The Complete Works of St. John of the Cross - 3 Volume Set

Item Details:

3 Volume Set - Imrpimatur, 1933.

Volume 1 - General Introduction, Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night of the Soul. 486 page book.
Volume 2 - Spiritual Canticle & Poems. 470 page book.
Volume 3 - Living Flame of Love, Letters, Maxims & Documents. 470 page book.

Translated from the critical edition of P Silverio De Santa Teresa, C.D. and edited by E. Allison Peers.

This three-volume collection brings together the major writings of Saint John of the Cross, Carmelite mystic and Doctor of the Church, presenting his profound teaching on the soul’s journey toward perfect union with God. Beginning with The Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Dark Night of the Soul, Saint John describes the necessary purification of the senses and spirit, the detachment of the soul from created things, and the transforming work of faith, hope, and charity. What begins as an arduous passage through spiritual darkness is ultimately directed toward one purpose: freedom from all that hinders the soul from being united with God in love.

The journey continues in the Spiritual Canticle, where the imagery shifts from purification to the ardent love between the soul and Christ its Divine Spouse. Drawing upon the language and imagery of the Song of Songs, Saint John follows the soul through longing, spiritual betrothal, and finally spiritual marriage—the highest union attainable in this life. Volume II includes both principal redactions of the Spiritual Canticle as well as his collected poems, revealing the extraordinary poetry from which many of his mystical treatises developed.
The collection reaches its culmination in The Living Flame of Love, in which Saint John writes of the soul already transformed and deeply united with God, consumed yet perfected by Divine love. The final volume also gathers his practical and personal writings—including his Cautions, counsels on attaining perfection, spiritual sentences and maxims, surviving letters, historical documents, and extensive supplementary material. Together, these three volumes offer not merely a collection of separate works, but a remarkably complete vision of the mystical life: purification, longing, union, and transformation in the love of God.