November 26
Saint John Berchmans had long admired the English Jesuit martyrs, and he had a special devotion to Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, another young Jesuit who died while helping others. In the Jesuit novitiate, John was described as affable, kind, and outgoing. He had a special devotion to Mary. But is this enough to be considered for sainthood? Saint John Berchman’s great gift was valuing ordinary things and ordinary events. He did ordinary things to the best of his ability and has been called the saint of daily life.
Though he was known for valuing the ordinary, a healing miracle is attributed to him, in the United States. In 1866, in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, Mary Wilson was a 17-year-old preparing to be a Religious of the Sacred Heart sister. She was brought to Louisiana from Canada in hopes that the warmer climate would heal her of cancer. But she continued to fail and was taken to the infirmary. The sisters prayed a novena (nine days of prayer) to Blessed John Berchmans, in hopes that he would intercede for her and that she might be healed. On the ninth day of the novena, Blessed John Berchmans appeared to Mary and cured her of her fatal illness. This miracle eventually led to the canonization of John Berchmans as a saint. A chapel was built as a shrine for Saint John Berchmans in the convent infirmary, on the exact spot where this miracle took place.
Saint John Berchmans may have had a special reason for sympathy for a sister-in-training. At the time of his death, he was a Jesuit-in-training, preparing for the priesthood in Rome. As he began his third year of studies in philosophy there, he was overtaken by malaria. He died on August 13, 1621, at the age of 22.
(Image © Zotan Katona, via Wikimedia Commons)