St. John of Ávila

Who they were

John of Ávila was the most consequential priest in Golden Age Spain, and the quietest way to prove it is the client list. It was under his preaching that St. John of God broke down in the square at Granada and began the life that founded the Brothers Hospitallers. It was his counsel that steadied St. Teresa of Ávila when her visions were under suspicion; she sent him her autobiography and treasured his verdict. Francis Borgia and Louis of Granada formed under his direction.

He was born of a converso family, of Jewish descent in the Spain of the blood statutes, and in 1531 he was denounced to the Inquisition and imprisoned while his preaching of God's mercy was examined. He was fully acquitted, and came out gentler and more sought after than before. His Audi, filia and his letters made him the era's master of spiritual direction, Spain named him patron of its diocesan clergy, and Benedict XVI declared him a Doctor of the Church in 2012.

Why people turn to St. John of Ávila

Spiritual directors, with St. Claude de la Colombière. Diocesan priests, whose patron he formally is, which makes his feast the day to pray for your own parish priest. Preachers, beside St. John Chrysostom.

How to ask their intercession

For your priest by name. And for anyone under a suspicion they do not deserve: his acquittal is half the patronage, and the gentleness afterward is the other half.