|
Blessed Titus Brandsma
Priest & Martyr
July 27: Celebrated as a Memorial with proper texts or from
the Common of One Martyr.
 Born at Bolsward (The Netherlands) in 1881, Blessed Titus
Brandsma joined the Carmelite Order as a young man. Ordained priest in 1905, he
obtained a doctorate in philosophy in Rome. He then taught in various schools in
Holland and was named professor of philosophy and of the history of mysticism in
the Catholic University of Nijmegen where he also served as Rector Magnificus.
He was noted for his constant availability to everyone. He was a professional
journalist, and in 1935 he was appointed ecclesiastical advisor to Catholic
journalists.
During the 1930's he visited Ireland and stayed in Kinsale
with the Carmelite Community there to improve his English before giving a series
of lectures in the United States.
Both before and during the
Nazi occupation of The Netherlands he fought, faithful to the Gospel, against
the spread of the Nazi ideology and for the freedom of Catholic education and
the Catholic press. For this he was arrested and sent to a succession of prisons
and concentration camps where he brought comfort and peace to his fellow
prisoners and did good even to his tormentors. In 1942, after much suffering and
humiliations he was killed at Dachau. He was beatified by John Paul II on
November 3rd 1985.
The Titus Brandsma Institute
Prayer
God our Father,
source of life and freedom,
through your Holy Spirit you gave the Carmelite Titus
Brandsma
the courage to affirm human dignity even in the midst of
suffering and degrading persecution.
Grant us that same Spirit,
so that, refusing all compromise with error,
we may always and everywhere give coherent witness
to your abiding presence among us.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Scripture Readings
2Timothy 2:3-13; Gospel Luke 6:27-36.
Texts taken from the “Carmelite
Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours,”
Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome: 1993.
Images courtesy of the
Carmelnet webmaster, USA.
|
