜회 수사가 되었고, 1567년에 사제 임명을 받았다.
유명한 신비주의자인 아빌라의 성 테레사의 요청으로 카르멜회를 원래의 금욕생활로 회복시키는 일을 도왔다(1568). 1년 뒤 두루엘로에서 최초의
'맨발의 카르멜회'
수도원을 열었다. 그러나 개혁조치는 수도회 내부를 분열시켜서
1576, 1577년에는 톨레도에 감금당했으며,
이곳에서 그의 대표적인 시 몇 편을 썼다. 1578년
8월 감옥에서 도망쳤다가 훗날 '맨발의 카르멜회'에서 고위직을 맡았고, 1585~87년 안달루시아의 수도회 관구 대리가 되었다.
생애 말년에 '맨발의 카르멜회'가 다시 한번 분열을 겪자 은퇴하여 철저히 고립 생활을 했다.
그는 신비주의적인 상승 단계들, 즉 조화를 잃은 이 세상의 분란으로부터 영혼과 하느님의 재연합이라는 지고(至高)의 평화로 개개인을 고요하게 이끌어가는 자성(自省)의 단계들을 도식화했다.
그가 도식화한 내용에는 신비주의 체험의 미묘한 차이들에 관한 시적인 감수성과 성 토마스 아퀴나스를 연구하면서 이끌어낸 정확한 신학적·철학적 표현이 잘 조화되어 있다.
〈영적인 찬송 Cántico espiritual〉·
〈영혼의 어두운 밤 Noche obscura del alma〉·〈살아 있는 사랑의 불길
Llama de amor viva〉 등의 강렬한 시들에 힘입어 그는 영혼과 그리스도 사이의 신비주의적 연합 체험을 표현한 스페인 신비주의 문학에서 뛰어난 자리를 차지한다.
가장 잘 알려진 작품인 〈영혼의 어두운 밤〉에서는 영혼이 모든 것에 대한 집착을 버리고 그리스도의 십자가형을 직접 체험하면서 궁극적으로 그리스도의 영광에 도달하는 과정을 묘사한다. 8연(聯)으로 구성된 이 서정시는
'영혼이 신앙의 어두운 밤을 지나 운명의 모험을 겪은 끝에 사랑하는 이(그리스도)와 연합하는 것을 노래한다.'
요한네스는 서정시의 극치에 도달했지만,
접근방식이 대단히 이지적이기 때문에 독자들이 그의 서정시를 읽기는 상당히 어렵다. 4행으로 이루어진 한 시에는 같은 단어가
2번 반복되지만 그것이 상징하는 내용은 서로 다르다. 1932년
E.A. 피어스의 〈십자가의 성 요한네스
St. John of the Cross〉가 출판되었고, 1954년에는 역시 피어스의 〈성 테레사와 십자가의 성 요한네스의 생애와 시대에 관한 연구서
Handbook to the Life and Times of St. Teresa and
St. John of the Cross〉가 출판되었다. 1964년
K. 캐버너와 O.
로드리기스가 영역한 〈십자가의 성 요한네스의 작품집
The Collected Works of
St. John of the Cross〉이 출판되었고, 1968년에는
J.F. 님스가 영역한 〈십자가의 성 요한네스의 시
The Poems of
St. John of the Cross〉의 재판이 발행되었다.
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St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)
St. John of the Cross stands as one of the most important mystical
philosophers in Christian history. The son of a rich merchant, John was born
Juan de Yepes y Alvarez in Fontiveros, Spain in 1542. John's father died when
the boy was quite young, leaving his mother, a member of a lower social class,
to raise him alone. After gaining employment in a plague hospital, John, at age
18, began to study with the Jesuits. He entered the Carmelite Order in 1563,
continuing his studies at the University of Salamanca, where he began to teach
while still a student. After being ordained in 1567, John met St. Teresa of Avila,
another of the great mystics of the Christian tradition.
