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GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE WORKS OF ST. JOHN OF THE
CROSS
ASCENT OF MOUNT CARMEL
INTRODUCTIONAS will be seen from the biographical outline which
we have given of the life of St. John of the Cross,
this was the first of the Saint's treatises to be
written; it was begun at El Calvario, and, after
various intervals, due to the author's preoccupation
with the business of government and the direction and
care of souls, was completed at Granada. The treatise presents a remarkable outline of
Christian perfection from the point at which the soul
first seeks to rise from the earth and soar upward
towards union with God. It is a work which shows
every sign of careful planning and great attention to
detail, as an ascetic treatise it is noteworthy for
its detailed psychological analysis; as a
contribution to mystical theology, for the skill with
which it treats the most complicated and delicate
questions concerning the Mystic Way.
Both the great Carmelite reformers pay close
attention to the early stages of the mystical life,
beyond which many never pass, and both give the
primacy to prayer as a means of attaining perfection.
To St. Teresa prayer is the greatest of all blessings
of this life, the channel through which all the
favours of God pass to the soul, the beginning of
every virtue and the plainly marked highroad which
leads to the summit of Mount Carmel. She can hardly
conceive of a person in full spiritual health whose
life is not one of prayer. Her coadjutor in the
Carmelite Reform writes in the same spirit. Prayer,
for St. John of the Cross as for St. Teresa, is no
mere exercise made up of petition and meditation, but
a complete spiritual life which brings in its train
all the virtues, increases all the soul's
potentialities and may ultimately lead to
'deification' or transformation in God through love.
It may be said that the exposition of the life of
prayer, from its lowest stages to its highest, is the
common aim of these two Saints, which each pursues
and accomplishes in a peculiarly individual manner. St. John of the Cross assumes his reader to be
familiar with the rudiments of the spiritual life and
therefore omits detailed description of the most
elementary of the exercises incumbent upon all
Christians. The plan of the Ascent of Mount Carmel
(which, properly speaking, embraces its sequel, the
Dark Night) follows the lines of the poem with the
latter title (p. 10). Into two stanzas of five lines
each, St. John of the Cross has condensed all the
instruction which he develops in this treatise. In
order to reach the Union of Light, the soul must pass
through the Dark Night -- that is to say, through a
series of purifications, during which it is walking,
as it were, through a tunnel of impenetrable
obscurity and from which it emerges to bask in the
sunshine of grace and to enjoy the Divine intimacy. Through this obscurity the thread which guides the
soul is that of 'emptiness' or 'negation.' Only by
voiding ourselves of all that is not God can we
attain to the possession of God, for two contraries
cannot co-exist in one individual, and creature-love
is darkness, while God is light, so that from any
human heart one of the two cannot fail to drive out
the other.[59] Now the soul, according to the Saint's psychology, is
made up of interior and exterior senses and of the
faculties. All these must be free from creature
impurities in order to be prepared for Divine union.
The necessary self-emptying may be accomplished in
two ways: by our own efforts, with the habitual aid
of grace, and by the action of God exclusively, in
which the individual has no part whatsoever.
Following this order, the Ascent is divided into two
parts, which deal respectively with the 'Active'
night and the 'Passive.' Each of these parts consists
of several books. Since the soul must be purified in
its entirety, the Active Night is logically divided
into the Night of Sense and the Night of the Spirit;
a similar division is observed in treating of the
Passive Night. One book is devoted to the Active
Night of Sense; two are needed for the Active Night
of the Spirit. Unhappily, however, the treatise was
never finished; not only was its author unable to
take us out of the night into the day, as he
certainly intended to do, but he has not even space
to describe the Passive Night in all the fullness of
its symbolism. A brief glance at the outstanding parts of the Ascent
of Mount Carmel will give some idea of its nature.
