The life of Saint John of Avila

Saint John of Avila became a very influential man in Spain during the 16th century, being the reference point for great historical figures and leaving a notable mark in Granada. For this reason, today we bring together in this article the life of Saint John of Avila, his career and his work.

Would you like to know the most important milestones of Saint John of Avila? Stay and read our post, we will show you everything you need to know below!

Childhood and priestly formation

Saint John of Avila was born in 1499 into a Christian family in the town of Almodóvar del Campo, located in Ciudad Real. During his childhood and adolescence he received a Christian education and began to study law at the University of Salamanca, leaving these studies without completing them after the fourth year to return home and lead a secluded life dedicated to prayer.

Later, in 1520, he attended the University of Alcalá to study Arts and Theology, where he became friends with important figures such as Domingo de Soto, Pedro Guerrero and the archbishop of Granada. He was ordained a priest in 1526.

Exercise of the priesthood

As his parents died before he could celebrate his first mass, he decided to celebrate this event by inviting 12 poor people to eat and selling all his possessions in order to help the most needy and focus on evangelisation.

In this way, he devoted himself to preaching in his hometown and the surrounding towns until he travelled to Seville to offer himself as a missionary in America and become an evangeliser in the New World. However, he did not finally gain access to the American continent, but he did organise popular missions and visited schools, hospitals and prisons to help and pass on his prayers.

Prosecuted by the Inquisition

Between 1531 and 1533, St. John of Avila experienced a bad period as a result of a denunciation of suspicious doctrine, which led to his being tried by the Inquisition and imprisoned.

St John of Avila did not want to defend himself against the charges against him, despite the fact that many of his friends warned him of the seriousness of the situation.

However, after this period, he was acquitted and this experience became a recurring theme in his evangelising and spiritual activity.

Preacher and missionary

St. John of Avila chose to travel to Cordoba in 1535, organising preaching in the villages of the area and creating study centres for the formation of the clergy. It was during this period that he met Fray Luis de Granada, with whom he struck up a great friendship.

He tried to improve the education of those preparing to become priests, while at the same time reforming the Church to achieve greater holiness for clergy, religious and faithful.

In 1936 he went to Granada at the request of Archbishop D. Gaspar de Ávalos. Gaspar de Ávalos and, through his prayers in the hermitage of San Sebastián, he obtained the conversion of Juan Cidade, a former soldier who at that time was an itinerant bookseller and who is now known as San Juan de Dios (Saint John of God). Thus, in the city of Granada he formed his most distinguished group of disciples.

After travelling around Andalusia and Extremadura praying and preaching, in 1544 he retired to Montilla (Cordoba) when he fell ill and died in May 1569.

Works of Saint John of Avila

Finally, in order to get to know the life of Saint John of Avila, we could not forget to mention his great works.

It is worth noting that wherever St. John of Avila went, he built a foundation, a school or a centre of studies, with the University of Baeza (Jaén) being of particular note.

In addition, during his time in prison, he wrote the first version of his best known work, the treatise on the spiritual life Audi, filia. He was also responsible for writing the famous Memoriales for the Council of Trent and is the author of the Tratado del amor de Dios (Treatise on the love of God).

As we have seen throughout this post, the work of St. John of Avila was a reform for the Church and, in addition, the quality of his theological doctrine has made him known as a priestly master, transmitting spiritual messages that still continue to permeate our society.

What did you think of our article on the life of Saint John of Avila? Would you like to learn more about this great preacher? 

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