Following Teresa's lead in attempting to reform his Order, John, in 1568,
initiated a very severe form of monasticism in a tiny farmhouse. These monks
went so far as to go barefoot, indicating their commitment to poverty, lending
to them the appellation of "Discalced" or "shoeless."
Over time, a rift arose between the traditional Carmelites and John's Discalced
Carmelites, leading in 1576 to John's arrest and imprisonment. During this
period of imprisonment, John wrote much of the poetry that would provide his
greatest contribution to later generations.
Eventually, the rights of the Discalceds were recognized, and John took on
various roles of leadership within the order. After some fifteen years of
leadership, he died in 1591, leaving behind a number of remarkable works of
Christian mysticism: Ascent
of Mount Carmel, Dark
Night of the Soul, and the Spiritual
Canticle of the Soul.
The Catholic Encyclopedia includes a
lengthy article on St. John of the Cross. Another article
is available from the Teresian Carmel in Austria.
This text copyright 1997, Mark
Browning. Permission is granted for all noncommercial use of this article.
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St. John Joseph of the Cross
Born on the Island of Ischia, Southern Italy, 1654; d. 5 March, 1739. From
his earliest years he was given to prayer and virtue. So great was his love of
poverty that he would always wear the dress of the poor, though he was of noble
birth. At the age of sixteen years he entered the Order of St. Francis at
naples, amongst the Friars of the Alcantarine Reform, being the first Italian to
join this reform which had been instituted in Spain by St. Peter of Alcantara.
Throughout his life he was given to the greatest austerity: he fasted
constantly, never drank wine, and slept but three hours each night. In 1674 he
was sent to found a friary at Afila, in Piedmont; and he assisted with his own
hands in the building. Much against his will, he was raised to the priesthood.
As superior, he always insisted upon performing the lowliest offices in the
community. In 1702 he was appointed Vicar Provincial of the Alcantarine Reform
in Italy. He was favoured in a high degree with the gift of miracles, people of
every condition being brought to him in sickness. His zeal for souls was such
that even in sickness he would not spare any labour for them. His great devotion
was to our Blessed Lady, and he was urgent with his penitents that they also
should cultivate this. He was beatified in 1789, and canonized in 1839.
Compendium Vitae. . .B. Joannis Josephi a Cruce (Rome, 1839);
Vita di S. Gian Giuseppe della Croce, dal P. Diodata dell' Assunta (Rome, 1839);
MANNING, Lives of the Saints and Blessed of the Three Orders of St. Francis
(London, 1886).
FATHER CUTHBERT
Transcribed by Michael T. Barrett
Dedicated to the memory of Mother Teresa of Calcutta
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII
Copyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton Company
Online Edition Copyright © 1999 by Kevin Knight
Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
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St. John of the Cross
by
Alban Butler
November 24. -- ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS.
The father of St. John was discarded by his kindred for marrying a poor
orphan, and the Saint, thus born and nurtured in poverty, chose it also for his
portion. Unable to learn a trade, he became the servant of the poor in the
hospital of Medina, while still pursuing his sacred studies. In 1563, being then
twenty-one, he humbly offered himself as a lay-brother to the Carmelite friars,
who, however, knowing his talents, had him ordained priest. He would now have
exchanged to the severe Carthusian Order, had not St. Teresa, with the instinct
of a Saint, persuaded him to remain and help her in the reform of his own Order.
Thus he became the first prior of the Barefooted Carmelites. His reform, though
approved by the general, was rejected by the elder friars, who condemned the
Saint as a fugitive and apostate, and cast him into prison, whence he only
escaped, after nine months' suffering, at the risk of his life. Twice again,
before his death, he was shamefully persecuted by his brethren, and publicly
disgraced. But his complete abandonment by creatures only deepened his interior
peace and devout longing for heaven.
Reflection. -- "Live in the world," said St. John, "as
if God and your soul only were in it; so shall your heart be never made captive
by any earthly thing."
This document is from the Christian
Classics Ethereal Library
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