August 13: Saint John Berchmans

A Joyful Young Man in the Service of God

A short, ordinary life, entirely dedicated in union with God through religious consecration in the spirit of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. A cheerful young man who desired, from a very young age, to serve the Lord more closely and fulfilled his vocation by achieving holiness in a few short years.

John (Jan) Berchmans was born into a humble family on March 12, 1599, in Diest, Flanders (present-day Belgium), the eldest of five children—his father was a shoemaker. Due to his mother’s serious illness, he was first entrusted to two aunts and later to a priest. After his mother’s death, John’s father later chose the religious life as well, becoming a priest, although he had initially opposed  his son’s vocation.

To be able to study, John worked as a servant for a canon of the Cathedral of Mechelen. Out of simple curiosity, he read the life of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, who had died only a few years earlier, and realized that this was the path God wanted for him.

In 1615 he entered the Society of Jesus. He professed his perpetual vows in 1618 and the following year he was sent to Rome to continue his studies in philosophy at the Roman College (now the Pontifical Gregorian University). However, after two years, he fell seriously ill and died in Rome on August 13, 1621, at just 22 years of age.

He was beatified by Pope Pius IX on May 9, 1865, and canonized by Pope Leo XIII on January 15, 1888.His body is preserved in Rome in the Church of Saint Ignatius, in the Chapel of the Most Holy Annunciation, while his heart is kept in the Jesuit church of Saint-Michel in Leuven, Belgium.