#sttitusbrandsma — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 20 August: St. Titus Brandsma

We must note the providential combination of the two great visions of the Prophet on Carmel and on Horeb. These two visions are intimately connected. The last is the crown of the first and supplies what was not yet given in the first (cf. 1 Kgs 18:20–46; 19:8–18).

While we admire Elias as he soars aloft in contemplation on Carmel, we must not forget that he had a human side as well, and on this side he is accessible to the very least among us.

He had called down fire on Carmel and rain on the parched land (1 Kgs 18:36–45), yet Jezebel, unrelenting in her evil, held Achab and his people in her thrall. She was all-powerful and eager for revenge (1 Kgs 19:1–2). And Elias, overcome with fear and disappointment, poured out all the misery of his soul to God: “It is enough, Lord, I pray You, take away my life” (1 Kgs 19:4).

In this connection we can hardly exaggerate the profound importance of God’s revelation to Elias on Horeb (1 Kgs 19:8–13). We should like to remark that the vision of Elias on Carmel bears the character of an enlightenment of the mind, an intellectual revelation, the disclosing of a mystery, the mystery of the Incarnation (cf. 1 Kgs 18:42–45). It is true that in this vision on Carmel there is not wanting a certain affection or attraction of the will, for we see the Prophet, under its impulse, borne before Achab to the capital town of Samaria (cf. 1 Kgs 18:46).

But this attraction, this affection of will, is of little importance in this vision. Above all, it is the communication of a mystery. In the vision of Horeb, however, the Prophet felt the spirit of God (cf. 1 Kgs 19:11–13). The first vision was, in the strict sense of the term, intellectual; the second, the breathing of the spirit of God. The latter completes the former.

After the first, the Prophet, even though his mind was illumined from on high, was still subject to weakness and despondency, and prayed that he might die (1 Kgs 19:4). In the second, he is strengthened and consoled and at peace (cf. 1 Kgs 19:11–18). These visions are intimately connected. So in the school of Carmel there is harmony between the intellectual illumination of the mind and the affective love of the heart.

While the schools of St. Bernard and St. Francis are schools of love, seraphic love, and the Dominican, intellectual, the school of Carmel achieves a happy mean, a harmony of both.

Surely those who dwell in Carmel would have caught from the flame a spark of the love and zeal which burned in the great Prophet. Fire is the most expressive symbol of love. “I am come to cast fire on the earth” (Lk 12:49). It is this fire which enveloped Elias when, according to the witness of Scripture, he was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot (2 Kgs 2:11). Wrapped in that seraphic flame he is taken from earth.

Carmel must ever feel that glow of its founder’s zeal. It is the mark of the true follower of Elias. It burns in all the Carmelite saints. Especially do we see it in the soul of seraphic St. Teresa of Avila. The smouldering fires that burned in the soul of “this undaunted daughter of desires” are Carmel’s greatest witness to the spirit of Elias. In these great souls have been fulfilled the Prophet’s words which encircle the Order’s escutcheon: “With zeal I have been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts” (1 Kgs 19:10, 14).

Saint Titus Brandsma

Carmelite Mysticism: Historical Sketches
Lecture I: “In the Spirit and Strength of Elias”

Editorial note: In 1 Kings 18:46, Elijah runs before Achab to Jezreel. Brandsma identifies the destination as Samaria; his wording has been retained.

Brandsma, T 1936, Carmelite Mysticism. Historical Sketches. I, Writings of Titus Brandsma, Titus Brandsma Institute Nijmegen, viewed 18 August 2026, https://www.titusbrandsmateksten.nl/carmelite-mysticism-historical-sketches-i/.

Featured image: The Prophet Elijah ascending to heaven in a chariot of fire, stained glass. Stella Maris Monastery, Haifa, Israel. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (By permission)

Quote of the day, 3 August: Saints Titus and Edith

Early on Thursday, March 12, a police officer entered Titus’ cell to announce: “In the name of the Supreme Commander of the Security Police I inform you that you are to follow me. You are leaving for the camp in Amersfoort. Transport is waiting.”

Titus had scarcely time to pick up his books, his pen and papers, his pajamas … Amersfoort! He was already nostalgic as he abandoned his cell-become-hermitage, a place where he had passed hours of intensely spiritual experience. He had barely grabbed his things when a soldier slammed the door behind him. In the central yard, Titus found at least a hundred prisoners in formation; on command, they climbed into canvas-covered trucks for the trip to the concentration camp at Amersfoort, in the interior of the Netherlands. The vehicles formed a caravan under the guard of the SS Police. 

Father Miguel Arribas, O.Carm.

The Price of Truth, ch. VIII

Nearly five months later, Saint Edith Stein and her sister Rosa were taken to the same camp:

[After Edith and Rosa’s arrest on Sunday, August 2] their route had been as follows. In the police van, they went from Echt to the headquarters at Roermond. In the evening they left in two police vans, one carrying thirteen and the other seventeen people. The destination was Amersfoort, but the driver missed his way, and they did not arrive until three in the morning.

Sister Teresia Renata Posselt, O.C.D.

Edith Stein, ch. 21

Note: Sr. Teresia Renata notes that “usually this journey takes three to four hours. Apparently, the driver took the good road through Nijmegen, Arnhem, and then followed the main road from Utrecht to The Hague. Between Arnhem and Utrecht they left the main road and did not get back again, that is understandable enough in view of the blackout. The prisoners remained in the Amersfoort Camp from early on Monday until Tuesday evening [3–4 August].”

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Posselt, T 2005, Edith Stein: The Life of a Philosopher and Carmelite, translated from the German by Batzdorff S, Koeppel J, and Sullivan J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: This commemorative stone is located at the historic site of the Nazi transit camp at Amersfoort, Netherlands. The inscription says, “They who were killed here in the years 1940–1945 have consecrated this ground with their blood. May their sacrifice be a shining example to posterity.” Image credit: Dan Dunn, d0mokun / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

Quote of the day, 27 July: St. Titus Brandsma

Now, as never before, the eyes of the world are turned toward Carmel. In its garden a flower has opened its petals, of such ravishing beauty that countless numbers have directed their step hither, wishing to remain in the pleasance where such lovely flowers bloom. They examine anew the secrets of this beauty and once more ask themselves of what the loveliness of Carmel consists. This one flower has in turn drawn attention to so many others that the world has been filled with admiration for life in Carmel and on all sides new convents have been founded in order to fill the world with those sanctuaries in which one may live so saintly a life.

