Calle de San Juan de la Cruz

The man who signed as San Juan de la Cruz was really named Juan de Yepes Álvarez, and he came into the world in Fontiveros, in the province of Ávila, in 1542. He entered the Carmelite order and in 1567 crossed paths with Teresa of Ávila. From that meeting came a pact: to carry the Carmelite reform to men as well. In 1568 he opened at Duruelo the first male house of Discalced Carmelites, and that was the moment when Juan left his surname behind and called himself “de la Cruz.” His most extraordinary episode has a precise date. In December 1577 he was locked up in Toledo, where he spent more than eight months imprisoned among his own before escaping. From that cell came much of his poetry: there he composed the first draft of the Cántico espiritual and set down the early verses of Noche oscura del alma and Llama de amor viva. He died in Úbeda in 1591. Recognition came slowly: Pius XI named him Doctor of the Church in 1926, and in 1952 Pius XII proclaimed him patron of poets in the Spanish language. Calle de San Juan de la Cruz lies in La Guindalera; the date it was named is not documented.