St john berchmans biography of william

Remaining there only a few weeks, he set out for Rome, where he was to continue the same study.

St john berchmans biography of william: John spent one year in

After the journeying three hundred leagues on foot, carrying a wallet on his back, he arrived at the Roman College, he studied for two years and passed on to the third year class in philosophy in the year One day early in August of that same year he was selected by the prefect of studies to take part in a philosophical disputation at the Greek College, at that time under the charge of the Dominicans.

He opened the discussion with great perspicuity and erudition, but, on returning to his own college, he was seized with a violent fever of which he died, on 13 August, at the age of twenty-two years and five months. During the second part of his life, John offered the type of the saint who performs ordinary actions with extraordinary perfection. In his purity, obedience, and admirable charity he resembled many religious, but he surpassed them all by his intense love for the rules of his order.

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus lead those who observe them exactly to the highest degree of sanctity, as has been declared by Pope Julius III and his successors. The attainment of that ideal was what John proposed to himself. That is why he displayed such wisdom in conforming his will to that of his superiors and to the rules. He would have preferred death to the violation of the least of the rules of his order.

I will pay the greatest attention to the least inspiration of God. When he died, a large multitude crowded for several days to see him and to invoke his intercession. The same year, Phillip, Duke of Aerschot, had a petition presented to Pope Gregory XV for the taking of information with a view to his beatification.

St john berchmans biography of william: John Worsley had five

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St john berchmans biography of william: St. John Berchmans is the

He excelled in his studies and at the end of his third year he was selected to defend the entire course of philosophy in a public disputation. His health had suffered from the effort he had put into studying for his final exam, and he became steadily weaker as he prepared for the public disputation, held on July 8. He hoped to rest when it was over, but he was also selected to represent the Roman College at another disputation to be held in August at the Greek College.

The two events took too much out of his weakened condition. On Aug. When the superior saw how pale and weak Berchmans was, he sent him to the infirmary. The young Jesuit grew more ill day by day as his lungs became inflamed and he grew weaker and weaker.

St john berchmans biography of william: St. John Berchmans was born at

He spoke of Paradise as if he would soon be there when other scholastics came to visit. Nevertheless, he gave his son his blessing. His father gave up his shoemaking trade and entered the diocesan seminary. He was ordained a priest in April, Meanwhile, the young Berchmans developed a strong and deep spirituality based on faithful observance of the rules of religious life.

Apart from Aloysius Gonzaga, he was also inspired by the example of the English Jesuit martyrs who had spent some of their exile in Flanders. It was his down-to-earth appreciation for the ordinary things of life—a characteristic of the Flemish mystical tradition—which formed the basis of his spirituality. He had an approachable, kind and outgoing personality which made him attractive to all.

On 25 September,John made his first vows as a Jesuit and went to Antwerp to study philosophy—the next step in his formation. After only three weeks he was sent to Rome to continue his studies.