John Vincent of Jesus Mary was born in Bérriz (Vizcaya – northern Spain) in 1862.
Of noble and austere Basque lineage of soldiers, educated in a family full of affection, while still a boy he broke away from everything and everyone to climb Mount Carmel.
His steps, one after the other, can only induce astonishment: an intelligent student and fervent novice, an ardent priest and paternal superior, a missionary in lands, then almost inaccessible, travelling on foot, in a canoe or on an oxen cart.
He was a scholar of Indian languages, prolific writer, compelling journalist, globetrotting mendicant, and, most importantly, a nocturnal adorer of the Eucharist and unceasing contemplative. A man of integrity and rigorous founder of a hermitage, quick off the mark with his perennial humour, he was an authentic son of Saint Teresa of Jesus.
He died at San Sebastian in 1943.
The decree on his heroic virtue was promulgated on the 12th of January 1996.
