Saint John of the Cross: Dark Night of the Soul

The Dark Night of the Soul – or to give it its original title, simply ‘Dark Night’ - is a 16th century work by the Spanish Christian mystic, Saint John of the Cross. John was born into a poor family in 1542 (his father had married below his ‘station’ for love, and was disowned by his parents). John’s father died when he was three, and his mother, fearing starvation, relocated, and got her son a place in a school for underprivileged boys.