The first obstacle which the pilgrim soul encounters
is the senses, upon which St. John of the Cross
expends his analytical skill in Book I. Like any
academic professor (and it will be recalled that he
had undergone a complete university course at
Salamanca), he outlines and defines his subject, goes
over the necessary preliminary ground before
expounding it, and treats it, in turn, under each of
its natural divisions. He tells us, that is to say,
what he understands by the 'dark night'; describes
its causes and its stages; explains how necessary it
is to union with God; enumerates the perils which
beset the soul that enters it; and shows how all
desires must be expelled, 'however small they be,' if
the soul is to travel through it safely. Finally he
gives a complete synthesis of the procedure that must
be adopted by the pilgrim in relation to this part of
his journey: the force of this is intensified by
those striking maxims and distichs which make Chapter
xiii of Book I so memorable.
The first thirteen chapters of the Ascent are perhaps
the easiest to understand (though they are anything
but easy to put into practice) in the entire works of
St. John of the Cross. They are all a commentary on
the very first line of the poem. The last two
chapters of the first book glance at the remaining
lines, rather than expound them, and the Saint takes
us on at once to Book II, which expounds the second
stanza and enters upon the Night of the Spirit. Here the Saint treats of the proximate means to union
with God -- namely, faith. He uses the same careful
method of exposition, showing clearly how faith is to
the soul as a dark night, and how, nevertheless, it
is the safest of guides. A parenthetical chapter (v)
attempts to give some idea of the nature of union, so
that the reader may recognize from afar the goal to
which he is proceeding. The author then goes on to
describe how the three theological virtues -- faith,
hope and charity -- must 'void and dispose for union'
the three faculties of the soul -- understanding,
memory and will.
He shows how narrow is the way that leads to life and
how nothing that belongs to the understanding can
guide the soul to union. His illustrations and
arguments are far more complicated and subtle than
are those of the first book, and give the reader some
idea of his knowledge, not only of philosophy and
theology, but also of individual souls. Without this
last qualification he could never have written those
penetrating chapters on the impediments to union --
above all, the passages on visions, locutions and
revelations -- nor must we overlook his description
(Chapter xiii) of the three signs that the soul is
ready to pass from meditation to contemplation. It
may be doubted if in its own field this second book
has ever been surpassed. There is no mystic who gives
a more powerful impression than St. John of the Cross
of an absolute mastery of his subject. No mistiness,
vagueness or indecision clouds his writing: he is as
clear-cut and definite as can be. In his third book St. John of the Cross goes on to
describe the obstacles to union which come from the
memory and the will. Unlike St. Thomas, he considered
the memory as a distinct and separate faculty of the
soul. Having written, however, at such length of the
understanding, he found it possible to treat more
briefly of that other faculty, which is so closely
related to it.[60] Fourteen chapters (ii-xv) describe
the dark night to be traversed by the memory; thirty
(xvi-xlv) the passage of the will, impelled by
love.[61] The latter part is the more strikingly
developed. Four passions -- joy, hope, sorrow and
fear -- invade the will, and may either encompass the
soul's perdition, or, if rightly directed, lead it to
virtue and union. Once more St. John of the Cross
employs his profound familiarity with the human soul
to turn it away from peril and guide it into the path
of safety. Much that he says, in dealing with
passions so familiar to us all, is not only purely
ascetic, but is even commonplace to the instructed
Christian. Yet these are but parts of a greater
whole. Of particular interest, both intrinsically and as
giving a picture of the Saint's own times, are the
chapters on ceremonies and aids to devotion -- the
use of rosaries, medals, pilgrimages, etc. It must be
remembered, of course, that he spent most of his
active life in the South of Spain, where
exaggerations of all kinds, even to-day, are more
frequent than in the more sober north. In any case
there is less need, in this lukewarm age, to warn
Christians against the abuse of these means of grace,
and more need, perhaps, to urge them to employ aids
that will stimulate and quicken their devotion.
In the seventeenth chapter of this third book, St.
