Displaying items by tag: Titus Brandsma

In August, the Carmelite Province of the Philippines awarded the Titus Brandsma Lifetime Achievement Award to Professor Napoleon Isabelo “Billy” Veloso Abueva. The award was given posthumously. Ms Amihan Abueva addressed the group on behalf of the Abueva Family.

Dr. Abueva is recognized as the Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture. His modernistic approach is apparent in the monumental character of his outdoor and public sculptures and the promotion of Philippine themes. Some of his sculptures include movable components. His prolific artwork began in the 1950s. He was very consistent in his support of the ideals and cause of St. Titus Brandsma for truth, free speech and free press, justice and peace. Dr. Abueva was a man of integrity, honor and faith.

Abueva designed and made the trophy which is presented to winners of the award. He has also designed a well-known bust of St. Titus.

The ceremony, which took place at the Titus Brandsma Center in Quezon City, began with a welcome from the prior provincial of the Philippine Province of St. Titus Brandsma, Rico Ponce. Carmelite Christian Buenafe, the executive director of the Titus Brandsma Media Center and Institute of Spirituality in Asia, made the introductions. Anne Marie Bos, a Carmelite from the Titus Brandsma Institute in Nijmegen, Netherlands, addressed the gathering. Angela Blardony Ureta, aO. Carm., the director of the Carmelite Center for Social-Pastoral Communication and member of the Titus Brandsma Award. Marc Jozsef Lester G. Hallig, O. Carm., acted as master of ceremonies.

The Titus Brandsma Award Philippines is the country’s version of the international Titus Brandsma Award. In 1999 the Carmelites, along with the Titus Brandsma Media Center, established the award. The first award was given the following year. The award is given to professionals in media and educators and then was expanded to include leadership in journalism, culture and the arts, press freedom, among other areas.

From October 3 to 6, the first congress of the newly established Titus Brandsma Circle was held at Radboud University. Approximately 70 people from 17 countries took part. The program of the congress can be seen here [https://www.ru.nl/en/about-us/events/titus-brandsma-congress]. 

The Congress is part of the major project to publish the Collected Works of Titus Brandsma in seven volumes that Dr Elisabeth Hense, Associate Professor for Spirituality at Radboud University, is leading in collaboration with Joseph Chalmers S.T.L. 

The project is funded by Radboud University and the British and Irish Provinces of the Carmelites as well as the General Council of the Carmelites in Rome. 

Dr Elisabeth Hense organized the Congress in collaboration with Prof. Michael Plattig and Dr Edeltraud Klueting, both members of the German Carmelite Institute. The proceedings of the Congress will be published in the series of the German Carmelite Institute at Aschendorff.

The conference included talks by experts on the various facets of Brandsma’s life as well as a broader look at Dutch mysticism, Eastern mysticism, National Socialism, Carmelite Spirituality, and the Carmelite Rule.

The days also included a tour of the Carmelite monastery in Boxmeer where Brandsma made his novitiate. Today it houses the Dutch Provincial Archives and the Dutch Carmelite Institute. There was also a walk around the extensive Radboud University campus and “in the footsteps” of Titus Brandsma around the city of Nijmegen.

One night the composer Willibrord Huisman, Hendrik Jan Bosman, and a local choir performed works honoring the life and spirituality of Brandsma at the Titus Brandsma Memorial in Nijmegen.

The opening session was held in the theater in the Elinor Ostrom Building on the campus. There was an opening address by the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, followed by presentations on “The Meaning of Titus Brandsma for the Dutch Church” by Bishop Gerard de Korte, bishop fo Den Bosch; “The Meaning of Titus Brandsma for the Carmelite Order” by the prior general of the Order, Míceál O’Neill; and “The Meaning of Titus Brandsma for the Dutch Carmelite Province” by Huub Welzen, the prior provincial of the Dutch Province. Between presentations, music was provided by composer Chris Fictoor and a clarinettist and 4 choral signers.

The evening concluded with a social hour in the campus bar/cafeteria.

