The Bishop of Segovia, Jesús Vidal, opened the Holy Door of the Convent of the Discalced Carmelites of Segoviathe year of the jubilee of Saint John of the Cross – in 2026, it will be 300 years since his death and 100 years since his canonization – which was … one of the places where the saint resided and which today preserves part of his remains in the tomb designed in 1927.
Vidal passed over in silence the figure of this “holy doctor of the Church who can make so much contribution to the current moment in the life of the Church and society”.
For the Bishop of Segovia, this anniversary will serve to “deepen his life, his teaching and constitutes a great opportunity for the entire diocese, shared with the dioceses of Ávila and Jaén, Ávila, Fontiveros, Duruelo and Úbeda, which will also have jubilee temples”.
The bishop gave the floor, to explain the context of the jubilee year, to the priest general of the order of Carmel, Father Miguel Márquez, who stressed that “the centenaries are an opportunity to renew the living presence of the saint, even if the saint is still alive every day of the year.”
The general of the order highlighted the importance of Saint John of the Cross throughout the Catholic city of the planet and, due to his experience in different seats of the order around the world, “the saint is very present throughout the world, in America, Africa and India”, he emphasized, “and if we say Segovia, Úbeda, says Caravaca in those countries, and people are moved, people vibrate with the saint, he feels very alive.”
Throughout 2026 There will be different jubilee events in the different temples which make up the religious life of Juan de la Cruz, and in Segovia the San Juanista Congress will take place in May, the order of which will give details in the coming weeks.
Furthermore, the priest general of Carmel underlined that the message of Saint John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church, is “a message of depth, of human and divine depth of the living presence of God”.
Márquez said that in the current moment of society, Saint John of the Cross provides “a precious message against polarization and against confrontation in the world, because he is the master of union, of communion”: “He teaches us to flee the trap of confrontation in which we are engaged.”
The opening ceremony of the Holy Door – the main access door to the monastery church – took place with the help of the Carmelite brothers of Segovia and other representatives of the rest of the monasteries of Spain, in addition to a large part of the cathedral chapter and the civil authorities of the city and province.
The act consisted of the reading of the Gospel by the priest and the request, three times, from the bishop, asking to open “the doors of Grace, the house of the just and the merciful, so that the presence of the Lord may be adored in his temple”.
About The Author
