Short answers, pulled from the story.
Juan de Yepes y Álvarez entered the world on the 24th of June 1542 in Fontiveros, a small town near Ávila with only about 2,000 residents. His family belonged to the Converso community, descendants of Jewish converts to Roman Catholicism who faced suspicion and hardship in 16th-century Spain.
On the night of the 2nd of December 1577 a group of Carmelite friars broke into John's dwelling in Ávila and seized him as a prisoner. He endured eight months of captivity involving public lashings, severe isolation, and a penitential diet while composing much of his most famous poem Spiritual Canticle before escaping through a window on the 15th of August 1578.
The first 31 stanzas of The Spiritual Canticle were composed during John's imprisonment in Toledo in 1578 before his escape. Another edition added more detail between 1585 and 1586 while The Dark Night likely emerged around 1578 or 1579 and Living Flame of Love appeared in two versions drafted at Granada between 1585 and 1586 and at La Peñuela in 1591.
His complete poems total fewer than 2,500 verses yet two specific works remain widely considered masterpieces of Spanish poetry due to their formal style rich symbolism and imagery. Scriptural images appear frequently throughout his writings with 1,583 explicit and 115 implicit quotations drawn directly from biblical texts.
John died on the 14th of December 1591 at Úbeda after falling ill following disagreements over leadership changes within the Discalced Carmelite Order. His initial burial occurred at Úbeda but superiors secretly moved his remains to Segovia in 1593 upon request from that monastery before a compromise eventually divided relics between San Juan de la Cruz and Segovia.