Titus Brandsma
| Blessed Titus Brandsma, O.Carm. | |
|---|---|
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| Religious, priest and martyr | |
| Born |
23 February 1881 Oegeklooster, Friesland, Netherlands |
| Died | 26 July 1942 (aged 61) Dachau concentration camp, Bavaria, Germany |
| Venerated in |
Roman Catholic Church (Carmelite Order and the Netherlands) |
| Beatified | November 3, 1985 by Pope John Paul II |
| Major shrine | Titus Brandsma Memorial, Nijmegen, Netherlands |
| Feast | 27 July |
| Patronage | Catholic journalists, tobacconists, Friesland |
Titus Brandsma, O.Carm. (23 February 1881 - 26 July 1942), was a Dutch Carmelite friar, Catholic priest and professor of philosophy. Brandsma was vehemently opposed to Nazi ideology and spoke out against it many times before the Second World War. He was imprisoned in the infamous Dachau concentration camp, where he died. He has been beatified by the Catholic Church as a martyr of the faith.
He was born Anno Sjoerd Brandsma to Titus Brandsma (died 1920) and his wife Tjitsje Postma (died 1933) at Oegeklooster, near Hartwerd, in the Province of Friesland, in 1881. His parents, who ran a small dairy farm, were devout and committed Catholics, a minority in a predominantly-Calvinist region. With the exception of one daughter, all of their children entered religious orders.
As a young boy, Brandsma did his secondary studies in the town of Megen, at a Franciscan-run minor seminary for boys considering a priestly or religious vocation.
Brandsma entered the novitiate of the Carmelite friars in Boxmeer on 17 September 1898, where he took the religious name Titus (in honor of his father) by which he is now known, and professed his first vows in October 1899.
Ordained a priest in 1905, Brandsma was knowledgeable in Carmelite mysticism and was awarded a doctorate of philosophy at Rome in 1909. He then taught in various schools in the Netherlands. From 1916 on, he initiated and led a project to translate the works of St. Teresa of Ávila into Dutch.
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