Blessed Titus Brandsma (1881–1942)

Blessed Titus Brandsma (1881–1942) was a Dutch Carmelite priest and professor of philosophy vehemently opposed to Nazi ideology. Born in Bolsward, he was baptized Anno Sjoerd. He joined the Carmelites at eighteen, and wasgiven the religious name Titus. Ordained in 1905, he received a doctorate in 1909. He then taught in various schools in the Netherlands. He translated the works of Saint Teresa of Ávila into Dutch. One of the founders of the Catholic University of Nijmegen (now Radboud University), he taught philosophy and the history of mysticism. He later served as Rector. Fr. Brandsma also worked as a journalist and was the ecclesiastical adviser to Catholic journalists by 1935. It was his fight against the spread of Nazi ideology and for educational and press freedom that brought him to the attention of the Nazis. He was arrested in January 1942, when he tried to persuade Dutch Catholic newspapers not to print Nazi propaganda (as was required by law of the Nazi German occupiers). Brandsma was transferred in February 1942 to the concentration camp Dachau on June 13, after being held prisoner in Scheveningen, Amersfoort, and Cleves. He died on July 26, 1942, by a lethal injection administered by a doctor of the Allgemeine SS. Brandsma’s documentation on Middle Dutch mysticism was the basis for the current Titus Brandsma Institute in Nijmegen, dedicated to the study of spirituality. Titus Brandsma is honored as a martyr within the Roman Catholic Church. He was beatified in November 1985 by Pope John Paul II. His Feast Day is 27 July. In 2005, Titus Brandsma was chosen by the inhabitants of Nijmegen as the greatest citizen to have lived there.