St John Berchmans 13 August Full Detail
St John Berchmans St. John Berchmans, SJ (Dutch: Jan Berchmans) (March 13, 1599 - August 13, 1621) was a scholastic Jesuit and a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the patron saint of the altars. John Berchmans was born on March 13, 1599, in the city of Diest, in the province of Flemish Brabant, son of a shoemaker. His parents were John Charles and Elizabeth Berchmans. He was the eldest of five children and was mentioned at the baptism of John in honour of St. John the Baptist. He grew up in an atmosphere of political turmoil provoked by a religious war between the Catholic and Protestant parties of the Netherlands. At the age of nine, her mother was struck by a very long and very serious illness. John went to bed several hours a day. He studied at Diest Gymnasium and worked as a servant in the house of Canon John Froymont in Mechelen to continue his studies. John also made pilgrimages to the altar of Mary of Scherpenheuvel, about 50 miles east of Brussels, but a f