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2014 - 2015
ST. JOHN BERCHMANS
Eldest son of a shoemaker, John was born at Diest, Brabant. He early wanted to be a priest, and when thirteen became a servant in the household of one of the Cathedral canons at Malines, John Froymont. In 1615, he entered the newly founded Jesuit College at Malines, and the following year became a Jesuit novice. He was sent to Rome in 1618 to continue his studies, and was known for his diligence and piety, impressing all with his holiness and stress on perfection in little things. He died there on August 13. Many miracles were attributed to him after his death, and he was canonized in 1888. He is the patron of altar boys. His feast day is November 26.
Early life
John Berchmans was born 13 March 1599, in the city of Diest situated in what is now the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The son of a shoemaker, his parents were John Charles and Elizabeth Berchmans. He was the oldest of five children and at baptism, was named John in honor of St. John the Baptist. He grew up in an atmosphere of political turmoil caused by a religious war between the Catholic and Protestant sections of the Netherlands. When he was age nine, his mother was stricken with a long and serious illness. John would pass several hours each day by her bedside. He studied at the Gymnasium at Diest and worked as a servant in the household of Canon John Froymont at Malines in order to continue his studies.[1] John also made pilgrimages to the sanctuary of Scherpenheuvel, a few miles from Diest.
Call to the Society of Jesus
In 1615, the Jesuits opened a college at Malines (Mechelen) and John Berchmans was one of the first to enroll. Immediately, when he entered, he enrolled in the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin. When John wrote his parents that he wished to join the Society of Jesus, his father hurried to Mechelen to dissuade him and sent him to the Franciscan convent in Mechelen. At the convent, a friar who was related to John, also attempted to change his mind. Finally as a last resort, John's father told him that he would cease all financial support if he continued with his plan. Nevertheless, on 24 September 1616, John Berchmans entered the Jesuit novitiate. He was affable, kind, and endowed with an outgoing personality that endeared him to everyone. He requested after ordination to become a chaplain in the army, hoping to be martyred on the battlefield. On 25 September 1618, he made his first vows and went to Antwerp to begin the study of philosophy. After only a few weeks, he set out for Rome, where he was to continue the same study. After journeying three hundred leagues by foot, with his belongings on his back, he arrived at the Roman College to begin two-years of study. He entered his third year class in philosophy in the year 1621. His grave at the Sant'IgnazioLater, in August 1621, the prefect of studies selected John Berchmans to participate in a discussion of philosophy at the Greek College, which at the time was under the charged to the Dominicans. John opened the discussion with great clarity and profoundness, but after returning to his own quarters, was seized with the Roman fever. His lungs became inflamed and his strength diminished rapidly. He succumbed to dysentery and fever on 13 August 1621, at age twenty-two years and five months. When he died, a large crowd gathered for several days to view his remains before burial in Sant'Ignazio Church, and to invoke his intercession. That same year, Phillip-Charles, Duke of Aarschot, sent a petition to Pope Gregory XV to gather information with the intent of beatification of John Berchmans.
Spirituality
St. Aloysius of Gonzaga was his spiritual model and he was influenced as well by the example of the Jesuit English martyrs. It was his realistic appreciation for the value of ordinary things, a characteristic of the Flemish mystical tradition, that constituted his holiness. He had a special devotion to the Mother of God; and to him is owed the Little Rosary of the Immaculate Conception.
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