Saint John of Ávila

Saint John of Ávila was a Spanish diocesan priest, preacher, and spiritual director, called the apostle of Andalusia and, since 2012, a Doctor of the Church. His liturgical memorial falls on May 10.

He was born on January 6 in Almodóvar del Campo, in the Diocese of Toledo; it is not known for certain whether the year was 1499 or 1500. He was the only son of Alonso Ávila and Catalina Gijón, wealthy and deeply believing parents. At fourteen he began studying law at Salamanca, but after a profound conversion he abandoned his studies and returned home to pray. In 1520, with the priesthood in mind, he began studying philosophy and theology at Alcalá de Henares.

In 1526 he was ordained a priest. He gave his inheritance to the poorest, because he wanted to go to Mexico as a missionary. While waiting in Seville for a ship, he preached there. The priest Fernando de Contreras, moved by his witness, saw to it that the Archbishop of Seville kept him in Andalusia. In 1531, because of a misunderstood sermon, John was unjustly accused before the Inquisition and imprisoned. In prison he began writing the first version of Audi, filia, and in those years he came to know with remarkable depth the mystery of God’s love and of redemption in Christ. In 1533 he was acquitted.

He then moved to the Diocese of Córdoba, and from 1536 he also worked in Granada. He lived in great poverty and traveled throughout Andalusia preaching Christ. He cared especially for the education of the young, above all of candidates for the priesthood. He founded colleges that became seminaries after the Council of Trent, and in 1538 Pope Paul III authorized him to found a university in Baeza. He was convinced that the Church could not be renewed without holiness in the clergy. When illness kept him from going to the Council of Trent, he wrote memorials that had a great influence on its deliberations.

He was a friend and counselor of many saints. Saint Ignatius of Loyola wanted him in the Society of Jesus; John did not enter the order, but he sent about thirty of his disciples to it. Listening to him, John Ciudad, later Saint John of God, was converted, and through him Saint Francis Borgia as well. Saint Teresa of Jesus went to great trouble to send him the manuscript of The Book of Her Life. His most important work is Audi, filia.

In poor health, in 1554 he settled for good in a modest house in Montilla, in the province of Córdoba, and from there carried on his apostolate mainly through letters. He died there on the morning of May 10, 1569.

Leo XIII beatified him in 1894, and in 1946 Pius XII named him patron of the diocesan clergy of Spain. Paul VI canonized him on May 31, 1970. On October 7, 2012, Benedict XVI proclaimed him, together with Saint Hildegard of Bingen, a Doctor of the universal Church. In 2021 his memorial was inscribed in the General Roman Calendar.