A confusing era

Fr. Titus Brandsma’s faith in God was beyond doubt. His parents had given it to him and his life in the monastery strengthened that faith. So it was painful for him to realize that so many people no longer had any faith. In 1932, as Rector of the Catholic University at Nijmegen (Holland), he delivered the foundation day lecture, a speech that was later to become famous:
‘We are living in a time of great confusion in the realm of thought. The most antagonistic systems of thought are being held as truth and very famous scholars are vigorously defending them. But the most frightening conflict I see is in the way people think about God. While there are great numbers of people who still adore God with reverence, there are millions who find no basis for the notion of God; and, not satisfied with denying his existence, they are fighting to ban every idea of God from society.’

A conscious choice 

These were the years before the Second World War. Father Titus was unhappy at what he saw happening in the society of his times. He was intensively searching for an answer to the question about the experience of God and how people can be brought towards that kind of experience. He was also resisting more and more vigorously the ideas of National Socialism. When in 1941 the German occupiers were forcing the Dutch press to accept advertisements for the NSB (the Dutch National Socialist Movement), Fr. Titus went to visit all the Catholic Journals. During his visitation he tried to convince them all that they should not give any publicity to the NSB as a matter of principle. As expected his visits were considered by the occupier as an act of resistance – Titus was warned. On January 19, 1942 he was arrested in the Carmelite monastery in Nijmegen. He exchanged the cell of his monastery for a police-cell and his Via Crucis began.

On Sunday, July 26, 1962 he died in a barrack for sick people in the concentration camp at Dachau (Germany).

Action and contemplation

In the life of Fr. Titus action and contemplation, mysticism and politics were united. As a profoundly religious person, he was searching for God in prayer and in the faces of his contemporaries. Spirituality was not an abstract subject for him, but a living reality. As a Carmelite and professor he was studying mysticism and was living it out. He saw clearly what was necessary for the Church and society and he was fully committed to it. Also when it became hard he gave his life.

The remembrance that remains

In his life the Order of Carmel recognizes her ideal in the following of Christ. Everywhere in the world Titus seems now to be an inspirational figure to people: in formation; in the Church; among journalists and scholars, peace-workers and people in need; fighters for justice; the sick; the poor; and those who searching God. His remembrance is being given expression in many ways: in the Titus Brandsma Memorial in Nijmegen (Holland); in the Titus Brandsma Institute also in Nijmegen; in the Titus Brandsma Museum in Bolsward (Holland); in the Titus Brandsma Award for Journalists (Geneva-Switzerland); in the Titus Brandsma Award for Film-makers and TV programmers (Manila-Philippines); and also in the striving of many people for his canonisation by the Church, in Rome.