GIOVANNI di GESÙ-MARIA (Calaguritanus). – Carmelite mystical theologian, in the world Giovanni de S. Pedro y Ustarroz, born in Calahorra on 27 (?) January 1564, died at Montecompatri in 1615.
He studied at Salamanca and entered the reform of s. Teresa at the age of eighteen, in the celebrated novitiate of Pastrana. Ordained a priest in 1590, the following year he came to Italy, to the convent of Genoa. After the General Chapter of Cremona (1593), at which the Discalced Carmelites were separated from the Calced, forming a distinct Order, he became the first novice master at the novitiate then opened in Genoa. When, in 1598, Pope Clement VIII established the Italian Congregation of the Discalced, he came to Rome and became novice master at the convent of S. Maria della Scala. He distinguished himself by his exceptional ability as an educator and wrote several works for this purpose, which became traditional manuals within the Order: Istruzione dei novizi (1589), Disciplina claustrale (1598), Istruzione del maestro dei novizi (1607). He was a man whose counsel was highly sought by many ecclesiastical figures; he was a great friend of Bellarmino. After serving as superior general of the Order (1611–14), he withdrew into solitude at Montecompatri. His body is preserved there incorrupt.
A writer of outstanding merit, his works had the distinction of being published in collected editions three times: in 1622 and 1650 at Cologne; in 1772–74 at Florence (Ven. P. F. Joannis a J. M. Opera omnia... illustrata per P. F. Ildefonsum a S. Aloysio). In them he appears as an exegete, spiritual writer, educator, and classical Latin poet. In the field of mysticism he left us a Theologia mystica (1607), written in Latin, a gem of profound and precise doctrine; in it traditional teachings and notions meet the experience of s. Teresa. It went through many editions, including a recent one (Fribourg in Br. 1912). His Scuola di orazione, contemplazione, ecc., written in Italian (1610), is a small compendium of spiritual doctrine in catechetical form. The precision of its concepts makes it extremely useful.