Novena to St. Titus

On Sunday, May 15 of this year, Dutch Carmelite Father Titus Brandsma was canonized by Pope Francis in Rome, who was martyred during World War II in the concentration camp at Dachau. On Tuesday, July 26, it will be 80 years since his death, and we celebrate his liturgical feast on July 28. From tomorrow, we can – each according to their possibilities – join the novena for this new saint of our Order. For the first five days, texts prepared by our foreign confreres will appear on our website as leaflets for the May canonization, and in the final four days, we will be guided by excerpts from a lecture by Father Norbert Žuška, O.Carm. “Titus Brandsma – a saint for our time,” which was delivered at this year's national meeting of tertiaries in Kostelní Vydří. Today we publish Tito's biographical details.

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  Short Biography

  Childhood

  Anno Sjoerd Brandsma was born on February 23, 1881, in Oegesklooster, in the northern part of the Netherlands, in the province of Friesland. His parents were named Tjitsje and Titus, and they had four daughters and two sons, with Anno being the second youngest. Five of the six siblings took the path of religious life, and Anno's cousin later became a bishop.

  The family owned a large farm, engaged in cattle breeding, milk, and cheese sales. Catholics were an absolute minority in Friesland, and they had to protect their faith and culture. Anno's father attempted to do this both within the family and in the local community, where he was politically active.

  After completing high school at a Franciscan college, Anno entered the Carmelite order in Boxmeer. The order was rapidly growing at that time, and several religious houses were newly established in the Netherlands. Anno began his novitiate with five peers in September 1898, taking the religious name of his father - Titus. He made his early vows in October 1899 and was ordained a priest on June 17, 1905.

  In 1909, he received a doctorate in philosophy from the Gregorian University in Rome. He was drawn to the study of spirituality and journalism, which, along with academic activities, constituted the main focus of his work. Throughout his life, he had to cope with very fragile health.

  Work and Mission

  In 1923, Titus was instrumental in founding the Catholic University of Nijmegen (now Radboud University), where he lectured as a professor and assisted with administration; in 1932/33 he served as rector.

  As a Carmelite, he sought to convey the spirituality of the Order to those beyond the university community, traveling extensively to give lectures. In 1935, he was invited on a lecture tour to the USA, and these lectures were published in Czech under the title The Beauty of Carmel (KNA 1992). He also undertook several study trips to Spain (Teresa of Avila) and Germany (the stigmatized Teresa Neumann).

  Journalism

  Titus was also interested in journalism and publishing work. By the end of 1935, he became a spiritual advisor to the Union of Catholic Journalists (at that time, over twenty Catholic newspapers and many magazines were published in the country, with about 36% of the population identifying as Roman Catholic). He encouraged individual editorial offices to refuse to print Nazi propaganda and spoke out against anti-Semitism. During the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, Titus was an advisor to Archbishop de Jong of Utrecht, a prominent opponent of Nazism. He urged bishops to clearly oppose the persecution of Jews and violations of human rights. This action drew the attention of the occupying authority.

  Imprisonment and Martyrdom

  The fate of Titus was sealed by the resistance of the Catholic press to Nazi propaganda. He agreed to personally deliver a letter from the Dutch bishops to each editorial office, which prohibited complying with the occupier's demands and publishing official Nazi articles and announcements. Before his arrest on January 19, 1942, he managed to visit fourteen editorial offices.

  Initially, Titus was interned in Scheveningen and Amersfoort; in June, he was transported to Dachau. In the harsh regime of the concentration camp, Titus's health quickly deteriorated, and in the third week of July, he was admitted to the hospital. He was subjected to medical experiments and was killed by a phenol injection on July 26, 1942. On the day of his death, the Dutch bishops issued a pastoral letter against the deportations of Jews (which became a pretext for the extermination of Jews who converted to Catholicism, e.g., Edith Stein).

  Before his execution, he prayed to God for the sister who administered the lethal injection. He asked for her grace of repentance and gave her his rosary, even though she resisted, claiming she hadn’t practiced for a long time (the Red Cross Sisters were forbidden by the Nazis to do so). A few years later, this woman sought out the Carmelite superior in a yearning for forgiveness and testified in the process leading to Titus's beatification on November 3, 1985.

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  Day 1: “A student is not above his teacher” (Lk 6:40)

  God, you granted Saint Titus a good education and gave him wisdom and courage, with which he sought to maintain quality education even in times of occupation. Through his intercession, grant today wisdom and courage to all teachers and educators in occupied territories, and take care of all children who cannot or will not be educated due to the war. We ask this through your Son ...

