Dates

• Existence: 1599 March 13 - 1621 August 13

Biographical note

Born at Diest in Brabant in 1599, the son of a master shoemaker. He studied at Malines and there also he entered the Society of Jesus at the age of seventeen and was sent to Rome for his novitiate. His short life of twenty-two years was remarkable for the fidelity with which he kept the minutest points of regular observance. He was canonized in 1888, and is venerated as patron of young Mass-servers.

(paraphrased from The Book of Saints : A Dictionary of Persons Canonized or Beatified by the Catholic Church. 5th edition. New York: Crowell, 1966.)