I refer to the flower of Lisieux, Little St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, whose name has flown over the world, whose life’s story has been translated into all languages, who is called by God to add new lustre to the glory of Carmel.

I should like to mention that her ideal on the ‘Little Way’ was Our Lady. Two words of Mary were deeply impressed on her memory: Ecce ancilla Domini – “Behold the handmaid of the Lord”. From her youth she had a fervent, childlike devotion for Our Lady. Her statue stood in front of her in the small room of her paternal home, and it seemed to her as if it smiled down upon her. She entered the Order of Carmel to be her child and to imitate her especially in her union with Our Lord. Just as the life of Our Lady was ordinary and consisted of a series of the most common, everyday acts, so Therese wishes her own life to be.

If God had looked down with such great complacency on the humility of Our Lady and had even wished to descend into her, then He would also look down with pleasure upon her, if only she tried to grow a little like Mary. Mary surrendered herself unreservedly to God’s wishes through her “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to Thy Word.” So little Therese gave herself unreservedly to God, wishing to please Him only, to trust Him, to be His alone. Like Our Lady who was not disturbed when Joseph did not understand her condition, but left the explanation of this mystery to God, so little Therese gave everything into God’s hands with a limitless confidence.

God had also descended upon her, she also saw God slumbering in her. She also wanted to taste of union with God with the same delicacy as that with which Mary enjoyed this delight. But just as the descent of God into Our Lady at once incited her to an act of humility, made her go to Elizabeth, Therese likewise wanted her union with God, her surrender to Him, to manifest itself in humble acts of charity. Therefore, she best liked to hear Our Lady praised as the example of all virtues.

Saint Titus Brandsma

The Apostolate of Carmelite Mysticism
Lecture delivered in North America, 1936

Brandsma, T 1936, ‘The Apostolate of Carmelite Mysticism’, Carmelite Mysticism: Historical Sketches, pp. 102–113, viewed 25 July 2026, https://www.titusbrandsmateksten.nl/carmelite-mysticism-historical-sketches-ix/.

Featured image: © Natalie Ewert (All rights reserved), used by permission.

27 July: Saint Titus Brandsma

July 27
SAINT TITUS BRANDSMA
Priest and Martyr

Optional Memorial

Born in Bolsward (The Netherlands) in 1881, Saint Titus Brandsma joined the Carmelite Order as a young man. Ordained a priest in 1905, he earned a doctorate in philosophy in Rome. He then taught in various schools in Holland and was named professor of philosophy as Rector Magnificus. He was noted for his constant availability to everyone. He was a professional journalist, and in 1935 he was appointed the ecclesiastical advisor to Catholic journalists. Both before and during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands he fought, faithful to the Gospel, against the spread of Nazi ideology and for the freedom of Catholic education and of 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 humiliation, he was killed at Dachau. He was beatified in 1985 and canonized by Pope Francis on 15 May 2022.

From the Common of One Martyr, except the following:

Office of Readings

The Second Reading (Alternative 1)

Introduction to Het lijden vergoddelijkt

From the writings of Saint Titus Brandsma

The mysticism of the Passion

Jesus called Himself the head of the Mystical Body, of which we are the members. He is the vine, we are the branches. He laid Himself in the winepress and Himself trod it. He handed us the wine so that, drinking it, we might lead His life, might share His suffering. Whoever wishes to do My Will, let him daily take up his cross. Whoever follows me has the light of life. I am the way, He said. I have given you an example, so that as I have done so you may do also. And when His disciples did not understand that His way would be a way of suffering, He explained this to them and said, “Should not the Christ so suffer, in order to enter into His glory?”

Then the hearts of the disciples burned within them. God’s word had set them on fire. And when the Holy Spirit had descended on them to fan that divine fire into flame, then they were glad to suffer scorn and persecution, whereby they resembled Him Who had preceded them on the way of suffering.

The prophets had already marked His way of suffering; the disciples now understood that He had not avoided that way. From the crib to the cross, suffering, poverty and lack of appreciation were His lot. He had directed His whole life to teaching people how different is God’s view of suffering, poverty and lack of human appreciation from the foolish wisdom of the world. After sin, suffering had to follow so that, through the cross, man’s lost glory and life with God might be regained. Suffering is the way to heaven. In the cross is salvation, in the cross is victory. God willed it so. He Himself assumed the obligation of suffering in view of the glory of redemption. St. Paul makes it clear to us how all the disasters of this earthly life are insignificant, how they must be considered as nothing and passing, in comparison with the glory that will be revealed to us when the time of suffering is past, and we come to share in God’s glory.

Mary, who kept all God’s words in her heart, in the fullness of grace granted her, understood the great value of suffering. While the apostles fled, she went out to meet the Savior on the way to Calvary and stood beneath the cross, in order to share His grief and shame to the end. And she carried Him to the grave, firmly trusting that He would rise.

We object when He hands us the chalice of His suffering. It is so difficult for us to resign ourselves to suffering. To rejoice in it strikes us as heroic. What is the value of our offering of self if we unite ourselves each morning only in word and gesture, rather than in thought and will, to that offering which we, together with the Church, make of Him with whom we are in the one body?

Jesus once wept over Jerusalem.

Oh, that this day you had known the gift of God!

Oh, that day we might realize the value God has placed on the suffering He sends: He, the All-Good.

Responsory

R/. God forbid that I glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, * by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
V/. We preach Christ crucified, to others a stumbling block and a folly, but to us the power and the wisdom of God, * by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Prayer

Lord our God, source and giver of life,
you gave to Saint Titus the Spirit of courage
to proclaim human dignity and the freedom of the Church,
even in the throes of degrading persecution and death.
Grant us that same Spirit
so that in the coming of your kingdom of justice and peace
we might never be ashamed of the Gospel
but be enabled to recognize your loving-kindness
in all the events of our lives.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.

Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.

Quote of the day, 2 July: St. Titus Brandsma

The Order of Carmel is not only contemplative. The active life of the apostolate is not alien to the spirit of Carmel. There are times when the priests of Carmel must engage in the active life of the church; when God must be forsaken for the sake of God. This was implied when the Order was given the status of a Mendicant Order. Henceforth, its life must be mixed.

Even the fiercest advocate of the contemplative life, Father General Nicholas Gallus [Nicholas the Frenchman], successor of St. Simon Stock, avows in his Ignea Sagitta that not only then (about 1275) but even before that time the hermits of Carmel, as circumstances demanded, left not only their cells but their cloisters also and descended from the Mountain to devote themselves to the work of the active Apostolate.