  Education and Formation

  Titus's Education

  Titus was a good student. As a child, he read a lot, especially enjoying literature and history. At the age of eleven, he began attending a Franciscan college in Megen (Oss), nearly two hundred kilometers from home; a year later, his brother Heinrich followed him. Reading shaped him even after he entered the Order in 1898, and he soon began publishing. He studied theology in the Netherlands and was sent to the Gregorian University in Rome for doctoral studies in philosophy, where he also took sociology courses.

  Catholic Education

  Titus dedicated his efforts to organizing quality Catholic education: he reformed the curriculum for Dutch Carmelites; in Oss (where a new convent was established in 1890), he set up a public library with a reading room and a lecture hall; he contributed to the founding of two schools managed by Carmelites – in Oss and Oldenzaal (the convent since 1927); in 1922, he founded "Carmelcollege" – a secondary school union that today, after a hundred years, gathers 50 secondary schools with 34,000 students.

  University Activities

  In 1923, the Catholic University in Nijmegen was opened (in 1929, a new convent was established there for Carmelite students and educators); in the academic year 1932/33, Titus served as rector. He lectured on philosophy and the history of mysticism, focusing on Dutch mysticism and the Devotio moderna movement. In the spring of 1938, the Holy See requested all Catholic universities to support the resistance to Nazism. Therefore, in a special series of lectures in 1938/39, Titus discussed the value of the human person and refuted national-socialist theories from the perspective of his disciplines. Among students, he was popular for his captivating lecture style and his kind demeanor; he sought to secure scholarships for underprivileged students. He served as an example for everyone in compassionate dealings with marginalized people.

  The Concept of Mystical Life

  Titus defined mysticism as "a particular connection between God and man, in which a person becomes aware of God's presence and unites with God in faith." In Titus' view, everyone is invited to the mystical life (cf. KKC 2014); he enjoyed talking about everyday mysticism; he was convinced that God is the foundation of our existence and that we can meet him always and everywhere, especially in our neighbors. In 1935, he lectured on Carmelite mysticism in the United States, and this collection of lectures is now considered classic texts on spirituality; it was published in Czech translated by Terezie Brichtová under the title The Beauty of Carmel (KNA 1992).

  Journalism as a Tool for Education

  For Titus, journalism was an opportunity to educate the general public. His regular columns and articles in daily newspapers made history and the beauty of spiritual life accessible to the average reader. (In 1930, over 36% of the population identified as Catholic in the Netherlands).

  Student Formation

  For Titus, it was important for a teacher to respect the individuality of each student: "People are not all the same; we cannot fit them all into one template. It does not help us if we decide to overlook our differences ... Young people need to be accepted as they are." He wanted young people to think for themselves. He once told them: "I will not impart philosophical knowledge to you – you must develop it first and foremost yourselves. I will not drill the truth or the knowledge of the truth into you. I only want to awaken in you that immense passion that is hidden in you, the passion to know what is true."

  Securing Education

  Titus was convinced of the necessity to adequately fund education. He also emphasized the need for continuous education for teachers: "It is just to ensure a teacher's continuous development ... a qualified teacher is a blessing." He was concerned about children from disadvantaged backgrounds: "In school, attention must be given to disadvantaged children; this is where true love manifests."

  Caring for Jewish Students

  Titus took a clear stance toward Jewish students, refusing to remain silent when they were being expelled from Catholic schools. He inquired whether it would be possible to place them in the care of Carmelites in Brazil. At the beginning of the German invasion, about 140,000 Jews lived in the Netherlands, and approximately a quarter of them survived the war.

  Carmel - School of Mystical Life

  Titus speaks of "the apostolate of Carmelite mysticism." One of the tasks of the Carmelite brothers is to teach prayer, helping others to reveal that they have long been found and loved by God. For Titus, Carmel is "a school of mystical life." He says: "just as in ordinary life, so too in the spiritual life, we cannot do without education, teachers, and accompaniment." Formation for a deep spiritual life is part of the mission of Carmel.

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  Day 2: “Lord, give us this bread always” (Jn 6:34)

  God, you strengthened St. Titus with the Eucharistic bread; through his intercession, grant us today to receive the Body and Blood of your Son with gratitude and in prayer remember all those who, due to the war, cannot or do not want to receive. For he is with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit...

  Eucharist

  Eucharistic Life of Carmel

  The Eucharist is the center of Christian life, so it is no wonder that it has been the heart of Carmel since the very beginning of the Order. The first brothers built a small oratory in the midst of their cells, where they gathered for communal prayer and the celebration of the Eucharist, where they met each other and the risen Lord. Carmel has a long tradition of daily holy communion anchored in the Rule (Rule 14), and for Titus, daily Eucharist was a firm foundation of his life and spirituality. After all, Titus entered the Order in 1898 in Boxmeer, a city where the solemn procession has been repeated for centuries in memory of the Eucharistic miracle that occurred there around 1400.

