The Life of St. John Berchmans
Born in 13 March,1599 in Diest, a town of northern Belgium. Saint John Berchmans was
the oldest of five children. Two of his three brothers became priests, and his father, after the
death of St. John’s mother, entered the religious life and became a Canon of Saint Sulpice.
St. John’s character was always upbeat, and joyful, and he was loved by all around him. At
the young age of seven, St. John would wake up early to serve at daily mass two to three
times a day, always listening attentively to the sermons his Parish Priest gave.
John was also a brilliant student, manifesting also a piety which far exceeded the average.
Starting at the age of seven, he studied for three years at the local school with an excellent
professor. His father, wanting to protect the religious vocation evident in his son, confided
him to a Canon of Diest who lodged students aspiring to the religious vocation. After three
years, the family’s financial situation had declined, owing to the long illness of John’s
mother, and he was told he would have to return home and learn a trade. He pleaded to
be allowed to continue his studies. And his aunts, who were nuns, found a solution through
their chaplain; he proposed to take John into his service and lodge him.
Saint John was at first, below average in his classes at the “large school,” a sort of minor
seminary, where he sometimes had to double his efforts in order to rejoin his fellow students,
all of whom had excellent talent, sometimes preceding him for a year or more in an assigned
discipline. Nonetheless, as time went on he proved himself to be very intelligent, and he
soon excelled in his studies. He often questioned his Superiors as to what was the most
right thing to say or do in various circumstances in which he often found himself. Later he
continued his studies at Malines, not far from his hometown, Diest, under the guidance of
another ecclesiastic, who assigned to him the supervision of three young boys of a noble
family. In all that John did,he sought perfection, and he never encountered anything but the
highest favor for his services, wherever he was placed.
Towards the end of his rhetoric course, he felt a distinct call to the Society of Jesus, and on
the 24th of September, 1616, he was received into the novitiate at Mechlin. As a novice he
taught catechism to the children in the regions around Malines. He made his instructions
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