However, this was an exception, since the Rule laid down that “The monks should remain in their cells or near them, day and night meditating on the law of the Lord.” Maneant singuli in cellulis suis … die ac nocte in lege Domini meditantes, vel in orationibus vigilantes, nisi aliis justis occasionibus occupantur, “unless they are engaged in other legitimate works”.

But the principal point to remember is that the school of Carmel, while rating at its highest the cure of souls in the world, cannot forget that it is called to a higher vocation. Elias was called to a life of prayer in the midst of a life of intense activity, yet he is one of the greatest Prophets of the Old Testament. His life and prayer tell us that his prayer was the strength of his life.

So the contemplative prayer of the Carmelite is also the strength of the active apostolate. The influence of the contemplative soul is not withheld from the apostolate. In the mystical Body of Christ—we shall see that more clearly in the last lecture [“The Apostolate of Carmelite Mysticism,” Lecture IX]—the prayers and sacrifices of the contemplatives represent an organ of high value.

So there is no opposition of the contemplative life to the active. The former is the great support of the latter. The mystical life is in the highest sense apostolic. Without activity, it has the greatest influence. St. Teresa of Avila, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, and especially the little St. Therese of Lisieux teach us the apostolate of prayer. Many Carmels are considered the real centers of missionary work, not because of their activity but because of their contemplative life.

Saint Titus Brandsma

Carmelite Mysticism, II, “The Hermits of Carmel”

Note: This lecture is published in Carmelite Mysticism. Historical Sketches, which was published in Chicago in 1936. In the summer of 1935, Saint Titus Brandsma gave lectures in the United States. Among others, he was in Washington, Chicago, and Niagara Falls to speak about Carmelite mysticism. See also the design for these lectures in Carmelite Mysticism. Ten Lectures.

Featured image: Ruins of the first Carmelite monastery in the Wadi Es-Siah on Mount Carmel overlooking the Mediterranean. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (by permission).

Quote of the day, 19 June: St. Titus Brandsma

Cardinal Gasquet once characterized Carmelites as simplices et sinceri (single-minded and sincere). “This,” commented Titus, “is the most beautiful compliment we can receive. Truly, our mission is not to do great things, but to do little things with greatness.”

It was in this spirit that Professor Brandsma learned to combine incredible activity with total fidelity. Completely dedicated to his community, he participated fully in its life down to the least details.   

Brother Raphael Tijhuis, who was already a prisoner in Dachau when Titus arrived and who was with him until he was forced to enter the “infirmary,” echoed the opinion of most of his confreres:

“The spiritual life of Fr. Titus was very intense, yet so interior that it did not cause comment among his fellow Carmelites. His interior life was lived in the full and exact observance of community life. Both in the quiet of the chapel and in the privacy of his room he always sought a closer and more personal contact with God. …  He lived precisely according to the spirit of the Rule of St. Albert. …  Everything required by obedience he did well and wholeheartedly.”

The testimony of his brother Carmelites during the Process of Beatification is consistent: there was no place Titus would rather have been than his priory. Once home he could leave his agitated, nearly feverish lifestyle behind and find peace and calm. Titus himself explained: “For me community life is indispensable because it provides the framework for the rest of the day.”

Father Miguel Maria Arribas, O.Carm.

Chapter VI, Seeking God

Note: Saint Titus Brandsma arrived in Dachau from Kleve Transport Camp on 19 June 1942. He died by an intravenous injection of carbolic acid on 26 July 1942 at 2:00 p.m.

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: In February 2011, photographer Payam Fahr captured this image of the Dachau gate in the midday sunlight. Image credit: payam_fahr / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

Quote of the day, 13 June: St. Titus Brandsma

On June 12 [1942], Titus was told that, along with other prisoners, he would be leaving Kleve for Dachau the following day. The next morning forty prisoners were lined up in front of the prison, chained two by two, awaiting the order to march to the station and board the train that would take them to Dachau.

His eyes clouded by tears, the chaplain kept his eyes fixed on Titus, who appeared full of some inner fortitude and suffused with an inner light. As the Carmelite passed close to him, he heard him say, without looking at him directly, “Goodbye, my good friend. Nothing bad can happen to me, because the Lord is with me.”

The previous evening Fr. Deimel had brought Titus Holy Communion. Now Titus would imitate the great Patriarch of Carmel, the Prophet Elijah, who—persecuted for his defense of the true religion, exhausted and on the point of collapse—with the strength of bread provided by an angel, was able to walk forty days and forty nights to the Mountain of God (1 Kgs 19:7–8).

Titus, strengthened by the Eucharist, set out along the final stretch of his Way of the Cross.

Miguel Arribas, O.Carm.

Chapter XI, A break along the way

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: Newsclip from the 26 February 1942 edition of the New York Daily News. Clipping courtesy of newspapers.com

Quote of the day, 10 April: St. Titus Brandsma

Professor Brandsma took advantage of vacations to visit other countries for study. He was most attracted by Spain, the native land of St. Teresa of Avila. He felt a special attraction for her and her way of living out the spirit of Carmel. 

During the Easter Break of 1929, and months before the first Congress [on mysticism in Nijmegen], he had gone to Spain to study similarities between Spanish and Flemish mysticism. He visited Barcelona, Burgos, Madrid, Toledo, Seville, Jerez de la Frontera, and Avila; he spent time in archives, libraries, and museums. 

In some Carmelite friaries, he lectured on Carmel’s rich heritage, but he also took pains to make contact with the simple faithful whose culture and spirit had contributed so much to the 16th-century reform of the Order.

Father Simón Besalduch, a well-known Carmelite scholar and author, accompanied Titus through Catalonia; while there, they visited the rector of the University of Barcelona and the Monastery of Montserrat. Recalling this latter visit, Fr. Simón wrote:

We visited the monastery, and the monks put whatever he wanted to see at his disposal. … He conversed with the Benedictines in Dutch, French, German, and Spanish. What tremendous devotion he showed while visiting the church and listening to the Gregorian chant of the monks! … Later, as we were strolling along the mountain trails, our dear Father expressed, as though a projection of his inner being, what was in his heart; and he did so with such vitality that it seemed he was dreaming out loud. He spoke of grand proposals that came together in a single ideal: the flourishing of the Order he so dearly loved. We still have so much to do, he said, in order to become what our fathers were. We need to increase vocations. … We need a comprehensive library that is available to Carmelites of the entire world. … We need a multi-lingual journal that will publish in all the major languages. … We need so much, so much, so much.