John of the Cross enumerates the 'six kinds of good'
which can give rise to rejoicing and sets down his
intention of treating each of them in turn. He
carries out his purpose, but, on entering his last
division, subdivides it at considerable length and
subsequently breaks off with some brusqueness while
dealing with one of these sub-heads, just as he is
introducing another subject of particular interest
historically -- namely, pulpit methods considered
from the standpoint of the preacher. In all
probability we shall never know what he had to say
about the hearers of sermons, or what were his
considered judgments on confessors and penitents --
though of these judgments he has left us examples
elsewhere in this treatise, as well as in others. We cannot estimate of how much the sudden curtailment
of the Ascent of Mount Carmel has robbed us.[62]
Orderly as was the mind of St. John of the Cross, he
was easily carried away in his expositions, which are
apt to be unequal. No one would have suspected, for
example, that, after going into such length in
treating the first line of his first stanza, he would
make such short work of the remaining four. Nor can
we disregard the significance of his warning that
much of what he had written on the understanding was
applicable also to the memory and the will. He may,
therefore, have been nearer the end of his theme than
is generally supposed. Yet it is equally possible
that much more of his subtle analysis was in store
for his readers. Any truncation, when the author is a
St. John of the Cross, must be considered
irreparable.
THE MANUSCRIPTS[63] Unfortunately there is no autograph of this treatise
extant, though there are a number of early copies,
some of which have been made with great care. Others,
for various reasons, abbreviate the original
considerably. The MSS. belonging to both classes will
be enumerated.
Alba de Tormes. The Discalced Carmelite priory of
Alba de Tormes has a codex which contains the four
principal treatises of St. John of the Cross (Ascent,
Dark Night, Spiritual Canticle and Living Flame).
This codex belonged from a very early date (perhaps
from a date not much later than that of the Saint's
death) to the family of the Duke of Alba, which was
greatly devoted to the Discalced Carmelite Reform and
to St. Teresa, its foundress. It remained in the
family until the beginning of the eighteenth century,
when it came into the hands of a learned Carmelite,
Fray Alonso de la Madre de Dios, who presented it to
the Alba monastery on April 15, 1705. The details of
this history are given by Fray Alonso himself in a
note bearing this date.
For over half a century the MS. was believed to be an
autograph, partly, no doubt, on account of its
luxurious binding and the respect paid to the noble
house whence it came. In February 1761, however, it
was examined carefully by P. Manuel de Santa Mar�a,
who, by his Superiors' orders, was assisting P.
Andr�s de la Encarnaci�n in his search for, and study
of, manuscripts of the Saint's writings. P. Manuel
soon discovered that the opinion commonly held was
erroneous -- greatly, it would seem, to the
disillusionment of his contemporaries. Among the
various reasons which he gives in a statement
supporting his conclusions is that in two places the
author is described as 'santo' -- a proof not only
that the MS. is not an autograph but also that the
copyist had no intention of representing it as such. Although this copy is carefully made and richly bound
-- which suggests that it was a gift from the Reform
to the house of Alba -- it contains many errors, of a
kind which indicate that the copyist, well educated
though he was, knew little of ascetic or mystical
theology. A number of omissions, especially towards
the end of the book, give the impression that the
copy was finished with haste and not compared with
the original on its completion. There is no reason,
however, to suppose that the errors and omissions are
ever intentional; indeed, they are of such a kind as
to suggest that the copyist had not the skill
necessary for successful adulteration. MS. 6,624. This copy, like the next four, is in N.L.M.
[National Library of Spain, Madrid], and contains the
same works as that of Alba de Tormes. It was made in
1755, under the direction of P. Andr�s de la
Encarnaci�n, from a manuscript, now lost, which was
venerated by the Benedictines of Burgos: this
information is found at the end of the volume. P.
Andr�s had evidently a good opinion of the Burgos
MS., as he placed this copy in the archives of the
Discalced Reform, whence it passed to the National
Library early in the nineteenth century.
As far as the Ascent is concerned, this MS. is very
similar to that of Alba. With a few notable
exceptions, such as the omission of the second half
of Book I, Chapter iv, the errors and omissions are
so similar as to suggest a definite relationship, if
not a common source.
