Next May 15, the Holy Father will preside over the canonization ceremony of Carmelite priest Titus Brandsma, who was killed in hatred of the faith in the Dachau death camp.

Born on February 23, 1881 in Wonseradeel, in northern Holland, the young Carmelite crowned his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University with a Baccalaureate, Licentiate and Doctorate in Philosophy (1907-1909). He later helped to found the Catholic University of Nijmegen, and worked there as a lecturer, professor, administrator and rector.

In addition to spirituality, Titus also cultivated an interest in journalism and publishing, becoming national spiritual advisor to the Union of Catholic Journalists in 1935. He encouraged opposition to the publication of Nazi propaganda in Catholic newspapers and the press in general, especially criticizing the anti-Semitism of the Reicht. Even after the Nazi occupation of Holland, he urged the bishops to oppose the persecution of Jews and the systematic violation of human rights by the occupiers.

Imprisoned by the Gestapo on January 19, 1942, he was finally interned in Dachau, subjected to biological experiments, and then killed by lethal injection on July 26, 1942. The Decree of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints concerning the miracle attributed to his intercession was published on 25 November.

 

(Young Titus during his studies in Rome. Photo courtesy
of the Office of Communications of the Carmelite Order)