  Food for the Journey

  Titus was convinced that our spiritual life, just like our physical life, needs to be nourished. In the prophet Elijah, he saw a model of Carmelite life. Just as Elijah journeyed to Mount Horeb in the strength of heavenly food, so too, while "we walk here below on the path of life," we are strengthened by the gift of the Eucharist. Titus was imprisoned for bravely defending the Catholic press and human rights; experiencing "walking in the strength of the divine food" he experienced most intensely between January and July 1942 when receiving the Eucharist in prison was an exceptional and rare gift, albeit experienced with great intensity. At that time, he underwent his own way of the cross, leading him to Dachau.

  In the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar, we are given again, and not only He himself as the Second Divine Person.
  No, for he says that all three persons of the Most Holy Trinity will make their abode in our hearts if we are united with Him.

  (Titus Brandsma)

  Frequent Holy Communion

  Titus's conviction about the importance of frequent celebration of the Eucharist was also strengthened by reading texts from the Order's saints, such as Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi and Teresa of Avila. He often spoke about it when lecturing on the life and message of the Dutch national saint, the mystic Lidwina of Schiedam /1380–1433/. Her cult blossomed again during Titus's life - she was canonized in 1890, and the church in Schiedam was dedicated to her in 1931.

  Prayer after Holy Communion

  Titus emphasized the importance of taking time for thanksgiving after receiving the Eucharist. When we receive the risen Lord, it is a moment of true contemplation, where we want to be open to his action within us. Titus relates the prayer after Holy Communion to the figure of the prophet Elijah: "On Horeb, the Lord spoke to the prophet in the sound of a still small voice. The Lord was not in the wind or the earthquake, but in the still small voice. Similarly, after Holy Communion, we must contemplate the Lord under the eucharistic forms, deep in our innermost being: this is the moment when the Lord passes by."

  Spiritual Holy Communion

  Saint Teresa of Avila often recommends spiritual Holy Communion, especially when receiving the sacrament is not possible. Perhaps Titus did not even realize how important spiritual Holy Communion would become in his life, just as today's reader of Saint Teresa often does not realize it – until the moment when it also renders daily Eucharist impossible for them due to war or a pandemic. While in Dachau, where many priests were interned, Titus could receive the Eucharist (even on his last day), but this was not the case in the previous prisons. In Scheveningen, Titus noted: "every morning, I serve the Holy Mass in my way and from memory, and I receive. Of course, all spiritually. In doing so, I complete according to the sense whatever I do not remember literally. I pray thanksgiving." In Amersfoort, Titus offered his fellow prisoners the communal spiritual Holy Communion.

  Eucharist, Contemplation, Good Works

  Titus often stated that "the mystical contemplative life is the fruit of the eucharistic life." The Eucharist prepares our hearts for receiving the gift of contemplation. And the contemplation given by God leads to the performance of good works. To a group of young people, Titus said, "Good works alone are not enough; they must stem from the awareness that it is precisely our connection with God that obliges us to carry them out."

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  Day 3: “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother” (Jn 19:25)

  God, you granted Saint Titus participation in the Cross of your Son; through his intercession today, draw all those whose lives, families, and homes were destroyed by war to yourself and strengthen in them hope in the resurrection. We ask this through your Son...

  Disciple of the Cross

  Academic Focus

  Titus received his doctorate in philosophy in 1909 in Rome. He also took advantage of his stay to study sociology and the social teachings of the Church. During his academic life, the study of spirituality and mysticism became central to his research and pedagogical interests. He was one of the professors at the newly established Catholic University in Nijmegen (1923), where he lectured on "History of Mysticism," and his courses focused on specific periods and key authors.

  Areas of Interest

  Titus focused on three themes. The first was translating and disseminating the works of Saint Teresa of Avila. It troubled him that a critical edition of her work was not yet available in Dutch. Together with other Carmelite enthusiasts, they embarked on a translation project that they did not manage to complete. In prison in Scheveningen, Titus continued working on Teresa's spiritual biography, which his colleagues completed and published after the war in 1946.

  The second area of Titus's interest became the spiritual life and literature of Central and Northern Europe during the late Middle Ages, with a strong emphasis on the Netherlands: beguines, Rhine-Flemish mysticism, and authors associated with the Devotio moderna circle. His favorite authors were Jan van Ruysbroeck (whose beatification occurred during Titus's stay in Rome in 1908), Geert Groote, and the beguine Hadewijch of Antwerp.

  Third, mention must be made of Saints Willibrord and Boniface, who contributed to the Christianization of Titus’s native Friesland in the first half of the 8th century. In many of his sermons and articles, Titus highlighted their apostolic life and missionary spirit – Titus himself longed to go on missions to Java (then a Dutch colony) in the 1920s, but did not obtain consent from his superiors.