Each day began with morning prayer in the University Chaplaincy. On the final day the members celebrated a Eucharist together led by the prior general. A festive meal followed at a local restaurant.

A new group is forming to promote continuing research into the life of Carmelite Saint Titus Brandsma. The group was formally introduced at the end of the conference on Titus Brandsma held at Radboud University in Nijmegen October 3-6, 2023.

The Circle is inviting all scholars interested in research on Titus Brandsma from around the world to join. Members will receive information about research being conducted and invitations to its congresses.

Fernando Millán Romeral, O. Carm., from Comillas University in Madrid, has been appointed the first president. Christian Körner, O. Carm., general bursar of the Carmelite Order, will serve as treasurer. Elisabeth Hense, T.O. Carm. will be the secretary.

The membership fee 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. Deadline for joining is November 11, 2023.

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Since July 2022, the Carmelites in the Philippines have sponsored a yearlong pilgrimage of the relics of St. Titus Brandsma. The pilgrimage was the result of a decision of the previous provincial council to promote the life of the Carmelite saint to the people of the nation. The relics made more than 90 stops during the year. Although the designated year finished, dioceses are still contacting the province to ask for the relics to visit them.

Each Carmelite community has received a relic of St Titus from the postulator general’s office in Rome, allowing each to foster their own program of evangelization of St. Titus. The traveling relic is in a reliquary which in turn is inside an urn. The pilgrimage is self-sustaining. The cost of transportation as well as the cost for accommodations for those accompanying the relics 

“The relics went from one parish to another, from one monastery to another, from one diocese to another, from one island to another,” said Fr. Esmeraldo Reforeal, O. Carm., the national coordinator of the tour. “We traveled by car, boat and plane.” Some remote chapels were included in the tour, enabling people without access to transportation to benefit from the relic visit.

The presence of the relic provided the faithful with far more opportunities to experience the faith than just praying before the relic. The program at each stop included a catechism, lectio divina on the life of St. Titus, a Mass of Welcome, the opportunity for confessions, a farewell Mass. Some stops made requests for a specific service and these were honored if possible. The relics were accompanied by a Carmelite and others to provide security for the relics as well as the religious services.

The final stop for the year was in the annual meeting of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). The bishops welcomed the idea of presenting Titus as a “truth-seeker” "truth-defender" and a “promoter of the truth.” The relic was also present at the annual meeting of the Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines. The Carmelites were given time to present the story of St. Titus and spend time in prayer with the relics.

Feedback from the year long experience indicated that people were impressed and inspired by the life of St. Titus. This was also true among the students who were able to participate.

According to an article by Beatrice D’Ascenzi, published by Vatican News, over 1,300 Esperantists from 69 nations met in Turin, Italy for the 108^th World Esperanto Congress. Over the seven days, scholars and enthusiasts focused their discussions on the theme Immigration and the Confluence of Human Values, the Inclusive Experience of Turin.

Two books were offered to participants during the conference: Pope Francis’ I Am I, Do Not Be Afraid. The second was Carmelite Fernando Millán’s Truth in Love: The Life of St. Titus Brandsma, Carmelite. Fr. Fernando was prior general of the Carmelite Order from 2007-2019 and is considered one of the top experts on the life of St. Titus. He was vice postulator for the cause of St. Titus as well.

The saint from the Netherlands was a major promoter of the Esperanto language. He is now considered the patron saint of the Catholic Esperantists. He participated in several of the international congresses and was a member of the Commission for the Ecclesiastical Dictionary of Esperanto. The language facilitated Brandsma’s desire to build community among all the people.

The language, developed by Polish linguist Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof in the second half of the 19th century, is estimated to have a worldwide following in at least 120 countries. It is considered the language of peace as it stresses equality and communion among people brought together by the language. Esperanto was created in order to establish a dialogue between various populations, trying to overcome hostilities and conflicts. Esperanto’s creator, felt that many misunderstandings were the result of linguistic difficulties. Zamenhor wished to solve this by creating a universal idiom, belonging to humanity and not to a single people. This would not only impact inter-personal relationships but political and culture connections.

According to the enthusiasts the artificial language of Esperanto is experiencing a rebirth 150 years after its development. Esperanto associations and the number of enthusiasts on the Internet continues to grow. According to experts, the digital age of communications has been a major plus for the growth in the number of people speaking the language. The simplicity of the language allows people to achieve a satisfactory proficiency in less time than any of the ethnic languages.

With this in mind, the recent world congress in Piedmont was the central event of the year for scholars and enthusiasts, who over the seven days of the event were able to reflect together on an extremely timely topic, "Immigration and the confluence of human values, the inclusive experience of Turin." Inclusive like the practice of Esperanto, which has in its DNA the will to establish a dialogue between different populations, trying to overcome hostilities and conflicts - fueled, according to the creator, also by linguistic misunderstandings - through the use of a universal idiom, belonging to humanity and not to a single people.

In fact, since its inception, Esperanto functioned through with wars and conflicts that have severely tested its scholars, who are culturally inclined to dialogue. However, these are often victims of discrimination and persecution in these situations because of their ability to receive information outside the official channels.

According to the experts, the social changes that followed the conflicts of the last century gradually consigned the national idioms of smaller countries with fewer resources into oblivion. This inevitably forced the inhabitants of these states to have to use the languages of the dominant countries, a practice strongly by Esperantists. Esperanto represents a supranational and neutral idiom, allowing all groups to connect and exchange information without discrimination, but rather protecting idioms considered "minor," otherwise doomed to extinction by the languages of stronger nations.

The flag of Esperanto, the verda stelo, sums up the Esperanto philosophy. The verda stelo is formed by a green background with a white box in the upper left corner with a centered, green 5-pointed star, representing the five inhabited continents. The green color also indicates hope for a better future, while white represents neutrality and peace.

Catholic Esperantists have always maintained a deep-rooted connection with Catholicism. In fact, a separate program for the Catholic Esperantists was offered during the Turin congress, led by President Marija Belošević. The connection, that began as early as the early 1900s and was consolidated after World War II, when Pius XII at a general audience in 1950 welcomed the Esperantists who had come to meet him in their own language. In 1966, two years after Paul VI publicly recognized the importance of the Catholic Esperanto movement and the usefulness of the language, Esperanto was officially recognized as a language in which it is possible to celebrate Mass and pray. Since that time, on the occasion of the Urbi et Orbi blessing on Christmas and Easter Sunday, the pope has occasionally offered greetings in Esperanto. Some of Vatican Radio’s programs are broadcast in the language as well.

OSV News has designated St. Titus Brandsma as the organization’s patron. It is a strong recognition by the news organization of Brandsma as a model for journalists. OSV News, the national and international wire service that began after Catholic News Service was discontinued at the end of 2022.

"When the OSV News team met in October 2022 for our first planning session and retreat, we knew we wanted in our corner a patron saint to intercede on behalf of our team and our work. The problem was figuring out just who to select," said Gretchen Crowe, editor-in-chief of OSV News. "We considered, of course, St. Francis de Sales, the beloved saint of Catholic journalists. We also discussed St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. John the Apostle, St. Paul, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, and Blessed Carlo Acutis, among others."

OSV News even considered compiling what one person called a "spiritual board of directors" with a few saints, she said. "But ultimately, we landed on St. Titus Brandsma because of his embrace of Catholic journalism as a means of evangelization -- a point that is at the heart of the mission of OSV News -- and because of his powerful and brave witness as a disciple of Jesus Christ," said Crowe, who was elected president of the Catholic Media Association this year.

She said that, besides his preaching and work in publishing, in which he founded and edited newspapers and magazines, St. Titus's work in the Catholic press put him in a position to stand up to the Nazis, who were trying to force publications to print their propaganda. There were more than 30 daily Catholic newspapers in the Netherlands in the 1930s.

St. Titus paid the ultimate price for his opposition, being arrested, imprisoned, and executed on July 26, 1942, in the Dachau concentration camp.

