John Berchmans, Belgian Jesuit scholastic and saint (d. 1621)
John Berchmans (Dutch: Jan Berchmans [jɑm ˈbɛr(ə)xmɑns]; 13 March 1599 – 13 August 1621) was a Jesuit scholastic and is a saint in the Catholic Church. In 1615, the Jesuits opened a college at Mechelen and Berchmans was one of the first to enroll. His spiritual model was his fellow Jesuit Aloysius Gonzaga, and he was influenced by the example of the English Jesuit martyrs. Berchmans is the patron saint of altar servers, Jesuit scholastics, and students.