Titus Brandsma

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Titus Brandsma (1932)
Statue of Blessed Titus Brandsma in Nijmegen

F. Titus Brandsma O.Carm. (* On 23. February 1881 in Oegeklooster in Bolsward than Anno Sjoerd Brandsma ; † 26. July 1942 in the Dachau concentration camp ) was a Dutch - Frisian doctorate philosopher , a Roman Catholic theologian and Carmelite , of the resistance against the Nazis in the Netherlands active was. On November 3, 1985, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II . He is venerated as a martyr in the Catholic Church . His liturgical feast day is July 27th.

Life

Anno Sjoerd Brandsma, son of a dairy farmer and local politician, was baptized in the parish of St. Martin in Bolsward . After attending the Franciscan high school in Megen , he entered the Carmelite monastery in Boxmeer in September 1898 , where he took the religious name of Titus. He chose the Carmelites because he in a community with many monks wanted to live, and not with just one or two, as did the Franciscans there. In Boxmeer he studied with his future friend and mentor Driessen Hubertus philosophy . Titus Brandsma made his first vows in October 1899 and was ordained a priest on June 17, 1905 . He then studied on the recommendation of Eugenius Driessen , a professor of the Gregorian, and through the mediation of his brother Hubertus Driessen in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University and graduated with a doctorate in philosophy.

After his return to the Netherlands he became professor in the Carmelite seminary in Oss and later prior of the Carmelite monastery in Nijmegen . From 1922 he had the local priory built. Titus Brandsma was a great patron of the devotion to St. Boniface and campaigned for the creation of a Boniface shrine in Dokkum . For a long time he was an active member of the International Catholic Esperanto Association .

In 1923 he became professor at the newly founded Catholic University of Nijmegen and in 1932/33 Rector Magnificus . During this time, in addition to his work for the Dutch Carmelite Province, he also campaigned for the revival of the German and American Carmelite Province, where he made a lecture tour in 1935.

During this time he was appointed by the coadjutor of the Archbishop of Utrecht , Jan de Jong , as spiritual advisor to the staff of the more than thirty Catholic newspapers. P. Brandsma criticized the National Socialism that had come to power in Germany in his lectures. In the same vein he used his influence on the Catholic press. With the beginning of the German occupation of the Netherlands on May 10, 1940 and the onset of the persecution of the Jews , the Catholic resistance in the Netherlands announced on January 26, 1941 that it would refuse the sacraments to all supporters of the regime .

When the bishops of the Catholic Church refused to print Nazi propaganda in their newspapers, Father Titus Brandsma decided to personally hand over the instructions of the bishops to every Catholic newspaper writer. After he had reached 14 clerks, he was arrested on January 19, 1942 at the instigation of the Reich Commissioner in the Boxmeer monastery and held as a “red-minded political prisoner” in prisons in Scheveningen and in the transit camp in Amersfoort .

On June 19, 1942, he was deported to the Dachau concentration camp . Under forced labor , torture , abuse and malnutrition, his health rapidly deteriorated. In the third week of July he was admitted to the concentration camp infirmary. A concentration camp doctor carried out medical experiments with him there and finally gave him the lethal injection on July 26, 1942 at 1:50 p.m. Ten minutes later, Fr Brandsma was pronounced dead. According to a concentration camp medical death certificate for the relatives, Titus Brandsma died of intestinal catarrh .

personality

In his critical biography, the journalist Ton Crijnen ascribed Brandsma to vanity, irascibility, radical energy, political naivete, real charity, undemanding piety, energy and great personal courage. Brandsma unite modern ideas and outdated views, including a negative view of Judaism, with an absolute rejection of anti-Semitism in Nazism.

Quotes

“Of the many questions I ask myself, none move me more than the riddle that evolving man, confident and proud of his progress, turns away from God in so great numbers. It is incomprehensible that in our time we are confronted with such great advances in many areas with an epidemic rampant dishonor and denial of God. How could the image of God become so dark that so many are no longer touched by him? Is it just their fault? Or is there now an assignment to us to let it shine again in a brighter light over the world, and may we have the hope that the study of the concept of God will at least alleviate this greatest of all needs? "

- From the speech on the anniversary of the founding of the Catholic University of Nijmegen in 1932.

family

Many of Brandsma's family members were clergy and religious . His brother Heinricus was a Franciscan, his sisters Willebroda were Missionary Sister of the Precious Blood and Barbara was a Franciscan. One of his cousins ​​was Father GG Brandsma MHM, a bishop in Kenya.

Honors and commemorations

Inauguration of the Titus Brandsma Chapel in Nijmegen, 1960
  • 1985 Beatification by Pope John Paul II and veneration in the Catholic Church as a martyr.
  • The Titus Brandsma Museum in Bolsward has been commemorating Father Titus since 2003 .
  • The Stichting Archief- en Documentatiecentrum voor RK Friesland , also in Bolsward, has an extensive collection of sources on his life story in its archive.
  • In 2004 the former parish church of St. Josef in Nijmegen was handed over to the Carmelites and converted into the Titus Brandsma Memorial Church .
  • Although Titus Brandsma was not born in Nijmegen, the city's population voted him the “greatest citizen of all time” in a 2005 survey with just under 1,900 of the 4,000 votes cast.
  • Titus Brandsma was posthumously made an honorary citizen of Oss.
  • He is the patron saint of the Carmelite Monastery of Marienthal (Hamminkeln) .

literature

Web links

Commons : Titus Brandsma  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.lokalkompass.de/bedburg-hau/c-kultur/seliger-titus-brandsma-gedenkenag-27-juli_a6444
  2. ↑ See: Titus Brandsma, de Man achter de Mythe , 2008.
  3. ↑ Original text , translation RF
  4. ^ Titus Brandsmahuis , accessed on June 28, 2017.
  5. ↑ Titus Brandsma family research , accessed on June 28, 2017.
  6. ↑ https://www.bd.nl/oss/titus-brandsma-is-nu-officieel-ereburger-van-oss~aa3c2eaa/
personal data
SURNAME Brandsma, Titus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brandsma, Anno Sjoerd (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch theologian in the resistance against National Socialism, martyr
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Oegeklooster near Bolsward
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1942
Place of death Dachau concentration camp