St. John of Ávila

From Law Student to Priest

St. John of Ávila was born on January 6, 1499 (some sources say 1500), at Almodóvar del Campo in the Spanish region of La Mancha, the only child of prosperous parents. Sent to Salamanca to study law, he abandoned it after a profound religious turning, spent three years in prayer and austerity at home, and then studied philosophy and theology at Alcalá under some of the leading minds of the Spanish Renaissance. Ordained a priest around 1526, and orphaned by then, he sold his inheritance and gave the proceeds to the poor.

Apostle of Andalusia and the Inquisition

He intended to sail as a missionary to Mexico, but the archbishop of Seville persuaded him that southern Spain, religiously neglected, needed him more. For the rest of his life he crisscrossed Andalusia as an itinerant preacher of extraordinary power, earning the title by which Spain still knows him: the Apostle of Andalusia. His blunt denunciations of the sins of the wealthy led to his denunciation to the Inquisition in 1531; imprisoned during the inquiry, he was fully acquitted in 1533, and in prison he began his spiritual classic Audi, filia ("Listen, O Daughter").

Guide of Saints and Reformer of Clergy

Few saints have shaped so many other saints. He guided the conversion of St. John of God and St. Francis Borgia, corresponded with and encouraged St. Teresa of Ávila, and formed a generation of priests through his letters, his preaching, and the colleges he founded — among them the University of Baeza — becoming one of the sixteenth century's great advocates of serious seminary formation and clerical reform, themes he pressed in memorials prepared for the Council of Trent.

Final Years at Montilla

Broken in health, he spent his last fifteen years in prayer, direction, and suffering at Montilla, where he died on May 10, 1569. Beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1894 and canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970, he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI on October 7, 2012. He is the patron of Spanish diocesan clergy, his feast is May 10, and his tomb in the basilica-sanctuary of San Juan de Ávila at Montilla remains a place of pilgrimage, especially for priests.

Significance

This Spanish priest gave up plans for the missions of Mexico and instead spent his life renewing the faith of his own neglected homeland. His preaching, letters, and colleges formed priests and guided future saints, and his writings carry the wisdom of a true spiritual director. As a Doctor of the Church and patron of Spanish diocesan clergy, he continues to call priests to holiness, sound formation, and courage in the pulpit.