His religious vocation led him to study with the Jesuit Fathers and then he entered the order of the Carmelites. 
Saint John of the Cross: Mystic and Poet 
 
Juan Yépez Álvarez (Saint John of the Cross), was born in Fontiveros-Ávila, Castile Spain, in 1542. As a child, he had to work as a tailor, carpenter, carver, and painter. 

 
Juan Yépez Álvarez (Saint John of the Cross), was born in Fontiveros-Ávila, Castile – Spain, in 1542. As a child, he had to work as a tailor, carpenter, carver, and painter. 
 
His religious vocation led him to study with the Jesuit Fathers and then he entered the order of the Carmelites. He was ordained a priest in 1567, dedicating himself to reform the religious order to which he belonged, along with Saint Theresa of Jesus. 
 
From December 4th, 1577 until August 15th, 1578 he was a prisoner at Toledo. 
 
He is considered the master of the practical science of contemplation and he is regarded as the great Doctor of the supreme incommunicable knowledge.
 
"When we contemplate God FACE TO FACE, we will have a clear and limpid intellectual knowledge of the divine essence; but that knowledge will be incommunicable, because the same divine essence will be the one that acts immediately in our intelligence, without intermediate of any kind or idea, (because no idea, whether angelical or human could adequately represent the divine essence); however, our knowledge is communicative by ideas or concepts.” 
 
While Saint Thomas explains, St. John of the Cross makes us see. The first one leads the second one guides. Saint Thomas projects on being the intelligible lights, Saint John guides freedom through the nights of detachment. One proves the other is the practice of wisdom. This is what distinguishes them both, with their true personalities. 
 
Saint Thomas of Aquino and St. John of the Cross unite in the final object of human life, which is the transformation into God, "make us Gods by participation". They are united in the concept that contemplation is an experimental knowledge of love and union, in addition to the use of higher faculties such as understanding, memory, and will, using our senses and imagination; they are parallel and are united in the search for God. 
 
The works of Saint John of the Cross, the mystic, are inspired poems, and "declarations" or commentaries of teachings; it should be noted that the essence of his writings is practical, not to explain perfection, but to take us to it. 
 
His poems are divinely inspired, which led him to write to express the mystical experience he experienced. He communicates contemplation, using lyrical symbols. 
 
It was in the prison of Toledo, in 1577, where he wrote the primitive song in 30 stanzas, to which he then added 4 and then 5 new stanzas.
 
The prose texts of St. John of the Cross are explanations of his poetry, such as THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL, SPIRITUAL SINGING BETWEEN THE SOUL AND THE HUSBAND. They are comments or statements that become teachings, made at the request of their spiritual daughters; his doctrine is practical, an example of science, an eminent theologian. 
 
Inspired by the SONG OF SONGS he wrote wonderful work. 
 
Saint John of the Cross is a mystic. "It is a mysterious science, mystical theological which God teaches in secret to the soul, and instructs him in the perfection of love, without her doing anything but attending to God, hearing him and receiving his light, without understanding what that infuse contemplation is like." 
 
"Without having anything and possessing everything", it goes along the way to meet the nothing of Saint John of the Cross. 
 
"After I've put on anything 
 
I find that nothing is missing me” 
 
And it continues the way of having the WHOLE. 
 
"To come to know everything, 
 
You don't want to know anything, 
 
To come and spend it all 
 
You don't want to spend any of anything. " 
 
Also, the way not to prevent the whole. 
 
"When you repair something, 
 
You stop throwing yourself at everything, 
 
Because to come at all, 
 
Make the whole. 
 
And when you come to have all, 
 
Make him with nothing to want. 
 
Because if you want to have something in everything, 
 
You have no pure in God your treasure. "
 
Saint John of the Cross deals with two impurities that sense implies. One is opposed to the life of virtues. The other is contrary to the contemplative union. But he has the remedies: one is the act of virtue. The other is the movement of love and affection for the union with God. 
 
This is where St. John of the Cross developed the doctrine of the NIGHT of SENSE, where he penetrates to respond to contemplation. 
 
"When the night of the spirit has been quite profound when the substance of the soul has been quite dissolved, I yearn to be dissolved and to be with you." 
 
Then what constitutes his desire-to be with you-becomes sense and touched; it’s the invasion of peace. 
 
It is the state that St. John calls "spiritual marriages" contemplation becomes luminous, morning twilight. Without seeing God in his essence, the soul nonetheless experiences that, HE is everything. 
 
St. John of the Cross, mystic for excellence, is an example of spirituality, poetry, and holiness. 
 
San Juan de la Cruz died in Ubeda, Jaén, on December 14, 1591, at the age of 49.