  Via Crucis

  These three sources emanated Titus's deep reverence for the Lord's suffering and his cross. Titus twice wrote texts for the stations of the cross. The Belgian painter Albert Servaes (1883–1966), a contemporary of Titus, created a stations of the cross for the church in Luithagen in 1919. The raw charcoal drawings, inspired by the horrors of World War I, had to be removed soon after due to their realism at the request of Rome; however, Titus prepared reflections for each station and had them published in the cultural review Opgang in 1921.

  Titus composed the second meditation for the stations of the cross while imprisoned in Scheveningen. He intended it for the newly built chapel of St. Boniface in Dokkum (1934), in the realization of which he participated. The text is missing the 14th station – perhaps he did not manage to write it, or perhaps his own end of life in Dachau is the final station...

  There is no doubt that this deep devotion sustained and comforted Tito’s prisoners on his personal way of the cross, the stations of which became various prisons and concentration camps. Titus felt intimately connected with Christ’s suffering and sensed the closeness of the Crucified Lord in his own trials. He expressed this in the poetic prayer "To Jesus the Crucified" or in a reflection on mysticism and suffering on Good Friday in 1942, which his fellow inmates in Amersfoort requested of him.

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  Day 4: “Do good to those who hate you” (Lk 6:27)

  God, you granted Saint Titus calm eloquence with which he resisted the unjust decrees of the occupying authority, while at the same time protecting him from all hatred; through his intercession today, help all those in whom unjust suffering stirs a desire for revenge to seek forgiveness. We ask this through your Son...

  Witness of Forgiveness

  Seeking Dialogue

  Even in difficult life situations, Brother Titus was a man of forgiveness and reconciliation. As the spiritual assistant to Catholic journalists, he had to take a stance on many issues: political instability, tension, the labor movement, radicalization, etc. He always showed a willingness to engage in dialogue and receptiveness to listening, which earned him the nickname Peacemaker.

  As the rector of the university in Nijmegen, he sought mutual understanding and looked for opportunities for encounters. In the early 1930s, this was not easy – at Central European universities, radical communist, nationalist, and fascist ideologies clashed.

  In this context, we can easily understand Titus's interest in the newly spreading Esperanto. Ludwik Zamenhof (1859–1917) created it in an attempt to overcome the animosity that came with the difficult coexistence of different language groups and to combat "linguistic colonialism" (for example, during Zamenhof's time, the Russian occupation of territories). Esperanto was for Titus a tool of understanding, a way to remove language barriers that could easily escalate into racial or other forms of discrimination.

  Ecumenism

  Titus was a pioneer of ecumenism in Carmel. With great zeal, he engaged in the "Apostolate of Reunification," which sought better mutual understanding and closeness between the Catholic Church and Eastern Churches. He approached Protestants (especially in the Netherlands) with great respect and sought to maintain good fraternal relations and conduct honest dialogue with them.

  Faced with Conflict

  In the last months of his life, Titus was imprisoned in various locations. He shared his hard fate with several Protestants, some of whom later testified in the canonization process about Titus's generosity, kindness, and deep trust in God.

  This does not mean that he was a "diplomat" or that he resigned from a firm moral and religious stance; on the contrary. After the invasion of the Netherlands, Titus clearly expressed his opposition to the measures of the occupying administration, for example, by refusing to expel Jewish children from schools or insisting that editors of Catholic publications not print Nazi propaganda. Titus condemned national socialist ideology, yet he never succumbed to hatred toward his captors. Instead, in Dachau, he encouraged his fellow prisoners to pray for them. Deep down, he believed that succumbing to hatred would mean true victory for evil.

  Titus felt no aversion to the Germans – neither toward individuals nor toward the German nation. In Scheveningen prison, a police officer, Hardegen, asked him for a written answer to why the Dutch people, especially the Catholic Church, oppose national socialism. This is a topic Titus had lectured on at the university. His answer clearly summarizes the philosophical, ethical, and religious reasons why the Nazi ideology is erroneous and unacceptable. However, Titus concluded his treatise with a beautiful blessing: "God bless the Netherlands! God bless Germany! May God grant the peoples of both countries to return to the path of peace and freedom, recognizing His glory for the benefit of both nations, so close to each other!"

  Today

  In a world afflicted by aggressive war, Titus is an example to us that we must clearly name evil and actively oppose it, even at the cost of our own lives, and that we must continually strive for forgiveness and reconciliation.

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  Day 5: “You surround me behind and before” (Ps 139:5)

  God, you granted Saint Titus the ability to adopt the prayer of Thomas Aquinas, and in the difficult conditions of internment, he was able to draw strength and hope from it; through his intercession, teach us today to simplify and deepen our prayers so that they carry us through the painful periods of our lives. We ask this through your Son...

  Adoro Te – Hidden God

  I kneel before you warmly, hidden God of ours,
  who hides yourself here in the sacrament.
  To you, I fully offer my heart,
  I confess my weakness before you, God.

  With sight, touch, taste, I cannot perceive you
  and only with my hearing do I surely recognize you.
  I believe everything that Christ the Lord proclaimed to the world,
  in him is the foundation of truth given to all mankind.

  On the cross, you concealed only your divinity;
  here is also hidden your humanity.
  In both, however, I fully believe,
  O grace, I ask you with the penitent thief.

  Your wounds I do not seek to see as Thomas did,
  that you are my Lord and God I fervently confess.
  Grant my weak faith greater strength,
  to hope more in you, to love you more.

  Fruit of the Lord's death, bread of life,
  in which God's goodness is given to people,
  let my soul live only from you,
  in you, to contemplate and honor God’s love.

  Good Pelican, Jesus, my Lord,
  cleanse us sinners from our sins with your blood,
  for a single drop of it was enough
  to wash away the sins of the whole world.

  Grant, O Jesus Christ, who are here hidden,
  to the heart that longs to fulfill its desire,
  so that as I gaze upon the altar in faith,
  I may one day behold you face to face in heaven.

  (St. Thomas Aquinas /1225–1274/; translation taken from the Hymnbook No. 712)

  God Hidden and Present

  Many of us experience God as a hidden God. This is nothing new or specific to our time. Already two and a half thousand years ago, in exile, Isaiah lamented: Truly, you are a hidden God (Is 45:15). Throughout history, believers have repeated similar words to the Lord, and Titus was no exception. For him, God’s hiddenness was a deeply lived reality.

  In his prison cell in Scheveningen, he would pray the well-known hymn Adoro Te (I kneel before you warmly, hidden God of ours) after lunch. He recounts this in his prison notes titled "My Cell": "Adoro Te became my favorite prayer. I often sing it softly, it helps me in my spiritual Holy Communion."

  Titus knew this song by heart. He prayed it privately every day and with the brothers every Saturday. The text deeply touched him; it was familiar to him. Thus, Titus brought it into prison, where he quietly sang it on his knees after the meal, which consisted of soup and some potatoes or cabbage. In prayer, he discovered: truly, the present God is hidden. Not just sometimes, not just somewhere, but always and in everything: God is hidden beneath the surface of mundane things.

  God's hidden presence is full of hope for the person who learns to recognize it and derive life from it. An understanding of His hiddenness can become something so intimate that it makes us happy.

  In Dachau, Titus’s hidden relationship with God passed a severe test. The hymn Adoro Te devote led him through this trial. When the camp guards beat him, he prayed Adoro Te devote with his fellow brother, Carmelite Rafael Tijhuis (who survived Dachau). Injured in his fragile body, he remained firmly anchored in God’s hidden presence.

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  Day 6: “You have put more joy in my heart…” (Ps 4:8)

  God, you gave Saint Titus a joyful heart that did not grow bitter even in the midst of great evil; through his intercession, guard us from every dissatisfaction, that today we may praise you gratefully and entrust all our sins and troubles, as well as those of our neighbors, to your mercy. We ask this through your Son...

  Joyful Heart

  Among many questions I ask myself, none occupies me as much as the 'mystery' that humanity, which is immensely proud of its progress, turns away from God in such great numbers. It is disturbing that in the time of great progress in many areas, we face the phenomenon of humanity's disrespect for God, even its denial. This phenomenon is spreading like a contagious disease.
  What shadows the image of God? Why does it no longer appeal to many? What is the reason? Isn’t this fact a challenge for us to let the image of God shine upon this world once again in bright light?

  The God in whom Titus believes is an immensely attractive God – not only for Titus personally, but for everyone. The reason for the falling away from faith (cf. introductory quote) is that the image of God has become obscured and is not proclaimed in a way that would appeal to contemporary man and reveal to him the true beauty of God and the true face of God.
  The God whom Titus believed in since childhood, whom he decided to follow along the way of Carmel, to whom he prayed, and about whom he enjoyed learning new beautiful things (through studying medieval mystics), this God made him happy.
  Titus was happy in his faith; he was a happy Carmelite. When he began his novitiate at the age of seventeen, he wrote home:

  No enjoyment could give me as much joy and happiness as living in the monastery. In the cell and among the brothers, I am – as expected – completely happy. I believe that God called me here, but please pray for me that I recognize whether I follow His holy will or not. If God did not call me here – which I do not believe and hope is not the case, for it is such joy – then pray that I discern what I must do to please Him. But as I said, I am now happy and hope that it will remain so.