Miguel Maria Arribas, O.Carm.

Chapter IV, At the university (excerpt)

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: Detail from a photograph of St. Titus Brandsma as Rector Magnificus of the Catholic University of Nijmegen. Titus served in this role from 1932–1933. Image credit: Carmelites (used with permission of the Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut).

Quote of the day, 12 March: St. Titus Brandsma

Early on Thursday, March 12, a police officer entered Titus’ cell to announce: “In the name of the Supreme Commander of the Security Police, I inform you that you are to follow me. You are leaving for the camp in Amersfoort. Transport is waiting.”

In the central yard, Titus found at least a hundred prisoners in formation; on command, they climbed into canvas-covered trucks for the trip to the concentration camp at Amersfoort, in the interior of the Netherlands. The vehicles formed a caravan under the guard of the SS Police. 

At nine o’clock in the morning, the convoy pulled into the central square of the concentration camp at Amersfoort. Guards bellowed orders: “Out quickly! Form a line and prepare for inspection!”

There the bedraggled group stood, from nine in the morning until one o’clock that afternoon, buffeted unmercifully by a frigid north wind, their feet covered with a heavy blanket of snow. All prisoners began their stay in Amersfoort standing in formation for hours, sometimes as many as eighteen. This was a practice favored by the Nazis to break the spirit of new arrivals. And it worked. How better impress on these unfortunates that they were worthless, useless dregs of humanity. When their masters finally deigned to remember they existed, it would be only to issue some new command.

On the day of Titus’ arrival, the order came at one o’clock: strip, and leave all personal effects aside. Totally naked in the frigid winter air, the prisoners were formed into groups of ten and then continued to wait. Finally, they were ordered to put on the camp’s “uniform,” rag-tag surplus remnants from the old Dutch army: pants and military jacket, worn years before by youthful, in shape soldiers; the clothing literally swallowed up Titus’ slight form. The ensemble was completed by an overcoat, which would be taken away on March 21, the first day of spring, even though in the Netherlands it would still be quite cold, and in 1942, very rainy as well.

The prisoners would spend entire days with their clothes and shoes soaked: camp regulations must be followed. Along with the uniform, each prisoner was given a number—Titus was issued Nº 58—and a colored triangle to be sewn onto the jacket pocket. As a political prisoner, Titus was assigned a red one.

Miguel Maria Arribas, O.Carm.

Chapters VIII and IX (excerpts)

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: A portrait drawing of Fr. Titus when he was imprisoned at Amersfoort Transit Camp 12 March to 28 April 1942. The artist, John Dons, captures the complete sadness of the concentration camp yet sees with Fr. Titus a willing acceptance of pain and a profound inner peace. John Dons was later executed. Image credit: Carmelites (used with permission of the Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut)

Quote of the day, 6 March: St. Titus Brandsma

Again, my greetings from cell 577, where I have been for more than six weeks. I am growing accustomed to it. I am getting along, and my health is holding up. 

On the 21st, I had a bit of a temperature along with some pain, and I was afraid the bladder and kidney inflammation was returning as it did in December 1939. I asked to see a doctor, but when he showed up the next day, I was already much better. Now I am fine. 

Mentally, I am not suffering: I feel no need for either tears or sighs. Indeed, I even sing a bit, softly, of course. The worst thing is the nights: I cannot sleep so many hours, and so I lie awake much of the time.

Saint Titus Brandsma

Letter to his religious community and family, 5 March 1942
Chapter VIII, Apologia from prison (excerpt)

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: A portrait drawing of Saint Titus Brandsma when he was imprisoned at Amersfoort Transit Camp (March 12-April 28, 1942). The artist, John Dons, captured the complete sadness of the concentration camp, yet he saw in Titus a willing acceptance of pain and a profound inner peace. Dons was later executed. Image credit: Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut / Carmelite General Curia (used by permission)

Quote of the day, 27 February: Saint Titus Brandsma

Christ’s message of peace is, “Love those who hate you, do good to those who persecute you” (Cf. Mt 5:43-48). “If you do good to those who do good to you, what merit is there in that? So do the Gentiles. But I say to you, do good also to those who do evil to you” (Cf. Lk 6:27-36).

I know that for many in today’s society this word is the voice of someone crying in the wilderness, but to you who love peace, who understand with me that this peace must ultimately grow from the moral disposition of the many who make up the people themselves, may I make this word of Christ heard as an indication — certainly radical, even difficult to carry out, but nevertheless striking — of the direction in which our work for peace must go.

I repeat, our peacemaking efforts must be based on social reform. In society, the sound principles of love and forgiveness must once again come to flower and enter into general practice.

Saint Titus Brandsma

Vrede en vredelievendheid, no. 8 (excerpt)
Speech in the Mountain Church of St. Nicholas, Deventer, Netherlands
11 November 1931

Titus Brandsma Institute & Nederlandse Provincie Karmelieten 2018, Vrede en Vredelievendheid, viewed 25 February 2026, https://www.titusbrandsmateksten.nl/vrede-en-vredelievendheid/.

Featured image: Max is wearing a cap from LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR, a social fashion label based in Switzerland. Founded by David Togni and now owned by Carole Zimmerli, 100% of sales revenue goes to humanitarian projects of the LYN Foundation. Image credit: Nina Strehl / Unsplash (Stock photo)

Quote of the day, 23 February: St. Titus Brandsma

“Following orders, today I was forced to declare that I am not a member of the Jewish race. Obviously, I am pure Frisian. But this is very painful for the Jews. I must stand alongside them.”

St. Titus Brandsma
27 October 1941

The fire never died out in Oegeklooster on the frigid night between 21-22 February 1881. The Brandsmas were impatiently awaiting the birth of a new shoot. It would be their fifth.

The newcomer was born in the early hours of 23 February, and his arrival filled the entire family of hardworking farmers with joy. It was a boy, another pair of hands to work their enormous farm.

Overcome with gratitude the father fell to his knees, thanking God because at last his four daughters had been joined by the hoped-for male heir. Following this newborn son, there was to be another brother.

Everyone who saw the infant praised his delicate complexion and agreed that he looked like his mother.

In accord with the old ways, that same afternoon the entire family hurried to the parish church to baptize the newcomer. He was given typically Frisian names: Anno Sjoerd. St. Anno had been a famous Bishop of Cologne who had founded monasteries in the northern part of Europe around 1056.

Miguel Arribas, O.Carm.

Chapter 1, A shoot from good stock (excerpt)

Note: Anno Sjoerd Brandsma was born to Tjitsje and Titus Brandsma on 23 February 1881 at Wonseradeel in Friesland, a province in the very north of Holland. The Brandsma family consisted of four girls and two boys, of which Titus was the second youngest. Five of the siblings would later enter religious life.

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: Saint Titus Brandsma is seen standing next to his mother, Tjitje, who is seated on his right and wearing a traditional Dutch hat. On Titus’ left is his sister Gatske, perhaps with her daughter Trees (standing). The occasion and place are unknown. Image credit: Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut / Carmelite General Curia (used by permission)

Quote of the day, 29 January: Saint Titus Brandsma

On Thursday morning, January 29, it was the feast day of St. Francis de Sales, gentle patron saint of journalists. I had cleaned my pipe and had lighted it for my morning walk when a German soldier entered with a new order. I had to hand over tobacco and cigars, pipe and matches. I was not allowed to smoke any more.

Luckily I happened to think of the mild Francis de Sales, otherwise, I might have said something unkind. I emptied my pipe and gave it up. The soldier said in pity that it was not his fault. I understood. To comfort me, he said that I could keep the other things—books, paper, and so on—which is very fortunate. They will profit me more, though I miss my pipe and cigar. I deleted “smoking” from the daily timetable and the day went on.

Saint Titus Brandsma

Letter from Scheveningen Prison
Saturday 31 January 1942

EWTN (n.d.) Last days of Titus Brandsma: Letters written in prison. Available at: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/last-days-of-titus–letters-written-in-prison-5607 (Accessed: 27 January 2026).

Featured image: “pijp en tabakszak van Titus Brandsma” (Titus Brandsma’s pipe and tobacco pouch) is a photo by the 23 dingen voor musea project. The saint’s pipe and tobacco pouch are from the collection of artifacts at the Dokkum Museum in Dokkum, Netherlands. Image credit: 23dingenvoormusea / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

#journalist #Nazism #prison #smoking #StTitusBrandsma

Quote of the day, 31 December: St. Titus Brandsma

In his Explanation of “The Living Flame of Love”, St. John of the Cross draws the Holy Mother of God as clearly as possible into the circle of his metaphor clarifying the mystical life.

Speaking of the shining of the Lamps of God in us and our intake of the divine Light, which means as much as participating in God’s characteristics and works, he says that this bears still another name, i.e. “to overshadow”.

And in connection to this, he reminds (us) that also the Archangel Gabriel called the exquisite privilege of Mary to conceive God’s Son, an overshadowing of the Holy Spirit [Cf. Lk 1:35]. 

If one wants to understand, the Saint thus follows, what is meant by that spreading of God’s shadow or that overshadowing or that shining, for all these expressions have an equal meaning, then one should remember that every creature evokes a shadow according to its own nature and capacity. A dark opaque object gives an obscure shadow: a bright translucent object a clear and transparent shadow.

Thus, the shadow of something dark will call forth a different darkness, darker to the extent that its cause is also darker, while the shadow of something bright will be light according to the nature of the original light.

Therefore, the shadow brought forth by the lamp of God’s beauty will be a different beauty, the shadow by the lamp of strength a different strength, etc. or better said, all these shadows will be the beauty itself, the strength itself of God, but in shadow, because the soul here on earth cannot perfectly understand or take God into itself.

Over Mary, the Holy Spirit came in all his fullness, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her in the most perfect way [Cf. The Living Flame of Love, III, 12].

Saint Titus Brandsma

Mary’s motherhood of God, leading idea in the mystical life (excerpt), Carmelrozen 20 (May 1931), pp. 11–15

Brandsma, T. 1931, Mary’s motherhood of God, leading idea in the mystical life (excerpt), Carmelrozen, vol. 20, May, pp. 11–15. English translation by the Titus Brandsma Instituut, Nijmegen, available at: https://www.titusbrandsmateksten.nl/marys-motherhood-of-god/

Featured image: The Virgin and Child (detail), after Raphael (1483–1520), oil on canvas. Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery (public domain).

#BlessedVirginMary #MotherOfGod #overshadow #StJohnOfTheCross #StTitusBrandsma

Quote of the day, 26 December: St. Titus Brandsma

This cold, naked cell needed a little decoration, so I have made myself a tiny altar, if you can call it that. I found a checkerboard with frame in the cell, and since I had no desire to play checkers, I wrapped it in a piece of paper and with a pin—I am not permitted to have a pocket knife or scissors—I made some tiny slits and inserted three holy cards from my breviary in them: “Christ on the Cross” by Fra Angelico in the middle; St. Teresa of Avila with her motto “To suffer or to die” on one side; and on the other St. John of the Cross with his motto “Lord, to suffer and be despised for You.”

Saint Titus Brandsma
“Diary of a Prisoner—My Cell”
Scheveningen Prison, 23 January 1942

Titus Brandsma, martyr, that is, one who has witnessed with his blood, in other words with his life, to his faith in Jesus Christ, Son of God and savior of mankind. Thus does Paul speak of the first martyr, Stephen: “While the blood of your witness, Stephen, was being spilled, I stood by” (Acts 22:20).

The suffering and death of Titus Brandsma have been recognized by the Church as a witness to his faith. He has been given us by the Church as a model of faith, as an intercessor for us, for the people of our time whose faith suffers violence.

Thus we honor him in the liturgy, in the worship of the Church, as a witness for Jesus Christ. The witness of his death was the completion and crown of the witness the whole life of Father Titus lived. He strove to be wholly filled with Jesus Christ. His person was a witness for Christ….

At the beginning of this sermon I referred to Stephen, the first martyr. In the account in the Acts of the Apostles of the death of Stephen, there are various traits which recall the account of Christ’s passion.

Stephen’s last prayer was, “Lord, do not account this a sin for them” (Ac 7:60). Christ on the cross heard the prayer of the good thief. “This day you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43).

Saint Titus in his suffering and death was the image of reconciliation. To the one who gave him the mortal injection, he gave the only thing he had been able to keep: his rosary. The peace and joy of his countenance witnessed to reconciliation and love. This expression of union with God, and of reconciliation and union with men issuing from it, was not lost even on those who killed him.

The martyrs, witnesses to faith in and love for Jesus Christ—Titus in particular for our time—are the sign and foundation of reconciliation in the midst of the mystery of evil. Defunctus adhuc loquitur. In death, he speaks to us yet.