"The OSV News team was very moved by this story and by the courageous witness of St. Titus in standing up for the truth, and so we adopted him as our patron as we began our work," Crowe said.

Carmelite Michael Driscoll of Boca Raton in South Florida, who was healed of metastatic melanoma through the prayers of thousands to St. Titus, is also actively encouraging Catholic leaders to recognize the Dutch saint as the modern patron of journalists. Fr. Michael’s healing was accepted as the miracle needed for the Dutch Carmelite's canonization.

Earlier this year during an interview with a small group of journalists, Pope Francis spoke openly about his support for the idea of having St. Titus become a new patron saint of journalists.

Such recognition of St. Titus would come from Pope Francis. The journalists accredited to the Vatican have made a very public push for the designation as well. During the week of activities leading up to the canonization in May 2022, they sent a letter to the Holy Father requesting the recognition of St. Titus.

In one of the church's strongest acts of resistance toward the Nazis, Catholic newspapers were prohibited by the bishops of the Netherlands from publishing advertisements from the German occupiers. Father Brandsma, who was the bishops' liaison to the Roman Catholic Journalists Association, wrote a letter to all Catholic press editors, saying that the publications "may not allow these (National Socialist Union, Nazi) advertisements if they want to maintain their Catholic identity." He then travelled to visit the various editors to encourage them to remain true to their vocation as Catholic journalists.

(Adapted from the Florida Catholic, William Cone, Should St. Titus Be Patron of Journalists? July 12, 2023)

July 27 | Obligatory Memorial (Feast: Ger, Phil, Del Colombia)

A noted writer and journalist, in 1935, St. Titus was appointed adviser to the Dutch bishops for Catholic journalists. In the period leading up to and during the Nazi occupation in the Netherlands, he argued passionately against the National Socialist ideology, basing his stand on the Gospels. He continually defended the right to freedom in education and for a free the Catholic Press. As a result, he was imprisoned.

He passed from one prison or camp to another until he arrived in Dachau where he was killed on July 26, 1942. He was beatified as a martyr by Pope John Paul II on November 3, 1985 and was canonized by Pope Francis on May 15, 2022, in St Peter’s Square.

The Order’s petition to have the celebration of St. Titus Brandsma changed from an optional memorial to an obligatory memorial for the whole Order was accepted. The Provinces of Germany and the Philippines as well as the General Delegation in Columbia who have St. Titus as their patron celebrate the day as a feast.

Read more about the life of St Titus Brandsma

Reflections on St. Titus' Presence Today
      From the Order's Website - ocarm.org
 

Books Available on St. Titus Brandsma, O. Carm.
      Go Here

The Order’s petition to have the celebration of St. Titus Brandsma changed from an optional memorial to an obligatory memorial for the whole Order. The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments notified the Order by letter on May 25, 2023. The liturgical celebration is July 27.

The Provinces of Germany and the Philippines as well as the General Delegation in Columbia who have St. Titus as their patron will celebrate the day as a feast.

St. Titus Brandsma was canonized by Pope Francis on May 15, 2022, in St. Peter’s Square along with nine other blessed. He was killed by lethal injection in the “hospital” of the Dachau concentration camp on July 26, 1942.

On July 27th the feast day of Titus Brandsma, CITOC would like to feature some of the ways the canonization of Titus Brandsma continues to impact your world--- be it your province, monastery, hermitage, lay community, parish, school, sanctuary, community, your town or just yourself.

Articles should be no more than 500 words in English, Spanish, Italian, French, or Portuguese. The article should emphasize what impact these celebrations have had on the community. We welcome good quality pictures along with a description of the picture.

We thank you in advance for your help!

On May 15, 2023, on the first anniversary of the Canonisation of Saint Titus, the city council named the road over the main bridge that enters the city of Nijmegen in honour of Titus Brandsma.

The roads ends at the place where every year the memorial of the victims of the Second World War are remembered.

This is especially appropriate because Titus built bridges between both God and people, and between humans and one another.

A ceremony was held which was attended by Huub Welzen and Marieke Rijpkema gave a speech in tribute to Titus.