John of the Cross
1542 — 1591 · Feast day: December 14
John of the Cross, a mystic and poet of the Spanish Counter-Reformation, was imprisoned in a tiny, windowless cell in Toledo for nine months for his zeal in reforming the Carmelite order. In that 'dark night,' he composed sublime mystical poetry and mapped the soul's painful purification toward the 'Living Flame of Love' — union with God.