Cardinal Johannes Willebrands

Homily, First Mass of Thanksgiving (excerpts)
Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, 4 November 1985

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

#martyr #prison #reconciliation #StStephenMartyr #StTitusBrandsma

Quote of the day, 10 December: St. Titus Brandsma

As Mr. Steffen was locking me in my cell at Arnhem, I remarked, jokingly, that it was certainly unusual for a man to be put in jail at sixty years of age. His reply was comforting: ‘You should not have accepted the archbishop’s commission.’ I was finally sure of the real reason for my arrest.

Saint Titus Brandsma

For some thirty years, Titus Brandsma was once again on trial; this time it was not for the crime of sabotage but for the evaluation of his courage and virtue. The process of canonization put its seal on his spiritual victory, much as the Nazi process had placed its seal, albeit unintentionally, on his moral victory through death in the camp.

The diocesan process began on January 11, 1955, in Nijmegen, the Diocese of Den Bosch. The investigation was based on the sworn testimony of some fifty eyewitnesses to his life and martyrdom: a cardinal, two bishops, four professors from the Catholic University, and most especially inmates from the prisons and concentration camps where he had been held. Among these latter were four non-Catholics and a few agnostics.

From his family there was the testimony of his brother, Fr. Hendrik, a Franciscan priest; his sister, Gatske; and the lawyer, Asuerus Brandsma.

Most important of all was the testimony of the SS nurse, known to us only as Tizia, from the extermination camp of Dachau. Her deposition was taken in 1956. The impact of her confession extended even beyond the canonical procedure: its importance is unparalleled for any honest judgment of the nature of Nazism.

Miguel María Arribas, O.Carm.

The Price of Truth, chapters 8, 14 (excerpts)

Note: On 10 December 1973, Titus Brandsma’s cause was accepted by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints as truly involving martyrdom.

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: This photograph of the Dachau gate was captured in February 2011. Image credit: payam_fahr / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

#congregationForTheCausesOfTheSaints #dachau #martyrdom #stTitusBrandsma #testimonies

Quote of the day, 3 November: St. Titus Brandsma

The Security Office of the Reich in Berlin published the official accusation against Professor Brandsma: he had obstructed the plans of the victorious German nation for the Netherlands through his influence on the Catholic press. Providentially, all the documentation of the entire process against Titus Brandsma was preserved. It concludes:

The arrest of Professor Brandsma was necessary and it took place on January 19, 1942. The following day he was interrogated in this office concerning his activities. As Brandsma himself admits, Archbishop De Jong and he himself are the individuals principally responsible for the sabotage of the uniform orientation we are attempting to provide for the Dutch people through the press. The directive for all Catholics to cancel their subscriptions to periodicals that obeyed our orders would have a deleterious effect on the Dutch people. The security measures that we Germans have taken with regard to the press have been systematically sabotaged due to the activity of Professor Brandsma, who has no other purpose than to discredit the German government and Dutch National-Socialism. It is my recommendation that this case result in the prolonged preventive arrest (Schutzhaft) of the Professor.

In spite of his role in Titus’s condemnation, [Nazi judge Paul Hardegen] appeared to respect him. A few months later, Hardegen himself told one of Titus’ friends: “He was a real man. He was convinced that he was defending Christianity against National-Socialism.”

In all probability, Hardegen did not realize that he could have given Titus no greater praise; his words confirmed that Titus was worthy of the crown of a Christian martyr.

Miguel María Arribas, O.Carm.

The Price of Truth, ch. 8

Note: It was ten o’clock on the morning of Sunday, 3 November 1985, when Pope John Paul II proclaimed the words of beatification: “We, by our apostolic authority, declare that the Venerable Servant of God, Titus Brandsma, may from now on be called Blessed, and that his feast may be celebrated…” 

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: Newsclip from the 26 February 1942 edition of the New York Daily News. Clipping courtesy of newspapers.com

#beatification #martyr #Nazism #StTitusBrandsma #WorldWarII

Quote of the day, 21 October: St. Titus Brandsma

On 3 October 1899, Frater Titus made his solemn profession, one more stage on his long ascent to the summit of Mount Carmel. It was a journey that would last all his life, a promise, taken under oath, to keep the religious vows as a Brother of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.

During the solemn community ceremony, the novices were once again asked to affirm their intentions. Then, one by one, they made their profession.  It is recalled that Titus pronounced every word clearly:

I, Frater Titus Brandsma, make my profession and promise obedience, poverty, and chastity to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, and to the Most Reverend Ludovico Galli, Prior General of the Order of the Brothers of the same Blessed Virgin Mary and to his successors, according to the Rule of the aforesaid Order, until death.

The Provincial, Fr. Joseph Kerstens, then proclaimed this admonition: “Render unto God a sacrifice of praise.” And the community responded: “And fulfill your vows to the Lord.” The newly professed concluded with the words:

I will offer my vows to God in the presence of all His people, in the courtyards of the House of the Lord. I, Frater Titus, promise moreover to profess literally these Constitutions of the strict observance, confirmed by Pope Innocent X and, with the grace of God, to observe them faithfully.

Each of the newly professed signed a written copy of his vows and placed it in the hands of his superior.

Miguel Maria Arribas, O.Carm.

Chapter 2, Formation

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: St. Titus Brandsma appears in this photo wearing the full habit of the Carmelite Order, including the white mantle. At this moment, he was a seminarian studying theology, aged 22. Image credit: Carmelites (used with permission of the Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut)

#religiousLife #religiousProfession #StTitusBrandsma #vocation #vows

Quote of the day, 21 September: St. Titus Brandsma

Without poverty, a religious is a Pharisee, a gentleman of ease pretending to be a poor man. It is like someone who wants only the finer things of life disguising himself in the clothing of the poor. When religious are overly attached to unnecessary possessions or are always looking for luxuries, then we appear ridiculous before the Lord who received our vows.

Whenever someone comes seeking alms, give whatever you can. Giving alms is our way of life. It is the alms we receive that provide for our needs, and with our own alms, we must provide for those in need.  Whatever we give to the poor we give to God.

Saint Titus Brandsma

Chapter VI, Seeking God

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: The United States nonprofit organization Feed My Starving Children visited Nicaragua in March 2011. To date, the Ortega regime has revoked the non-profit status of over 5000 non-governmental, non-profit organizations, including those funded by the Catholic Church who partnered with Feed My Starving Children. Since 2018, Catholic schools and universities have been seized, diocesan bank accounts have been frozen, religious congregations have been expelled, and their property confiscated. Yet the poor who relied on their assistance remain in Nicaragua. Image credit: Feed My Starving Children / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

#almsgiving #attachment #needy #poverty #religiousLife #StTitusBrandsma

Quote of the day, 27 July: St. Titus Brandsma

A new awareness of Thy love
Encompasses my heart:
Sweet Jesus, I in Thee and Thou
In me shall never part.

No grief shall fall my way but I
Shall see thy grief-filled eyes;
The lovely way that Thou once walked
Has made me sorrow-wise.

All trouble is a white-lit joy
That lights my darkest day;
Thy love has turned to brightest light
This night-like way.

If I have Thee alone,
The hours will bless
With still, cold hands of love
My utter loneliness.

Stay with me, Jesus, only stay;
I shall not fear
If, reaching out my hand,
I feel Thee near.

Saint Titus Brandsma

Before a Picture of Jesus in My Cell, trans. Gervase Toelle, O.Carm.
12–13 February 1942 in Scheveningen Prison, The Hague

Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.

Featured image: This is the cell St. Teresa occupied when she was the prioress at the Monastery of the Incarnation in Avila (1571–1574). Image credit: Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

#FrGervaseToelleOCarm #martyr #poetry #politicalPrisoner #StTitusBrandsma

Quote of the day, 5 May: St. Titus Brandsma

A newspaper is like a friend whose opinion we value, whom we enjoy listening to, and whose conclusion we find difficult to escape….

If a Catholic periodical does not provide what the public has a right to expect, then there is a danger that the public will consider it as a pitiable thing in need of help but, simultaneously, consider it a waste of money….

The press is our most powerful arm in our battle for truth…. 

Should the Catholic press abandon this ideal of being a weapon of truth, its very existence would make no sense either for us journalists or for the Church. It would become worthless. Its steadfast witness to the truth alone constitutes its power and its glory.

Saint Titus Brandsma

Lecture on the Catholic press broadcast by KRO (1936)

Note: Biographer Miguel Arribas, O.Carm., observes that Saint Titus’s description of the Catholic press as “our most powerful arm in our battle for truth” echoes the phrase arma veritatis—“weapon of truth”—which was prominently featured as the theme of the 1936 Esposizione mondiale della stampa cattolica (World Exhibition of the Catholic Press) in Vatican City. The exhibition, held to mark the 75th anniversary of L’Osservatore Romano, celebrated the role of the Catholic press in promoting truth and resisting propaganda, a cause Pope Pius XI championed throughout his pontificate. While there is no record that Titus Brandsma attended the exhibition, his vision for Catholic journalism clearly harmonized with its central theme. For Titus, as for the pope, fidelity to the truth was the press’s greatest strength and highest glory.

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: St. Titus Brandsma is seen at work in his office in the Carmelite monastery in Nijmegen. He was a prolific writer. Behind him are bookcases containing albums with photos of the texts of medieval manuscripts and spiritual writers. Image credit: Carmelites (used with permission of the Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut)

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How can I use my voice—online or offline—as an “arm in the battle for truth”?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#CatholicPress #journalism #lecture #StTitusBrandsma #truth #weaponOfTruth

The spirituality of Carmel, which is a life of prayer and of tender devotion to Mary, brought me to the happy decision to embrace this life.

Saint Titus Brandsma

During his novitiate, Frater Titus devoted himself to learning everything he could about his new life as a religious as well as the history and spirituality of Carmel. With the idealism of his eighteen years, he gave himself over not only to studying the foundations of the Order but especially to integrating them into his personal life. 

Under the guidance of the Master of Novices, Fr. Pius Cox, and of the scholarly prior of Boxmeer, Fr. Gabriel Wessels, the young novice was preparing himself in a practical, down-to-earth way for his final step, religious profession.

The Master of Novices provided lessons on religious life, the meaning of the vows, the history and spirituality of the Order, and the life stories of the men and women who had been its bright lights: its saints, literary figures, mystics, theologians, missionaries, martyrs.

The novices were required to learn the Rule of St. Albert by heart and to understand thoroughly each article of the Constitutions, as well as to grasp the significance of the Divine Office, how to pray it correctly and sing it in choir, and how to participate as a community in the celebration of Holy Mass.

In one of the earliest lessons on the history of Carmel, Frater Titus learned that during the religious revival that followed the third crusade (1192), a few pilgrims and crusaders, mostly Franks, withdrew to the biblical Mount Carmel near the place named “The Well of Elijah.” There they sought to follow the example of the holy Prophet by a life of prayer, silence, and labor. 

Around 1209, at the request of the hermits living on the mountain, Saint Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, wrote them a Rule integrating the ideals of their own way of life. In 1226, this Rule was approved by Pope Honorius III.

These early hermits had located their cells or hermitages around a church honoring the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. They had a sense of being totally dedicated to her, and it was not long before the people were calling them “Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.” 

It was through contemplation of the figures of Mary and Elijah the Prophet that Carmel developed its way of life and described it in the Constitutions of the Order. In Mary, Carmelites saw the ideal of what they felt called to become: people available to God. From Elijah, they inherited a courageous zeal to bear heroic witness to the Presence of the Living God in their world.

Titus Brandsma learned his lesson well. What most drew his youthful attention was the mysterious anonymity with which the Order presented itself to the Church. 

It was the group as a whole [that] had experienced the call and took Elijah as their “spiritual Father” and model. No individual hermit took upon himself the title of founder, nor has that title ever been given to anyone.

Miguel Maria Arribas, O.Carm.

Chapter II, Formation

Note: Can you spot the anachronisms? Click here for the answers. Do you have more to add? Mention them in the comments below!

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: St. Titus Brandsma appears in this photo wearing the full habit of the Carmelite Order, including the white mantle. At this moment, he was a seminarian studying theology, aged 22. Image credit: Carmelites (used with permission of the Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/09/16/titus-memrzrule/

#CarmeliteRule #Carmelites #Elijah #history #HolyLand #MountCarmel #novitiate #StAlbertOfJerusalem #StTitusBrandsma #VirginMary

In my opinion, the question as to whether the pinnacle of the mystical life ought to be sought after in either the enlightenment of the intellect or in the love of the will, can, regarding the Carmelite school, first of all, best be answered by not contrasting too starkly qualities which are most intimately united in human nature—as they also are in the nature of God, in Whose image and likeness mankind was created—and which are one, in spite of the distinction between them.

The Carmelite school considers mystical union to be the perfection of human nature rather than the particular perfection of its capacities. […]

While writing this, I am listening to the roaring and the rushing of Niagara Falls.

