"He soars on the wings of Divine love
"It is perhaps not an exaggeration to say that the verse and prose works
combined of St. John of the Cross form at once the most grandiose and the most
melodious spiritual canticle to which any one man has ever given utterance.
The most sublime of all the Spanish mystics, he soars aloft on the wings of
Divine love to heights known to hardly any of them. . . . True to the character of his
thought, his style is always forceful and energetic, even to a fault.
When we study his treatises—principally that great composite work known
as the
Ascent of Mount Carmel
and the
Dark Night
—we have the impression of a
mastermind that has scaled the heights of mystical science;and from their summit
looks down upon and dominates the plain below and the paths leading upward. . . .
Nowhere else, again, is he quite so appealingly human; for, though he is human
even in his loftiest and sublimest passages, his intermingling of philosophy with
mystical theology; makes him seem particularly so. These treatises are a wonderful
illustration of the theological truth that graced far from destroying nature, ennobles
and dignifies it, and of the agreement always found between the natural and the
supernatural—between the principles of sound reason and the sublimest
manifestations of Divine grace."
E. ALLISON PEERS
2
DARK NIGHT
OF THE SOUL
by
Saint John of the Cross
DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
THIRD REVISED EDITION
Translated and edited, with an Introduction,
by E. ALLISON PEERS
from the critical edition of
P. SILVERIO DE SANTA TERESA, C.D.
IMAGE BOOKS
A Division of Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Garden City, New York
3
IMAGE BOOKS EDITION 1959
by special arrangement with The Newman Press
Image Books edition published February 1959
1st printing January 1959
Electronic edition scanned by Harry Plantinga, 1994
This electronic text is in the public domain.
NIHIL OBSTAT: GEORGIVS SMITH, S.T.D, PH.D.
CENSOR DEPVTATVS
IMPRIMATVR: E. MORROGH BERNARD
VICARIVS GENERALIS
WESTMONASTERII: DIE XXIV SEPTEMBRIS MCMLII
4
TO THE
DISCALCED CARMELITES OF CASTILE,
WITH ABIDING MEMORIES OF THEIR HOSPITALITY AND KINDNESS
IN MADRID, ÁVILA AND BURGOS,
BUT ABOVE ALL OF THEIR DEVOTION TO
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS,
I DEDICATE THIS TRANSLATION
5
CONTENTS
PREFACE TO THE ELECTRONIC EDITION
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS
INTRODUCTION
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
PROLOGUE
BOOK I
CHAPTER I.—Sets down the first line and begins to treat of the imperfections of
beginners
CHAPTER II.—Of certain spiritual imperfections which beginners have with
respect to the habit of pride
CHAPTER III.—Of some imperfections which some of these souls are apt to have,
with respect to the second capital sin, which is avarice, in the spiritual sense
CHAPTER IV.—Of other imperfections which these beginners are apt to have with
respect to the third sin, which is luxury
CHAPTER V.—Of the imperfections into which beginners fall with respect to the
sin of wrath
CHAPTER VI.—Of imperfections with respect to spiritual gluttony
CHAPTER VII.—Of imperfections with respect to spiritual envy and sloth
CHAPTER VIII.—Wherein is expounded the first line of the first stanza, and a
beginning is made of the explanation of this dark night
CHAPTER IX.—Of the signs by which it will be known that the spiritual person is
walking along the way of this night and purgation of sense
CHAPTER X.—Of the way in which these souls are to conduct themselves in this
dark night
CHAPTER XI.—Wherein are expounded the three lines of the stanza
CHAPTER XII.—Of the benefits which this night causes in the soul
CHAPTER XIII.—Of other benefits which this night of sense causes in the soul
CHAPTER XIV.—Expounds this last verse of the first stanza
BOOK II
CHAPTER I.—Which begins to treat of the dark night of the spirit and says at what
time it begins
CHAPTER II.—Describes other imperfections which belong to these proficients
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]