**JOHN BERCHMANS, Saint.** — Born at Diest in the southern Brabant on 13 March 1599, from a distinguished but impoverished family, he was the eldest of five children, d.
at Rome on 13 August 1621. His mother, Elizabeth van den Hove, was a pious woman noted for her great virtues; his father, after the death of his wife (1617), became a priest and was canon of St Sulpice in Diest. John, in the home of Don Peter Emmerick, a Premonstratensian and curate of St Mary’s, made progress in his studies, distinguishing himself among his companions. Continuing his studies at the Jesuit schools in Malines (1613–15), he was beloved by his teachers and fellow pupils for the gentleness and modesty of his manners and the exemplary nature of his life. He felt called to greater perfection, and after reading the life of St Aloysius Gonzaga he resolved to follow his example, vowing to enter the Society of Jesus. Overcoming the objections of his relatives, he entered the novitiate at Malines in 1616.
Having made the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience privately by devotion in 1617, on 25 September 1618 he ratified them publicly. Sent to Antwerp, he learned of his father’s death (1618) and was assigned to continue his philosophical studies in Rome, where he arrived at the end of December 1618. Emulating St Aloysius at the Roman College, John stood out among the scholastics: punctilious in all things, utterly sincere, diligent in his studies and duties, he advanced rapidly along the spiritual path, following the community in all things and attaching the greatest importance to the smallest details, overcoming every regard for human respect. He received from God the gift of prayer and spiritual joy. His strength exhausted, he died after taking his degree in philosophy. Blessed John was the third Jesuit student to be canonised. He was declared Blessed by Pius IX in 1865 and canonised by Leo XIII on 15 January 1888. His relics are preserved in Rome in the church of St Ignatius, and his heart in the church of the Jesuit theological faculty at Louvain. His feast is celebrated on 26 November. He has been proclaimed, together with St Aloysius and St Stanislaus Kostka, patron of student youth.
Giovanni Bosco, Saint – Photograph by Schemboche, 1880.