Official Portal of Tourism. Junta de Castilla y Leon

Juan de Yepes, later known as Saint John of the Cross, was born in this church. The church, turned into a shrine, looks exactly as it did in the 17th century. Juan de Yepes was born in Fontiveros, but the exact date remains unknown because a FIRE destroyed the church register. When his father died, his mother moved to Arévalo and then to Medina del Campo.

He studied rhetoric, art and theology. He joined the Orden de Nuestra Señora del Carmelo (Carmelite Order) under the name of Fray Juan de San Matías. He met Santa Teresa and, together, they started the reform of the Order. By that time he was already known as Fray Juan de la Cruz (Brother John of the Cross).

In 1477 he was kidnapped by the Discalced Carmelites and kept captive for eight months. Every december 14th (the date of the saint's death, in 1591), several events are held in memory of the saint. He was canonized in 1726 and appointed Doctor of the Church in 1926.