Convent of the Carmelites (Tomb of St. John of the Cross)

The Story

The Convent of the Discalced Carmelites in Segovia, Spain, is the burial place of St. John of the Cross (1542–1591), the Carmelite friar, poet and mystic honored as one of the greatest spiritual teachers in the history of the Church. The convent stands above the Eresma river on the edge of the old city, facing the Alcázar of Segovia. It was founded in 1586 by St. John of the Cross himself, who according to tradition helped build it with his own hands during his years as a superior of the reformed Carmel. Together with St. Teresa of Ávila, John led the sixteenth-century reform of the Carmelite Order that gave rise to the Discalced Carmelites, a movement of return to prayer, poverty and contemplative silence. His fidelity to the reform cost him dearly: imprisoned by opponents in Toledo in 1577, he composed in captivity some of the most sublime poetry in the Spanish language, verses that became the seed of his great treatises on the spiritual life. From 1588 to 1591 he served in Segovia as prior of the community he had founded. John died at Úbeda on December 14, 1591. A few years later his remains were transferred to Segovia, where they rest today in a mausoleum of marble and bronze in the convent church. St. John of the Cross was canonized in 1726 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1926, a recognition that his teaching on prayer, purification and union with God belongs to the whole Church. His doctrine of the 'dark night' — the purifying passage through which God leads the soul toward transforming union in love — continues to guide contemplatives, spiritual directors and ordinary believers. Pilgrims who come to Segovia pray at the tomb of a saint who wrote that in the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone. Today the convent remains in the care of the Discalced Carmelite friars. Pope St. John Paul II, himself a devoted student of St. John of the Cross, visited and prayed at the tomb in 1982, and the site remains a principal stop for pilgrims following the footsteps of the Carmelite reformers through Castile.

Church Recognition

St. John of the Cross was canonized in 1726 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1926; his tomb in the Discalced Carmelite convent church has been venerated for centuries under the care of his order.

Catholic Teaching

St. John of the Cross's teaching on prayer and union with God is honored by the whole Church in his title of Doctor; veneration at his tomb expresses the communion of saints and the Church's reverence for the relics of the saints (CCC 946–962, 1674).

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Practical

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Pilgrims visit the convent church and the mausoleum of St. John of the Cross, often as part of routes tracing the lives of the Carmelite reformers through Castile; devotion peaks around his feast on December 14.

Go Deeper

Read the works of St. John of the Cross — the Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night of the Soul, and Spiritual Canticle — along with CCC 2709–2719 on contemplative prayer; Turismo de Segovia publishes visitor information for the convent and mausoleum.