MS. 13,498. This MS., which gives us the Ascent and
the Dark Night, also came from the Archives of the
Reform and is now in the National Library. The
handwriting might be as early as the end of the
sixteenth century. The author did not attempt to make
a literal transcription of the Ascent, but summarized
where he thought advisable, reducing the number of
chapters and abbreviating many of them -- this last
not so much by the method of paraphrase as by the
free omission of phrases and sentences. MS. 2,201. This, as far as the Ascent is concerned,
is an almost literal transcription of the last MS.,
in a seventeenth-century hand; it was bound in the
eighteenth century, when a number of other treatises
were added to it, together with some poems by St.
John of the Cross and others. The variants as between
this MS. and 13,498 are numerous, but of small
importance, and seem mainly to have been due to
carelessness. MS. 18,160. This dates from the end of the sixteenth
century and contains the four treatises named above,
copied in different hands and evidently intended to
form one volume. Only the first four chapters of the
Ascent are given, together with the title and the
first three lines of the fifth chapter. The
transcription is poorly done.
MS. 13,507. An unimportant copy, containing only a
few odd chapters of the Ascent and others from the
remaining works of St. John of the Cross and other
writers. Pamplona. A codex in an excellent state of
preservation is venerated by the Discalced Carmelite
nuns of Pamplona. It was copied, at the end of the
sixteenth century, by a Barcelona Carmelite, M.
Magdalena de la Asunci�n, and contains a short
summary of the four treatises enumerated above,
various poems by St. John of the Cross and some
miscellaneous writings. The Ascent is abbreviated to
the same extent as in 13,498 and 2,201 and by the
same methods; many chapters, too, are omitted in
their entirety. Alcaudete. This MS., which contains the Ascent only,
was copied by St. John of the Cross's close friend
and companion, P. Juan Evangelista, as a comparison
with manuscripts (N.L.M., 12,738) written in his
well-known and very distinctive hand, puts beyond all
doubt. P. Juan, who took the habit of the Reform at
Christmas 1582, knew the Saint before this date; was
professed by him at Granada in 1583; accompanied him
on many of his journeys; saw him write most of his
books; and, as his close friend and confessor, was
consulted repeatedly by his biographers.[64] It is
natural that he should also have acted as the Saint's
copyist, and, in the absence of autographs, we should
expect no manuscripts to be more trustworthy than
copies made by him. Examination of this MS. shows
that it is in fact highly reliable. It corrects none
of those unwieldy periods in which the Saint's work
abounds, and which the editio princeps often thought
well to amend, nor, like the early editions and even
some manuscripts, does it omit whole paragraphs and
substitute others for them. Further, as this copy was
being made solely for the use of the Order, no
passages are omitted or altered in it because they
might be erroneously interpreted as illuministic. It
is true that P. Juan Evangelista is not, from the
technical standpoint, a perfect copyist, but,
frequently as are his slips, they are always easy to
recognize.
The Alcaudete MS. was found in the Carmelite priory
in that town by P. Andr�s de la Encarnaci�n, who
first made use of it for his edition. When the priory
was abandoned during the religious persecutions of
the early nineteenth century, the MS. was lost.
Nearly a hundred years passed before it was
re-discovered by P. Silverio de Santa Teresa in a
second-hand bookshop [and forms a most important
contribution to that scholar's edition, which
normally follows it]. It bears many signs of frequent
use; eleven folios are missing from the body of the
MS. (corresponding approximately to Book III,
Chapters xxii to xxvi) and several more from its
conclusion.
In the footnotes to the Ascent, the following
abbreviations are used:
A = MS. of the Discalced Carmelite Friars of Alba.
Alc. = Alcaudete MS.
B = MS. of the Benedictines of Burgos.
C = N.L.M., MS. 13,498.
D = N.L.M., MS. 2,201.
P = MS. of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Pamplona.
E.p. = Editio princeps (Alcal�, 1618).
Other editions or manuscripts cited are referred to
without abbreviation. |