  Even in prison in Scheveningen, he felt at home, setting up his "new cell" and speaking of happiness. This is evidenced not only by his correspondence, where one might assume he wants to reassure his loved ones, but especially by his diary entry:

  I already feel completely at home in this small cell. I have not yet been bored here. I am alone, that is true, but good God has never been so close to me. Even though I cannot go out to people, nor can people come to me, I feel like crying out with joy because He has allowed me to find Him anew in His fullness. He is now my only refuge, and I feel happy and secure. I want to stay here forever if He arranges it that way. I have rarely been so happy and content.

  Titus had many reasons for dissatisfaction in life: very fragile health that often betrayed him at the most inconvenient moment; an overwhelming number of responsibilities he could not or did not know how to delegate; the heavy atmosphere of the 1930s, which, despite all efforts, was inexorably heading towards war; disputes with the occupying authority, imprisonment. Yet he was happy. He could not be otherwise. What made him happy was knowing the Lord, having a relationship with Him, God Himself. He wished to present God to his contemporaries in such a way that it would also touch them and open them to happiness.

  I understand that joy is not experienced in the same way at all stages of life and under all circumstances, which can sometimes be very harsh. Joy adapts and transforms, but it always remains at least a ray of light born from the personal assurance that we are infinitely and above all loved. (Pope Francis, apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium 6)

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  Day 7: “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31)

  God, you created us in your image, and from your hand, we have come forth very good; through the intercession of Saint Titus, ensure that this good grows within us and manifests itself today through effective love to all orphans, widows, and immigrants. We ask this through your Son...

  God Stands Behind Nature

  Let’s not lose hope because nature – with its hidden and for us unseen powers and capabilities – has always proven itself in history. The individual cannot bring salvation... Every mind, every wisdom is inadequate in this regard; however, as it has always been in history, nature will surely "take care" again now... Behind nature stands God... God who created and sustains it; who works in it, with it, and through it...
  If in today’s difficulties we trust in their resolution because we have learned from history to trust in human nature, we thereby trust in Him who stands behind it, that is, in God.

  Titus is convinced that creation is good, that man is "very good." And – as the Catholic Church teaches – even after sin, human nature is not completely corrupted but remains good, although a person can become enslaved to sin and do great evil.
  Titus looks upon human nature with unwavering hope, believing that God stands behind it, that He is present in it, and that He has implanted healing laws within it.
  Titus believes that God stands by his child, that He educates his son and daughter (even if this education sometimes seems strict to us), that He seeks His prodigal son and daughter. God remains faithful to His people, for He cannot deny Himself.

  The God-created human being is "very good" – and this pertains not only to believers but also to all people. Even the ancient Israelites marveled at how the Lord managed to incorporate, for example, the pagan King Cyrus into the history of salvation and make him an instrument of Israel's rescue.

  Today, we marvel at how incredibly capable of "natural" goodness people around us are – even without the Church, even without external affiliation with a particular confession or religion.

  How much selflessness God awakened in people during the pandemic – even without "our" doctrine about the need for selfless love.
  How much active compassion God stirred in people towards helping the victims of the war in Ukraine – let us praise God and thank Him for the growing multitude of those to whom He will one day lovingly say:

  Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was sick, and you visited me, I was a stranger, and you took me in… (cf. Mt 25:35ff)

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  Day 8: “In this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us” (1 Jn 4:10)

  God, your love overcame St. Titus to follow you along the way of Carmel and the path of your Son's Cross. Through his intercession today, conquer us with your love as well and teach us to love. We ask this through your Son...

  Overcome by Love

  We live in a world that condemns love. In a world where love is labeled as weakness, which we must overcome and defeat. In a world where the focus is not on love, but on developing personal strength. Let each one be as strong as possible and let the weak perish.
  These opinions are offered to us, and there are people who willingly accept them. "Love is not loved," cried Saint Francis of Assisi long ago. Several centuries later, Saint Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi rang the bells of the Carmelite monastery in ecstasy to tell people how beautiful love is. Oh, how I would like to sound the bells to tell the world how beautiful love is!
  Even though ideology condemns love and refuses it as weakness, the living testimony of loving people continually turns love into a strength that conquers human hearts and wins them over. "Look at how they love." This saying of the pagans about the first Christians must once again apply to us! Then we will conquer the world.

