(C.D. Stampley Enterprises, Charlotte, NC 2001). Used with permission.

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For altar servers

St. John Berchmans (1599-1621)

Feast day: August 13

The patron of altar servers is St. John Berchmans who as a young boy volunteered everyday to serve two or three Masses.

John Berchmans was born in Diest in what is now Belgium. His father made his living as a shoemaker, but he was held in such high esteem by his neighbors that he was named a burgher, or member of the Diest town council.

Father Peter Emmerich, a monk of Tongerloo Abbey, was John’s first teacher and the most important influence on his religious development. He taught John how to write Latin verse, took him on pilgrimage to local shrines, and let the boy accompany him on visits to priests and prelates in the area.

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John enjoyed his studies and road trips with Father Emmerich, but acting was his passion. We are told that he gave a memorable performance in a production of Susanna and the Elders, a kind of Old Testament court room drama. John played the part of Daniel and brought real enthusiasm to his role as defended the innocent Susanna from her lecherous accusers.

By now John had expressed an interest in becoming a priest. The thought that their son had a vocation pleased John’s parents. They sent him to the pastor of Diest’s Church of Our Lady, where other boys were getting the rudiments of a clerical education.

When John was thirteen his father sat him down to deliver some bad news. The family had fallen on hard times; John would have to quit school and find work. But John became so downcast that his father instantly repented taking him out of school. He still had friends in the town, so he asked around to find some position that would enable his son to continue on the path to the priesthood.

The chaplain of the Diest Beguinage offered a solution to the Berchmans’ problem: John could work as a servant in the house of a canon of the cathedral of Mechlin. The boy would receive no pay, but he would be permitted to pursue his priestly studies, for free, at the cathedral school. John accepted the offer immediately.

For two years he juggled school work and house work. What might have worn out other boys made John blissfully happy. A decisive event occurred in 1615 when the Society of {ln:Jesus} opened a school in Mechlin. John met the Jesuits and was impressed by what he saw. Over the objections of the canon John transferred to the Jesuit school in 1616. John’s father was especially disappointed by the boy’s choice: if John had become a diocesan priest he would have had an income he could have used to help his family. As a Jesuit bound by a vow of poverty John would be of no use at all to the family finances.

John loved the rigorous life of the Jesuits, and he was delighted to find that the school staged sacred dramas. Among the Jesuits John developed a religious philosophy that would be made famous almost 200 years by St. Therese of Lisieux. “Prize little things most of all,” he used to say, and then set about the most mundane tasks as if they were the most important jobs in the world. Where other saints practiced extreme penances, John was satisfied if he followed the Jesuit Rule faithfully. Nor did he long for sublime mystical experiences: his favorite religious devotions were prayer before a crucifix and saying the rosary.

In 1616 news from home told John his mother had died and his father had entered the diocesan seminary. Eighteen months later John’s father was ordained a priest. John was about to go to Roman College for further study but he received permission from his superiors to visit his father before he left Belgium. Sadly the elder Berchmans died suddenly before John arrived.

In Rome John enjoyed a brilliant career as a student of philosophy, finishing the course in three years. Just before his final exams, his superiors asked John to participate in one of the public disputations that were a regular part of Jesuit life at the time. He performed so well he was appointed to the team of Jesuit students slotted to debate students from the Greek College.

The day after the disputation with the Greek College John fell ill with dysentery. A fever followed, then inflammation of the lungs. It became obvious to everyone at the Roman College that John Berchmans was dying. On August 11 the entire Jesuit community of the Roman College walked in procession to escort the Blessed Sacrament to John’s sick room. After he had received Holy Communion for the last time, he asked for the Last Rites.

The next day a steady stream of priests, laybrothers, and classmates paraded into John’s room to say good-bye. He died at 8:30 in the morning of August 13, 1621.

Immediately after his death, John Berchmans was hailed as saint in his home country. Engravers could not produce enough portraits of the young hero to meet demand. Within a few months of his death 24,000 copies of John Berchmans’ portrait had been sold just in the Low Countries. Although his youth, his down-to-earth piety, and his devotion to the Mass combined to make St. John Berchmans the patron of altar servers.

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Prayer to the saints is a powerful thing.

Now, with Saints for Every Occasion, readers can quickly find help for any challenge they face – no matter how large or small. Author Thomas J. Craughwell profiles 101 patron saints from various continents, cultures and times – from saints who were contemporaries of Christ, to modern patrons like Padre Pio and Faustina Kowalska. Each saint lived heroically in difficult times and circumstances, providing powerful examples of how to turn almost any obstacle into a source of grace. Along with old favorites such as St. Anthony and St. Jude, Craughwell offers patrons for specifically modern concerns, including, for example, saints to watch over astronauts, internet users and environmental activists. Beautifully illustrated and entertainingly told, Saints for Every Occasion features 101 patron saints readers will seek out time and again.

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