John of Ávila | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byEl Greco (1580) | |
| Priest,Doctor of the Church andApostle ofAndalusia | |
| Born | 6 January 1499 Almodóvar del Campo,Kingdom of Toledo,Crown of Castile |
| Died | 10 May 1569(1569-05-10) (aged 70) Montilla,Kingdom of Córdoba, Crown of Castile |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 12 November 1893 byPope Leo XIII |
| Canonized | 31 May 1970 byPope Paul VI |
| Majorshrine | Church of the Incarnation Montilla,Córdoba, Spain |
| Feast | 10 May |
| Patronage | Andalusia, Spain Spanishsecular clergy |
| Influenced | Teresa of Ávila,John of God,Francis Borgia,Louis of Granada |
John of Ávila (Spanish:Juan de Ávila; 6 January 1499[1]– 10 May 1569) was aSpanishpriest,preacher,scholastic author, and religiousmystic, who has beendeclared asaint andDoctor of the Church by theCatholic Church. He is called the "Apostle ofAndalusia", for his extensive ministry in that region.
He was born inAlmodóvar del Campo, in the modern-dayProvince of Ciudad Real, to Alfonso de Ávila, of Jewishconverso descent, and Catalina Xixón (orGijón), a wealthy and pious couple.[2][3][4] At the age of fourteen, in 1513, he was sent to theUniversity of Salamanca to study law; he withdrew in 1517, however, without receiving a degree.[5]
Returning home, Ávila spent the next three years in the practice of austere piety. His sanctity impressed aFranciscanfriar journeying through Almodóvar, on whose advice he resumed his studies by matriculating at the University ofAlcalá de Henares (which was moved to the national capital in the 19th century and renamed theComplutense University of Madrid). There he undertook the study of philosophy and theology, in which he was fortunate to have as his teacher the notedDominican friarDomingo de Soto. It appears that Ávila earned his bachelor's degree during his years at Alcalá and then left without completing requirements for the licentiate degree.[5]
Both his parents died while Ávila was still a student, and after hisordination in spring 1526, he celebrated his firstMass in the church where they were buried. He then sold the family property and gave the proceeds to the poor. He saw in the severing of natural ties a vocation to foreign missionary work and prepared to go to Mexico. He therefore traveled toSeville to await departure for the Indies in January 1527 with the Dominican friar,Julián Garcés, appointed the firstBishop of Tlaxcala. While waiting in Seville, his unusually great devotion in celebratingMass, and his skills in catechesis and preaching, attracted the attention of Hernando de Contreras, a local priest, who mentioned him to theArchbishop of Seville andInquisitor General,Alonso Manrique de Lara. The archbishop saw in the young cleric a powerful instrument to stir up the faith inAndalusia, and after considerable persuasion Juan was induced to abandon his journey to America.[5]
John seems to have lived in the initial years after 1526 in a small house in Seville with another priest, probably Contreras, and disciples gathered around him, in a loosely structured fraternal life. It was at the request of the younger sister of one of these disciples, Sancha Carrillo, that he began in 1527 to write theAudi, filia (Listen, Daughter), a work he continued expanding and editing until his death.[5]
John's first sermon was preached on 22 July 1529, and immediately established his reputation. During his nine years of missionary work in Andalusia, crowds packed the churches at all his sermons. However, his strong pleas for reform and his denunciation of the behaviour of thearistocracy meant that he was denounced to the office of the Inquisition inSeville in 1531, and put in prison in the summer of 1532. He was charged with exaggerating the dangers of wealth and with closing the gates of heaven to the rich. The charges were refuted and he was declared innocent and released in July 1533.[6]
Around the end of 1534 or the beginning of 1535, John of Ávila wasincardinated into theDiocese of Córdoba, from which he received a smallbenefice. This city became his base for directing his disciples and moving around Andalusia, preaching and establishing schools and colleges in various neighbouring cities such asGranada,Baeza,Montilla andZafra. It is thought that during this time Ávila received the title ofMaster of Sacred Theology, probably inGranada around 1538.
