Commemoration of St. John of the Cross

To Commemorate the Anniversary
of St. John of the Cross -
Doctor of the universal Church.

On December 13, 1588, knowing
that his time was short, the friars
gather around St. John of the
Cross and began to recite the
prayers for the dying. He begged
them to stop, "No, read some
verses from the Song of Songs.
"As they began to read, he
exclaimed, "Oh, what precious
pearls!"

Shortly after midnight he died repeating the psalmist and the
words of our Lord, "Into your hands, O Lord, Icommend my spirit."


Timeline:
On January 22, 1675 Pope Clement X beatifies John of the Cross.
On December 27,1726 Pope Benedict XII canonizes him.
On August 24,1926 Pope Pius XI declares St. John of the
Cross a Doctor of the universal Church.
In 1952 the Spanish Ministry on National Education names
John of the Cross the patron of Spanish poets.

His masterpiece, "The Dark Night of the Soul" has been read
and appreciated by both those in and outside the Christian
community as a beautiful and penetrating exposition of the
trials, struggles and mystical triumphs of the human soul.
Simply put, he wrote some of the greatest poetry the world
has seen.

__________________________________________
T. S. Eliot & St. John of the Cross

T. S. Eliot in  Section III of T.S. Eliot's  "The Four Quartets",
'East Coker', Section III near the final lines he writes:

In order to arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
You must go through the way in which you are not.

This is a seldom recognized quote of St. John of the Cross
in "Ascent of Mount Carmel"  Chapter 13: Section 11:

To come to the knowledge you have not
you must go by a way in which you know not.
To come to the possession you have not
you must go by a way in which you possess not.
To come to be what you are not
you must go by a way in which you are not.