Displaying items by tag: Titus Brandsma

Many of us experience God as hidden. There is nothing new in this is. It is not something unique to our time. Already, two and a half thousand years ago, Isaiah sighed in exile: 'Truly, You are a hidden God' (Is 45:15). Throughout the centuries, people of faith have repeated such words to he Lord, up to and including Titus Brandsma. For Titus, the hiddenness of God was a deeply lived reality.

In his prison cell at Scheveningen, Titus prayed the well-known hymn Adoro Te after lunch. In his account of his time in prison, 'My Cell', he tells us about this: 'The Adoro Te has become my favourite prayer. Frequently I sing it softly and this helps me to make a spiritual commuion'. What does this song sing about? The first and last verses read as follows:

I devoutly worship Thee,
Hidden Godhead,
Who among these signs are
truly hidden.

O may I behold Thee
with unveiled face
and taste the happiness
to see Your glory.

Titus knew this song by heart. He prayed it daily and every Saturday evening he sang it with his fellow brothers during the Saturday Station of Our Lady. The hymn touched Titus deeply. He was familiar with it. He carried it with him into prison. There Titus sang it 'softly', on his knees, after his lunch of soup and bread. Prayerfully it dawned on him: really, God is hidden. Not now and then. Not here and there. Always and everywhere, God is hidden.

After this moment of worship, Titus lit a pipe, walked to and fro in his small cell, and filed his nails, which by now had become ‘too long and I could not find the scissors.’ God, for Titus, is hidden in the most ordinary things: a pipe of tobacco, walking to and fro, filing his nails.

God's hidden presence is hopeful for those who have come to know it and to live from it. Seeing his hiddenness can even become so familiar to us that it makes us happy. Our God does not come like a jack-in-the-box. He is not an Easter egg hidden somewhere or a magic trick.

In the Dachau concentration camp, Titus' hidden relationship with God is severely tested. Adoro Te drags him through it. When the camp guard has beaten him, he prays the Adoro Te together with his fellow brother, Rafaël Tijhuis. Hurt in his frail body, he remained standing in God's hidden presence.

Kees Waaijman

Today, Friday 4th March 2022, at 10.30am, the Ordinary Public Consistory led by Pope Francis convened in the Consistory Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace.

After the recitation of Terce, the Holy Father announced the canonization of Blessed Titus Brandsma, O. Carm. The canonization will take place on Sunday, May 15, 2022, in St Peter’s Square. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, only the Postulator General of the Order was able to take part in the Consistory.

At last, Fr Titus, after 80 years from his death and 37 from his beatification, can be venerated as a Saint by the entire Catholic Church.

The Carmelite Order, the Church in Holland as well as the entire Carmelite Family joyfully welcome this much awaited announcement.

Download Press release here

Sisters and brothers in the Carmelite family,

I join with all of you in giving thanks to God today for the announcement of the date of the canonisation of Blessed Titus Brandsma. This is news we have been awaiting for a long time and it comes as the result of the Church’s recognition of the holiness and witness of Titus Brandsma, and the work of our present Postulator General, Dr. Giovanna Brizi, her predecessors and their many collaborators whom today I want to applaud and thank for their great work.

Although the time is short between now and the 15th of May, I believe we must use this this time to reflect together on the significance of this event for our lives and for the life and mission of our religious family, and to share the good news with as many people as possible. It is not without significance that we have this celebration at a time when truth and integrity is suffering seriously in the major conflicts that now threaten the peace of the world. Titus Brandsma stands before us as an example and model of a life lived in allegiance to Jesus Christ. We believe that he also intercedes for us in heaven. Thus, the importance of the miracle that restored the health of Fr. Michael Driscoll of the North American Province of St. Elias.

As an example and model, we see in Blessed Titus what it is to be a decent human being, a well-formed and committed religious and Carmelite, a saintly priest, a talented teacher who loves his students and a journalist who is dedicated to the primacy of the truth and all the best principles of good journalism. In addition, we are moved to the depth of our being by the story of his last months. Here we see a child of God who finds that his ultimate happiness lies in God and because of this he is at peace even in the most awful of circumstances.

Titus held no grudge against those who trampled upon his ideals or those who eventually took away his life. His wanting everyone to be saved is a very clear sign to us today of how we must dedicate ourselves always and everywhere to the work of the Gospel and use all the gifts of Carmel to produce in this world the kind of justice that respects the dignity of every child of God. Blessed Titus Brandsma, soon to be Saint Titus Brandsma, pray for us.

Fr. Míceál O’Neill, O. Carm.
Prior General

Watch the Video here

Download the text of the Comments here

The second volume of Blessed Titus Brandsma’s writings has been published by Edizioni Carmelitane in Rome. The volume is entitled Titus Brandsma: Letters to the Family. The book contains over 500 pages and includes any writings still extant of the many cards and letters that Blessed Titus Brandsma wrote to his family. Included are the text of 292 letters and postcards. The correspondence are presented in chronological order and placed in their context. There are reproductions of the many postcards sent by Brandsma, which he sent primarily when he traveled. Included is the final letter he sent to his family from the Dachau Concentration camp on July 12, 1942. The first is a letter he sent to his mother, Tjitje on October 14, 1895, when Brandsma was 14 years old and studying at the Franciscan school in Megen.

This is volume two of a planned seven volume series on the writings, speeches, and letters of Brandsma.

The book can be purchased directly from Edizioni Carmelitane or from other webstores around the world.

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To place your order please contact:

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Today, the Holy Father, during the Audience granted to His Most Reverend Eminence Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, authorized the said Congregation to promulgate the Decree concerning the miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Titus Brandsma.

We give thanks to God for the positive outcome obtained and we continue to pray to the Lord, hoping that soon the canonization of Blessed Titus Brandsma will take place.

Read here (only in Italian) the Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office

The Advent 2021 Webinar: Traces of the Spirituality of Titus Brandsma will take place this upcoming Saturday, November 27, 2021.

Most of us are familiar with the basic outline of the life of Blessed Titus Brandsma. However, the lack of access to most of his writings, talks, and letters, in English has limited our understanding of his spiritual development from his own words.

Fr. Titus' spirituality-- his living in relationship to his loving God-- enabled him to accept and overcome the many challenges in his life.

During this webinar we will explore some of those moments and Brandsma's perpective. Reflecting on these moments can provide each of us with some illumination on challenges in our own lives and strategies for strengthening our own relationship with our God.

Presented by:
Fr. William J. Harry, O. Carm.

Cost: $ 10.00

Saturday, November 27, 2021
2:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time, US)
4:00 PM (GMT -3, Brazil)
7:00 PM (GMT, Greenwich UK)
8:00 PM (GMT +1, Europe)

REGISTER NOW

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On November 9, 2021, the Ordinary Session of the Cardinals and Bishops who are members of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints met with a positive result for the cause of the canonization of Blessed Titus Brandsma, O. Carm.

Soon the Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, will submit the conclusions of the Ordinary Session to the Holy Father for approval. The Holy Father, if he confirms the conclusions of the Ordinary Session, will then convoke the Ordinary Consistory in which he would official announce the canonization of the Blessed.

We give thanks to God for the positive results obtained so far. We continue to pray to the Lord, hoping that the canonization of Blessed Titus Brandsma will soon be achieved.

Read our post entitled Brandsma Writings Now Available in English here

Edizioni Carmelitane announces that the first of a multi volume series of the writings of Titus Brandsma is now available. The book has received very positive reviews with great anticipation for the publication of the remaining volumes. What sets this series apart is that it captures Brandsma in his own words and not through the filter of later studies.

Entitled Titus Brandsma: Mysticism in Action, this first volume of 287 pages, shows Titus as “a philosopher, priest, leader of Catholic schools and Catholic journalism, as a brother to Carmelites, member of his family, native Frisian, a free and authentic thinker, a champion of peace, activist against poverty, pro animal welfare, a prisoner, and a faithful martyr.” The book brings Brandsma alive by reprinting letters from Brandsma to a variety of friends and family as well as others, as well as some of his speeches and entries he authored in encyclopedias.

Among the writings included is Brandsma’s famous address, The Idea of God (Godsbegrip) to the community of the Catholic University of Nijmegan when he became rector magnificus in 1932. Brandsma’s very wide range of interests in many areas of life are represented here. He developed an explicitly Christian perspective on whatever topic he studied. Of course, we see the beginnings of his commitment to truth. It was this commitment that brought him into direct confrontation with the Nazi authorities and ultimately led to his murder for the faith.

Whether you consider yourself an expert on Brandsma or this is your first encounter with this fascinating Carmelite, this book will hold your interest.

To access the many fine publications at Edizioni Carmelitane, click here.

To place your order please contact:

Libreria Nardecchia
TEL.: (+39) 06-5373901
FAX: (+39) 06-5373902
E-mail: Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.

Edizioni Carmelitane
TEL.: +39-0646201807
FAX: +39-0646201808
C.C.P.: 14069009
BIC/SWIFT: BPPIITRRXXX
IBAN: IT67 Z076 0103 2000 0001 4069 009
E-mail: Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.

Available in other Carmelite Bookshops Worldwide

Our latest book on Titus Brandsma

We are happy to announce the publication of an English translation of the authoritative biography of Titus Brandsma, O. Carm., by Miguel Arribas, O. Carm.

Watch this short presentation of the book here

On 27th July, we celebrate our annual memorial of a famous Carmelite martyr.

Anno Sjoerd Brandsma was born at Bolsward, The Netherlands, in 1881, and joined the Carmelite Order in 1898 taking the name ‘Titus’, being ordained priest in 1905. In time he became a professor and then Rector Magnificus at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. He was also a journalist.

During the 1930s he gave a famous series of lectures in the United States on Carmelite mysticism. Throughout the 1930s Nazi propaganda was on the rise but Fr Titus refused to support or print anything in support of the Nazi regime.

Fr Titus was arrested by the Gestapo on January 19, 1942, and imprisoned in his native country before being sent to the concentration camp at Dachau where he brought comfort and peace to his fellow prisoners. In Dachau he was experimented on in the medical wing and was finally put to death by lethal injection on July 26, 1942.

He was beatified in 1985 and the cause for his canonisation continues which, we pray, will soon be successful.

Please avail yourself of the resources prepared for the celebration of Blessed Titus Brandsma on July 27th.

Liturgical Resources Blessed Titus Brandsma

• pdf Letter to the Carmelite Family(400 KB)
• pdf Mass Leaflet(287 KB)
• pdf Prayers of the Faithful(216 KB)
• pdf Homily Notes(81 KB)
• pdf Newsletter/bulletin insert(253 KB)