Tridentine Passions: The Cult of Iberian Saints in Counter-Reformation Spain and Martyrdom Motifs in La noche oscura by San Juan de la Cruz

Abstract The imagery in San Juan’s poem La noche oscura has been variously attributed to religious (Christian and Jewish), secular, classical, and popular influences. This article examines the poem in context of the Iberian martyrs’ cult in Tridentine Spain, arguing that the source of motifs and tropes of the secretive night flight and the mystical union with the divine can be traced to the vitae of female martyrs disseminated and promoted during the reign of Philip II (1556–98). The intense intertwining of ascetic and erotic motifs in the poem illustrates San Juan’s skillful balancing of Counter-Reformation exigency for popular piety with humanistic mystical inquiry and points to the poem’s use in monastic education.