The Spanish Mystics: Teresa of Jesus and John of the CrossHouston Graduate School of TheologyCS 665 Christian Devotional Classics

Spanish Mystics

Compact group

All living and writing within the 16th century

In close connection with the Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites

Exception is Ignatius of Loyola who became a religious founder himself

Characteristics of Spanish Spirituality

Austere, practical, militant

Little room for religious emotionalism

Tendency to push spiritual principles at all costs to

their logical ends

Stern and bracing view of human character emerges

again and again

Teresa of Ávila

1515-1582 Born into aristocracy

Romantic and ardent

in temperame

nt

ActiveDrawn early to religion

Novice before she

was 20

Teresa of Ávila

4 years later fell seriously ill

Paralyzed for 2 years

Gave up contemplative

prayer life

Struggled for 12 years between mystical

vocation and active life

Middle Age – began to settle

in to good balance

Full mystical life began at

41

Teresa of Ávila

Impacted greatly by

Augustine’s Confessions

Ecstasies followed—

visions, voices, levitations

Entered Ignatian

spirituality

Founded Convent of St. Joseph at Ávila

at age 47

Strictly observed the primitive Rule of Mt. Carmel

Reformer – established Carmelite

houses all over Spain

Teresa was canonized in

1622 and declared a

Doctor of the Church in

1970

About Teresa• Celebrated definition of mental prayer as

“friendship with God” is ultimately from the followers of Ignatius—the Jesuits

• Teresa’s mysticism – focused on communing with God through meditation

• Her motto, “enter into yourself,” was more about bringing God into oneself

• Four stages of “entering”• Tranquility – the stilling of the inner self• Union – the concentration on spiritual meditation• Ecstasy – the repose of the soul• Spiritual Marriage – the perfect union of the soul with God

About Teresa• Met strong opposition as a reformer• Described by a papal emissary as “a restless

gadabout, disobedient, contumacious (resistant to authority) woman who promulgates pernicious doctrine under pretense of devotion”

• She considered herself and her nuns in the battle to rid the countryside of the “mischief and ravages those Lutherans had wrought in France”

• To avoid torture and prison, she hid—John of the Cross was confined to a dungeon for nearly a year

• She feared reversal of her efforts but, in the end, the pope ruled in her favor and her reformed convents continued

Interior Castle• Teaches the gradual unfolding of the spiritual

consciousness• Under the image of the successive habitations • Which the key of prayer unlocks for the soul

• The Castle was made of diamond or crystal• The rooms were arranged in concentric circles• God dwells in the central (7th) rooms• The light of God should fill the castle but is

darkened by sin• The spiritual life is a journey toward the innermost

rooms

Interior Castle

1st rooms • Converted to Christ• Beginnings of prayer

2nd rooms• Easy to be discouraged… • while making efforts to follow Christ and avoid sin

3rd rooms• More committed (but not yet deep)• In danger of getting stuck as conventional churchgoers• Attempting to live the Christian life by one’s own efforts• Neither experiences nor demonstrates the fullness of

God’s love

Interior Castle

4th rooms • Beginnings of the contemplative prayer…• Of silence and love

5th rooms• The fruit of drawing closer to God…• Is visible in love of neighbor and• Participation with Christ in suffering and in joy

6th rooms• Discovery of the desolation and pain…• As well as the unexpected joy and delight…• That accompanies spiritual growth

Interior Castle

7th rooms • Peace and stability• Springing from deep mutual love• Between self and God

Teresa’s friend and co-worker

A fragile and ardent little friar

now known as St. John of the Cross

He is reported to have

been less than 5 feet

tall

No other contemplative

equals his power of bringing us

face to face with the stark realities

of the spiritual life; the one aim set before it and

the price it demands.

His writing…

Personal experienc

e

Proven truth

St. John of the Cross

1542 – 1591Peasant origin, named Juan de

Yepes

Happiest in solitude

Theologically trained (ecstatic

soul seen through the professional

mind)

Entered the unreformed

Carmelite Order in 1562 at age 21

Thought of becoming a

Carthusian monk but persuaded by Teresa to join her

in the work of reform

St. John of the Cross

They met in 1568

Imprisoned for 8-9 months by the

unreformed Carmelites

Kept in barbarous conditions

Escaped from prison in 1580

Wrote Dark Night of the Soul and Ascent of Mt.

Carmel that same year

Canonized in 1627 and

declared a Doctor of the Church in

1926

Carthusians

A particular

order

Lived in hermitages

and communiti

es

Spent lots of time in solitude

Dark Night of the Soul

The dark night of the senses and of the soul break us from these

attachments – drive us toward God

The great enemy of the spiritual life – attachment to things

To reach union, some action is required

Daily surrender

Obediently involved in practice of the spiritual disciplines

Responsively trusting that God draws believers through periods of darkness into more intimate communion

Faithfully waiting in prayerful silence

• Not natural• Exposes …

• How trivial and superficial our thoughts are• How noisy our world is• How inattentive we are to the reality of God’s presence

Enjoy the devotional writing of the Spanish mystics—Teresa

and John