  Thus Titus preached during the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 1939, ten months before the German army occupied the Netherlands. Titus's text is undoubtedly timeless. It reliably applies not only in dramatic historical circumstances but also in our personal lives – we are proof of this. Love attracts us – that’s why we are in Carmel! Love overcomes us – otherwise, we wouldn't be here. Even though our selfishness continues to resist, in the end, it will be overcome by love.
  This love was exemplified by Titus a few years later under the inhumane conditions of Nazi prisons. He was not just present there – he loved there and, as long as he could, showed practical love to his fellow prisoners, heard confessions, and prayed for his enemies.

  When the nurse came to kill Titus with a phenol injection because hospital beds needed to be freed and Titus's recovery and return to work was not realistic, he expressed his compassion towards her with great kindness. He also gave her his rosary and encouraged her to use it, even though she had already forgotten how to pray with the rosary. This sister later returned to her faith, and she attributed her conversion to the intercession of Father Titus. During the beatification process, she testified that his last words: "May your will be done, Lord, not mine," made a great impression on her.

  Titus's beatification took place in November 1985.

  To the glory of the altar matures the person who has gone through the pains of a concentration camp in Dachau and has emerged victorious from this trial: when hatred raged fully, he knew how to love.

  (John Paul II, beatification homily)

  Also, Titus's most famous text, which quickly spread among the prisoners and was a source of strength and comfort to them, speaks of love. Titus kept with him a small "holy picture" with a reproduction of the Crucifixion by Fra Angelico. At its bottom, St. Dominic is painted kneeling, embracing the cross and looking up at the Crucified. One February night in 1942, Titus captured a very personal prayer with a few lines, here in a free translation by Věra Fischer:

  Lord, when I look at your image, it seems,
  that I feel like an embrace from a friend;
  a precious gift and secured good
  I find so in my faithful love.
  (...)
  Stand by me, Jesus! May I never, Lord,
  know sorrow from our separation!
  Your beauty transforms everything into beauty,
  and enduring suffering seems so easy.

•  

  Day 9: “My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9)

  God, you did not take away the cup of suffering, fear, and weakness from Saint Titus. Through his intercession today, we bring you the powerlessness of all war victims and our own helplessness, and together we ask for your peace and just peace for Ukraine, Europe, and the whole world. Through Christ, our Lord.

  Experience of Weakness

  Saint Paul asked the Lord three times to remove from him the "thorn" of Satan that beat him in the face. The thorn of Paul paralyzed him and seemed incompatible with the service of Christ and his gospel. However, he received the answer: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor 12:9)

  Perhaps this also applies to holiness: holiness – of course, by grace – will manifest itself more clearly in weakness. In other words: holiness is all the more authentic the more it is a work of grace and not merely the result of our own asceticism, our effort, our struggle. Holiness is all the more authentic the more it is a granted part of God's holiness. Authentic holiness is never "self-manufactured holiness."

  Titus longed to love Jesus with a love strong unto death. He was, after all, well-prepared for suffering - since childhood he had fragile health and was afflicted by various unpleasant illnesses. A frequent theme of his reflections was the Crucified. He studied mystics all his life and knew that love is not demonstrated in ecstasies or uplifting experiences, but in suffering. He knew that suffering and dark nights would come. That they must come because they serve to purify our love from selfishness that inevitably mixes into our relationship with God.

  However, until then, Titus had lacked the experience that suffering could overpower a person. During one of the recollections, he encouraged the religious sisters:

  Do not serve the Lord with sighing. With a joyful face and courage, demonstrate how true the Lord’s words are: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light"... Keep a smile on your face and look upon suffering in a more noble light, in which suffering appears as a manifestation of God’s love for you and a reason for joy. Joy is not a virtue but an effect of the love with which pain is borne.

  Titus indeed bore pain with love and joy – at least when he began his way of the cross. He was an amazing support to all who met him in various prisons and camps. In their memories, he appears as little indomitable uncle Titus, a light in the darkness, a piece of goodness and love in a sea of malice and hatred.

  However, as suffering increased, health worsened, and physical, mental, and spiritual energies decreased. From the concentration camp in the Dutch Amersfoort, Titus was transferred to a filtering camp under the occupiers, in the German town of Kleve, from where transports to Dachau were sent out. The camp chaplain, P. Ludwig Deimel, admired Titus's peace, resignation, and, above all, the depth of his prayer despite total exhaustion. But a crisis came. P. Deimel convinced Titus to attempt to write a request that would take his health into account and change his punishment. Instead of being transported to the concentration camp in Dachau, he proposed internment in a Carmelite monastery in Germany, of course, without any possibility to act publicly.

