The life of Titus
Brandsma began in the quiet countryside of Friesland, Holland, where he was
born on February 23, 1881, and ended some sixty years later on July 26, 1942,
in the notorious hospital of the Dachau concentration camp. Born Anno Brandsma,
he completed high school
Franciscans before entering the Carmelites in Boxmeer
in September of 1898, where he adopted his father's name, Titus. Titus showed interest in journalism and
writing, two activities which would occupy much of his time later on in life. Ordained
on June 17, 1905, and after further studies at the Roman Gregorian University.
The Archbishop of Utrecht appointed Titus as spiritual advisor to the staff
members of the Catholic newspapers in Holland; around the same time, the
policies of Adolf Hitler began to be
felt in Holland. These were criticized by Titus in his teaching and in the
press even after the Nazi occupation of Holland
and the open persecution of the Jews. Catholic hierarchy. Following the Church's refusal to print Nazi
propaganda in their newspapersand his personal delivery to Catholic editor of a
letter from the bishops ordering them not to comply with Nazi orders to print
official Nazi publications Titus was arrested on January 19, 1942 at the
Boxmeer monastery and interned at Scheveningen and Amersfoort in Holland before
being sent to Dachau on June 19, 1942.
His constitution quickly deteriorated under the harsh regime, forcing him to
enter the camp hospital in the third week of July. There he became the subject
of biological experimentation, before being killed by lethal injection on July
26, 1942.
Living in Nazi
occupied Holland, being arrested and made a prisoner by the Nazis and,
eventually, being sent to die in the concentration camp of Dachau, were all
extreme circumstances which tested Titus’ commitment to peace and
reconciliation. His witness during these events offers us inspiration, concrete
examples of how he practiced what he preached, and models for us the presence
of faith in the most inhuman conditions.
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