Of special importance was theUniversity of Baeza, established in 1538 by apapal bull ofPope Paul III.[7] Ávila served as its firstrector,[8] and it became a model for seminaries and for the schools of the Jesuits.[6]
Ávila stayed in Granada from 1538–9, where it appears some kind of community was taking shape. Likewise, during the years 1546 to 1555, John lived with about 20 disciples in Córdoba, making it seem that he intended to begin some kind of formal foundation of apostolic priests. However, the foundation and fast expansion of theJesuits meant that these ideas never came to fruition; from early 1551, when Ávila began to experience poor health, he began actively encouraging his disciples who so desired to join the Jesuits (around 30 in total seem to have joined).[9]
From early 1551 Ávila was in constant ill-health. He spent the last years of his life in semi-retirement in the town ofMontilla, in theProvince of Córdoba. He died there on 10 May 1569, and in accordance with his wishes was buried in that city, in the Jesuit Church of the Incarnation, which now serves as thesanctuary to his memory.[10]
The Spanish critical edition of 1970 presents Ávila's work in 6 volumes. These consist of two redactions he made of theAudi, filia, 82 sermons and spiritual conferences, a few Biblical commentaries, 257 letters (representing the period from 1538 until his death), several treatises on reform and other minor treatises. John wrote letters to prelates who consulted him, such as Pedro Guerrero,Archbishop of Granada, andJuan de Ribera andThomas of Villanova, botharchbishops of Valencia who were later canonised. He also wrote toIgnatius of Loyola,John of God andTeresa of Ávila.[citation needed]
Saint John of Ávila's works were collected atMadrid in 1618, 1757, 1792 and 1805; aFrench translation by D'Andilly was published atParis in 1673; and aGerman translation by Schermer in six volumes was issued atRegensburg between 1856 and 1881.[citation needed]
TheAudi, filia was translated into English in 1620.[11] A modern translation was published by the American scholarJoan Frances Gormley in 2006.[citation needed]
A selection of his letters, entitledSpiritual Letters, were translated into English in 1631, a facsimile edition of which was printed in 1970.[12]
Ávila's saintly reputation, as well as his efforts to reform the clergy, to establish schools and colleges, and to catechise the laity, were the inspiration for many later reformers. He is especially revered by theJesuits.[6] Their development in Spain is attributed to his friendship and support for theSociety of Jesus.[6]
There is a church inAlcalá de Henares dedicated to him:St. John of Ávila Parish Church.[13] The schoolColegio Maestro Ávila inSalamanca is named after him.[14]
Ávila was declaredVenerable byPope Clement XIII on 8 February 1759. He wasbeatified byPope Leo XIII on 15 November 1894, and the cause for his canonization was opened on 14 March 1952.[15] On 31 May 1970 he wascanonized byPope Paul VI.
Pope Benedict XVI named him aDoctor of the Church on 7 October 2012, theFeast of the Holy Rosary.[16] The proclamation of the two new Doctors of the Church was made by Pope Benedict before tens of thousands of people inSt. Peter's Square.[17] During hishomily, Pope Benedict said that John of Ávila was a "profound expert on the sacred Scriptures, he was gifted with an ardent missionary spirit. He knew how to penetrate in a uniquely profound way the mysteries of the redemption worked by Christ for humanity. A man of God, he united constant prayer to apostolic action. He dedicated himself to preaching and to the more frequent practice of the sacraments, concentrating his commitment on improving the formation of candidates for the priesthood, of religious and of lay people, with a view to a fruitful reform of the Church".[18]
According to theApostolic letter for the proclamation to Doctor of the Church, John of Ávila explained that "Christian spiritual life, as a participation in the life of the Blessed Trinity, begins with faith in the God who is Love, is grounded in God's goodness and mercy as expressed in the merits of Christ, and is wholly guided by the Spirit". More than a venerable professor, "Father Master Avila" was primarily a preacher and closely friend ofIgnatius Loyola. John of Ávila authored a "prayerful and sapiential" theology, based on the "primacy of Christ and of grace in relation to the love of God, for which he showed "a profound knowledge of the Bible", without setting forth a systematic synthesis.[19]
TheCongregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments fixed hisoptional memorial as 10 May.[20]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Bl. John of Avila".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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