Saint Titus Brandsma
Carmelite Feast Day July 27
Portrait of Titus Brandsma made in Dutch concentration camp at Amersfoort by a fellow prisoner
“Titus Brandsma was a Dutch Carmelite friar, Catholic priest and professor of philosophy. He delved into Carmelite history and brought his deep prayer practice to his studies at the Gregorian University in Rome and later, teaching assignments. In 1923, he helped Dutch bishops found a Catholic University in Nijmegen, Holland, where he later became rector.
Titus also cultivated his interest in journalism and publishing. In late 1935 he became the National Spiritual Adviser to the Union of Catholic Journalists. In this role, he encouraged opposition to the publication of Nazi propaganda in Catholic newspapers and in the Press generally. In 1940, German troops invaded Holland. By 1941, they had made it illegal for any priest or religious to direct a school or university; they were also placing severe limits on publishers. Titus remained an outspoken advocate for the Catholic press and religious freedom, and as a result was arrested in January 1942. He was transported to Dachau where his health quickly deteriorated. He was subjected to biological experimentation before being killed by lethal injection on July 26th, 1942. Before his execution, Titus had prayed that God might help the nurse who would administer the injection to repent of her actions in the camp. He also gave her his rosary beads. Some years later, that same woman came to a Carmelite priory seeking forgiveness and was a witness in the process for his beatification in 1985. Titus was canonized as a martyr on May 15, 2022.” SOURCE: www.carmelites.net and www.ocarm.org
“Nowhere else is God so near as in ourselves. There in the first place we must try to find and to see Him.” —Saint Titus Brandsma