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Acta Sanctorum: St. Titus Brandsma (July 27)

July 27, 2024

Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S.

July 27

St. Titus Brandsma

Life (1881-1942)

Titus was born Anno Sjoerd Brandsma on 23 February 1881. His family lived on a large farm at Oegeklooster in the Frisia region of Holland, an area where Catholicism was very strong. Anno was one of seven children, all but one of whom entered religious life. Just before Anno made his first Holy Communion at the age of eleven, he confided to his parents that he wanted to become a priest. He entered a junior seminary, run by Franciscans, the same year. However, at the age of seventeen, he did not begin his novitiate with the Franciscans, but the Carmelites in Boxmeer. Along with the Carmelite habit he was given the name Titus.

It became clear that Brother Titus was a gifted academic and after being ordained priest in 1905 he was sent for further studies in Rome. During this period he suffered some ill health which hampered his studies but he eventually gained his doctorate in Divinity in 1909 at the age of 28.

On returning to Holland, Titus taught philosophy to Carmelites in formation and began a life-long project to translate the works of St Teresa of Avila into Dutch. In 1923 he was appointed to teach philosophy at the new Catholic University of Nijmegen. His students recalled his wonderful sense of humour and how he always had time for them. Titus was appointed Rector Magnificus of the University in 1932. He also travelled around Europe and to the United States to speak about Carmelite mysticism. In 1935, he was appointed by the Dutch bishops as a chaplain and advisor to Catholic journalists. It was this appointment which would lead ultimately to his imprisonment and death.

The Nazi invasion of Holland took place on 10 May 1940. Their ruthless persecution of the Jews is well known. Titus defended the Jewish people, especially Jewish children who attended Catholic schools, and stated that “the Church in carrying out her mission makes no distinction between sex, race or people.” In late 1941, the Catholic press were ordered to carry advertisements on behalf of the Nazi party. The Catholic hierarchy asked Titus to intervene, which he did with great courage, writing to all editors of Catholic publications and pleading with them to defy the order. Someone betrayed him to the Nazi authorities.

He was arrested on 19 January 1942 and spent seven weeks at the prison in Scheveningen, before being transferred with a hundred other prisoners to Amersfoot concentration camp. He spent nearly two months there, before being sent back to Scheveningen for further questioning. The head of the secret police called Titus “that dangerous little friar.” When it became clear that Titus would not go against his conscience and give in to the demands of the Nazi party, he was sent to Dachau. He was in a part of the camp reserved for priests and religious, mainly Polish, and including a Carmelite brother. The physical labour, harsh living conditions and frequent beatings all took their toll on Titus who was already in delicate health. Towards the end of July he was taken to the camp ‘hospital’- in reality an experimental laboratory where he suffered more degrading treatment. Finally, on 26 July 1942, an SS nurse administered a fatal injection. She testified at the beatification process that Titus had given her his rosary, encouraging her to pray and saying that he would pray for her.

Titus was beatified by Pope St John Paul II on 3 November 1985 and canonized by Pope Francis on 15 May 2022.

Source: https://carmelitenuns.uk/saint-titus-brandsma/

Scripture. (2 Timothy 2:3-13)

Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him,
    we will also live with him;
if we endure,
    we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
    he will also disown us;
if we are faithless,
    he remains faithful,
    for he cannot disown himself.

Writings

(Year B). Jesus called Himself the head of the Mystical Body, of which we are the members. He is the vine, we are the branches. He laid Himself in the winepress and Himself trod it. He handed us the wine so that, drinking it, we might lead His life, might share His suffering. Whoever wishes to do My Will, let him daily take up his cross. Whoever follows me has the light of life. I am the way, He said. I have given you an example, so that as I have done so you may do also. And when His disciples did not understand that His way would be a way of suffering, He explained this to them and said, “Should not the Christ so suffer, in order to enter into His glory?”

Then the hearts of the disciples burned within them. God’s word had set them on fire. And when the Holy Spirit had descended on them to fan that divine fire into flame, then they were glad to suffer scorn and persecution, whereby they resembled Him Who had preceded them on the way of suffering.

The prophets had already marked His way of suffering; the disciples now understood that He had not avoided that way. From the crib to the cross, suffering, poverty and lack of appreciation were His lot. He had directed His whole life to teaching people how different is God’s view of suffering, poverty and lack of human appreciation from the foolish wisdom of the world. After sin, suffering had to follow so that, through the cross, man’s lost glory and life with God might be regained. Suffering is the way to heaven. In the cross is salvation, in the cross is victory. God willed it so. He Himself assumed the obligation of suffering in view of the glory of redemption. St. Paul makes it clear to us how all the disasters of this earthly life are insignificant, how they must be considered as nothing and passing, in comparison with the glory that will be revealed to us when the time of suffering is past, and we come to share in God’s glory.

Mary, who kept all God’s words in her heart, in the fullness of grace granted her, understood the great value of suffering. While the apostles fled, she went out to meet the Savior on the way to Calvary and stood beneath the cross, in order to share His grief and shame to the end. And she carried Him to the grave, firmly trusting that He would rise.

We object when He hands us the chalice of His suffering. It is so difficult for us to resign ourselves to suffering. To rejoice in it strikes us as heroic. What is the value of our offering of self if we unite ourselves each morning only in word and gesture, rather than in thought and will, to that offering which we, together with the Church, make of Him with whom we are in the one body?

Jesus once wept over Jerusalem. Oh, that this day you had known the gift of God! Oh, that this day we might realize the value God has placed on the suffering He sends: He, the All-Good. (Writings)

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