Ascent of Mount Carmel

Ascent of Mount Carmel is a spiritual treatise by 16th-century Spanish Catholic mystic St. John of the Cross. Originally written between 1578 and 1579, the text outlines the progress of the Soul to the summit of the metaphorical Mount Carmel, where it encounters God. Ascent of Mount Carmel is considered one of the greatest works in Christian Mysticism, showing how a lifestyle that favours abstinence of the worldly pleasures can lead to a union with Christ. The treatise was written after he escaped from prison, after being detained by a group known as the Carmelites, over the fact that John was in favour of reformation, and they were not. He was canonised by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726, and in 1926 he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI.