St. John Berchmans

St. John Berchmans was born on 13 March 1599 at Diest in Brabant (in modern Belgium), the son of a shoemaker, and died on 13 August 1621 at Rome, aged only twenty-two. Devout and studious from boyhood, he entered the Society of Jesus and was sent to Rome to continue his studies for the priesthood, where he was known for his diligence, cheerfulness, and unfailing kindness to all around him.

He worked no dramatic wonders and founded nothing; his holiness lay in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well, taking as his motto that he would 'pay the greatest attention to the smallest things' and be faithful in every duty and rule. Worn out by study and a sudden fever, he died young, having lived his brief life with such evident perfection that devotion to him spread quickly. Canonized in 1888, he is honored as a patron of altar servers and of young students.