  Two versions of this request have been preserved - a lengthy draft in which Titus openly writes about the hallucinations he has, about his inability to pray, about his own brokenness. And then the official, signed, and submitted request, which does not mention some sensitive aspects of Titus's crisis. Twelve years after Titus's martyred death and a year before the commencement of the beatification process, a book by Josse Alzin, "The Little Dangerous Monk," was published, in which Titus's crisis is described much more specifically and drastically than later biographers mention. Alzin writes that Titus overcame his fear, that he was unrecognizable, completely broken, trembling, and weeping like a child. The chaplain did not recognize the once battered, yet internally strong Carmelite.

  The day after the request was submitted, Titus was placed in the transport. In the morning, Father Deimel gave him Holy Communion. Then the list of transported prisoners was read aloud, and Titus was bound by his wrists to the others. Father Deimel could hardly believe it - Titus was again the person he had been before. With a gentle smile on his lips, he whispered to the priest as a farewell, "What can happen to me, if the Lord accompanies me?" This unexpected, humanly improbable transformation seemed to result from a miraculous saturation with the Eucharistic Lord.

  Titus's crisis neither diminishes nor threatens but rather proves the authenticity of his holiness. Titus's holiness thus becomes pure grace – it is not a victory of Titus's strength and will, but Jesus's victory in Titus's weakness, in Titus's defeat.

  Titus's experience of weakness is thus a reason for our hope that every fall of ours can be – and will be! – turned into Jesus's victory. That we too only need His grace, because holiness will thus manifest itself more clearly in weakness.

Brief Biography

Early Life

Anno Sjoerd Brandsma was born on February 23, 1881, in Oegesklooster, in the north of Holland, in the province of Friesland. His parents were named Tjitsje and Titus, and they had four daughters and two sons; Anno was the second youngest. Five of the six siblings chose a religious life, and Anno’s cousin later became a bishop.

The family owned a large farm, engaged in cattle breeding, milk and cheese production. Catholics were a complete minority in Friesland, and they had to protect their faith and culture. Anno’s father tried to do this both at home and in the local community, where he was politically active.

After completing high school at a Franciscan college, Anno entered the Carmel in Boxmeer. The Order was rapidly expanding at that time, with several new religious houses established in Holland. Anno began the novitiate with five peers in September 1898 and took the name of his father – Titus. He made his early vows in October 1899 and was ordained a priest on June 17, 1905.

In 1909, he received a doctorate in philosophy from the Gregorian University in Rome. He was drawn to the study of spirituality and journalism, which, along with his academic work, formed the mainstay of his career. Throughout his life, he had to cope with very fragile health.

Work and Mission

In 1923, Titus was one of the founders of the Catholic University of Nijmegen (now Radboud University), where he taught as a professor and assisted with administration; in 1932/33 he held the position of rector.

As a Carmelite, he endeavored to pass on the spirituality of the Order to those outside the academic community, traveling a lot with lectures. In 1935, he was invited on a lecture tour to the USA; these lectures were published in Czech under the title "The Beauty of Carmel" (KNA 1992). He also undertook several study trips to Spain (Teresa of Avila) and Germany (the stigmatized Teresa Neumann).

Journalism

Titus was also interested in journalism and publishing work. At the end of 1935, he became the spiritual advisor to the Union of Catholic Journalists (at that time, over twenty Catholic newspapers and many magazines were published in the country, with about 36% of the population identifying as Roman Catholic). He encouraged individual editorial offices to refuse to print Nazi propaganda and spoke out particularly against anti-Semitism. During the German invasion of Holland in May 1940, Titus was an advisor to the Archbishop of Utrecht, de Jong, a prominent opponent of Nazism. He urged bishops to clearly oppose the persecution of Jews and the violation of human rights. Through this action, he drew the attention of the occupying administration.

Imprisonment and Martyrdom

By opposing the Catholic press's acceptance of Nazi propaganda, Titus’s fate was sealed. Titus agreed to personally deliver a letter from the Dutch bishops to each editorial office, prohibiting compliance with the occupiers’ demands and the publication of official Nazi articles and announcements. Before his arrest on January 19, 1942, he managed to visit fourteen editorial offices.

Initially, Titus was interned in Scheveningen and Amersfoort; in June he was transferred to Dachau. Under the harsh regime of the concentration camp, his health deteriorated rapidly, and he was admitted to the hospital in the third week of July. He underwent medical experiments and was killed by a phenol injection on July 26, 1942. On the day of his death, the Dutch bishops issued a pastoral letter against the deportation of Jews (which became a pretext for the extermination of Jews who converted to Catholicism, e.g., Edith Stein).

Before his execution, he prayed to God for the sister who administered the lethal injection. He implored for her grace of repentance and gave her his rosary, even though she resisted, claiming that she had long since stopped practicing (it was forbidden by the Nazis for the Red Cross nurses). A few years later, this woman, longing for forgiveness, sought out the prior of Carmel and testified in the process that led to Titus’s beatification on November 3, 1985.

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