Invitation to the Second Biennial Congress of the Titus Brandsma Circle

Rome, November 27-29, 2025

Registration is open for participants of the next congress of the Titus Brandsma circle. Please register via our website: https://titusbrandsmacircle.org

Please find the program here. It is also available on our website:

https://titusbrandsmacircle.org/program-congress-2025/

The fee for the conference, your stay in Instituto Maria SS. Bambina, the meals which are mentioned in the program, the tours, including transfer and entrance, coffee and tea comes to € 590 / US$ 670 for members of the Titus Brandsma Circle who paid their contribution this year and € 640 / US$ 727 for those who are not members or who did not pay their contribution.

Please transfer your conference fee to the following bank account:

Istituto per le Opere di Religione, Cortile Sisto V – 00120 – Città del Vaticano, giving TITUS BRANDSMA CIRCLE, account number 12918060, IBAN:  VA62001000000012918060, BIC: IOPRVAVX or IOPRVAVXXXX.

Please transfer half of the full amount, that is € 295.00 / € 320.00 by the middle of June at the latest. The other half of the full amount can be transferred at the end of September.  

The membership fee for the Titus Brandsma circle is €50.00 or US$50.00 for Europe and North America. The fee for members in Asia, Africa, and South America is €40.00. There is a €10 or US$10 discount for members of the Order.

Titus Brandsma Congress November 27-29, 2025

Program 

November 27, 2025  (Chair Giovanni Grosso)

8.30 – Morning Prayer  (Januarius Elijah Mutinda)

9.15 – Lectures. (20 minutes each, discussion in between) – Sala Luciani

• Word of Welcome (Fernando Millán Romeral)
• Titus Brandsma and the Liberating Power of Truth in John 8:32 (Lester Hallig)
• Titus Brandsma, the Resistance Fighter (Anne-Marie Bos)
• Journalists Ask for an Additional Patron Saint (Emmanuel van Lierde)

11.00 – Coffee / Tea

11.30 – Lectures. (20 minutes each, discussion in between)

• Titus Brandsma and Animal Protection (Michael Plattig)
• A Contemplative Prophetic Brotherhood in the Midst of the People: Titus Brandsma and the Elian Prophetic Dimension of the Carmelite Charism (Francis Lefani Mwanza)
• Mysticism and the Everyday: Titus Brandsma and the Search for God in the Contemporary World (Bruno Schröder – online)

13.00 – Lunch

14.00 – Free Time 

16.00 – Coffee / Tea at CISA (Centro Internationale San Alberto)

16.30 – Tour through the Archive and the Library (Giovanna Brizi / Giovanni Grosso)

18.00 – Free Time

November 28, 2025 (chair Michael Plattig)

8.30 – Morning Prayer  (Januarius Elijah Mutinda)

9.30 – Lectures (20 minutes each, discussion in between) – Sala Luciani

• Titus Brandsma and Soreth (Patrick Mullins)
• Titus Brandsma and the Journaal Ons Geestelijk Erf (Rob Faesen)
• What Concept and Image of God for today? Inspiration taken from Titus Brandsma’s Lecture On the Concept of God (Charlo Camilleri)

11.00 – Coffee / Tea

11.30 – Lectures (20 minutes each, in between discussion)

• Titus Brandsma: The Decolonizing Dimension of the Mission of the Dutch Carmelite Order to Malang-Indonesia within the Context of Colonization. (Edison Tinambunam)
• Societal Action Inspired by Titus Brandsma (Rico Ponce)
• A New Bibliography of and about Titus Brandsma (Henk Rutten – online)

13.00 – Lunch

15.30 – Coffee and Tea 

16.00 – Silvio Maestranzi: Le due croci /The two crosses (introduction to the film Fernando Millan Romeral)

19.00 – Free Time

November 29, 2025  (Chair Fernando Millán Romeral)

8.30 – Morning prayer  (Januarius Elijah Mutinda)

9.30 – Lectures (20 minutes each, discussion in between) – Sala Luciani

• Titus Brandsma as a Carmelite Retreat Leader (Sanny Bruijns)
• The Poetry of St Titus Brandsma – An Underappreciated Part of His Oeuvre? (Marcin Polkowski)
• Titus Brandsma and Marian Spirituality in Rome: Santa Maria Antiqua and the Catacombs of Priscilla (Giovanni Grosso)

11.00 – Coffee / Tea

11:30 – Network Titus Brandsma Circle: Report of the Bursar, Elections of the President, Bursar, and Secretary by the Members of the Titus Brandsma Circle, Plans for the Next Congress in 2027 (Christian Körner, Fernando Millán Romeral)

12.30 – Break out groups

13.00 – Lunch

15.00 – Tour of the Catacombs of Priscilla (Giovanni Grosso)

19.00 – Eucharist 

20.00 – Dinner at Maria Bambina

Departure from Maria Bambina, Rome on November 30, 2025, no later than 9:30 a.m.