Obedient Son of God
On Friday the 26th of November, we will be celebrating a special Mass in honor of St. Jan Berchmans, S.J. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of this little-known Belgian saint, patron of students. The Mass will be held at 12 p.m. together with the Ursuline Sisters at their chapel on via Nomentana, just behind the Casa Balthasar.
Jan was born in 1599 in the village of Diest in Brabant. In 1612 he began classical studies at Malines, where in 1616 he was accepted into the Company of Jesus. In 1618 he was invited to Rome for ecclesiastical studies; after a brief illness he died on the 13th of August, 1621. He was much loved by all who knew him for his ardent piety, genuine charity and ceaseless good cheer. He was canonized in by Pope Leo XIII in 1888.