The Ascent of Mount Carmel

This reprinting memorializes the translation of E. Allison Peers which was hailed at the time by the London Times as “the most faithful that has appeared in any European language.”

In 1926 Pope Pius XI praised the newest Doctor of the Church with an Apostolic Letter, proclaiming that Saint John of the Cross, “points out to souls the way of perfection as though illumined by light from on high, in his limpidly clear analysis of mystical experience. And although [his works] deal with difficult and hidden matters, they are nevertheless replete with such lofty spiritual doctrine and are so well adapted to the understanding of those who study them that they can rightly be called a guide and handbook for the man of faith who proposes to embrace a life of perfection.”

Likewise, the holy and venerable Bossuet emphatically claimed that the writings of Saint John of the Cross possess, “the same authority in mystical theology as the writings of Saint Thomas possess in Dogmatic Theology.”

“I have said that Christ is the Way, and that this Way is death to our natural selves, in things both of sense and of spirit, I will now explain how we are to die, following the example of Christ, for He is our example and light.”  + St. John of the Cross.