In a most magnificent way, this cascade reveals to me how water, subjected to the law of gravity, and following the nature of a liquid, flows towards the lower areas of the earth. In my fatherland, the Low Countries on the Sea, the Netherlands, there are no waterfalls.

Full of wonder I gaze at the rushing waters, which continuously plunge from the high riverbed above into the riverbed which suddenly lies meters below.

What is exactly the beauty, the truly most beautiful aspect, of this natural wonder? […]

Thousands admire it without considering the water’s potential, without ever having heard about this. They do not come here to see the splendor of the water, to admire the richness of its nature, but for the grand, imposing sight of the continuously approaching waters, suddenly plunging down with thunderous vehemence, only to then spray upwards in clouds which descend as rain meters away, and then fall into the foaming, chasing river.

They listen to the roaring and rushing and cannot get enough of that wild music. They delight in the dancing of colors that is played out in the water, not only by the rainbow, which stands at its center when the sun is shining but also by the colors taken on by the water, depending on whether it rushes less or more over the rocky cliffs. Here it is emerald green; there it is white as silver and elsewhere pearly grey; at other places, it still reveals the dark background of the rocky cliffs. […]

This amazing waterfall is visited by millions for its incomparable beauty. I myself prefer to contemplate the deeper level of this awe-inspiring natural phenomenon. Not only are eyes and ears fascinated, but much more so my intellect, which reflects upon what has been placed in the water by God.

I do not only see the richness of the water’s nature, its immeasurable potential, but I see God working within the work of his hands and the revelation of his love.

Nevertheless, also my ears and eyes are fascinated, and again and again, I return to see and to hear. Many a moment for me, it is this last pleasure which has the upper hand.

Saint Titus Brandsma

In my opinion, the question
English translation of ‘De vraag waarin’ 
Niagara Falls, 1935
by Maurits Sinninghe Damsté

Featured image: Photographer Edward Koorey captures this view of Niagara Falls from the Canadian shore of the Niagara River. Image credit: edwardkoorey / Unsplash (Stock photo)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/26/titus-niagara/

#beauty #inspiration #intellect #love #mysticism #nature #NiagaraFalls #philosophy #spirituality #StTitusBrandsma #theology

I have never been so close to You

O Jesus, when I gaze on You
Once more alive, that I love You
And that your heart loves me too
Moreover as your special friend.

Although that calls me to suffer more
Oh, for me all suffering is good,
For in this way I resemble You
And this is the way to Your Kingdom.

I am blissful in my suffering
For I know it no more as sorrow
But the most ultimate elected lot
That unites me with You, O God.

O, just leave me here silently alone,
The chill and cold around me
And let no people be with me
Here alone I grow not weary.

For Thou, O Jesus, art with me
I have never been so close to You.
Stay with me, with me, Jesus sweet,
Your presence makes all things good for me.

Saint Titus Brandsma

Prayer Before an Image of Christ
12–13 February 1942

Saint Titus Brandsma’s “Prayer Before an Image of Christ,” penned in February 1942 while imprisoned at Scheveningen, is a profound reflection of his unwavering faith and intimate union with Christ amidst great suffering.

The poem begins with Titus expressing his deep love for Jesus and recognizing the reciprocal love of Christ. This intimate relationship, characterized as a special friendship, calls him to participate in Christ’s suffering. In gazing upon Jesus, Titus enters into profound contemplation, where love and friendship transcend the physical confines of his prison cell.

Central to the poem is Titus’s embrace of suffering. He perceives suffering not as an evil to be shunned but as a means to imitate Christ and attain His Kingdom. This perspective transforms suffering into a source of spiritual joy, uniting him more closely with God and providing a profound sense of purpose and fulfillment.

Titus also finds solace in solitude, appreciating the chill and cold of his cell as it brings him closer to Jesus. For him, solitude is not a burden but a cherished state where he does not grow weary. Jesus’ presence transforms his isolation into a space of divine companionship and comfort.

In the final lines, Titus eloquently expresses how Jesus’ presence makes all things good for him. Despite the harsh conditions of his imprisonment, the spiritual closeness he experiences with Christ brings him peace and strength. This transformative power of Christ’s presence attests to Titus’s deep faith and the profound consolation he finds in his relationship with Jesus.

“Prayer Before an Image of Christ” stands as a powerful testament to the strength of faith and the peace found in a life united with Christ. Saint Titus Brandsma’s unwavering trust in Jesus and his willingness to embrace suffering as a means of sharing in Christ’s Passion offer a powerful example of hope and resilience. His words continue to inspire and comfort the faithful, reminding us that even in the darkest times, we are not alone, and Christ’s presence brings solace and strength.

Lord our God, source and giver of life,
you gave to Saint Titus the Spirit of courage
to proclaim human dignity and the freedom of the Church,
even in the throes of degrading persecution and death.
Grant us that same Spirit
so that in the coming of your kingdom of justice and peace
we might never be ashamed of the Gospel
but be enabled to recognize your loving-kindness
in all the events of our lives.

Learn more about Saint Titus Brandsma from the Carmelites

English translation of “O Jezus” by Susan Verkerk-Wheatley and Anne-Marie Bos © Titus Brandsma Instituut 2018. Used with permission of the Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut.

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/25/ep15-tituspoet/

#God #intimacy #Jesus #Podcast #poetry #prayer #presenceOfGod #prison #Scheveningen #solitude #StTitusBrandsma #suffering

“I knew this meant that I was signing my own death warrant, but that certainty did not prevent me from doing my duty…. We are in the hands of God.”

Saint Titus Brandsma

Back in the Netherlands, the Dutch Bishops were promulgating a new pastoral letter to be read at every Mass on the very Sunday when Titus was dying. 

It began with the observation, “These are times of great afflictions, two of the most unjust being the oppression of the Jews and the sentences to forced labor in concentration camps …”

It concluded,

“Let us pray to God, beloved brothers and sisters, through the intercession of the Mother of Mercy, that He be a refuge for those men and women who, torn from their beloved families, are condemned to forced labor. … May He protect them body and soul, preserve them from despair and discouragement, and keep them true to their faith. May the Lord also grant strength to their families who were forced to watch as they were taken away. May He aid the afflicted and oppressed, the imprisoned and the flogged, all those who see themselves under the threatening cloud of danger….”

How mysterious the ways of the Lord! At the very time when Titus was passing from this world to the Father in Heaven, the entire Dutch Church was praying for him. 

The pastoral letter of the Dutch hierarchy had great impact on the entire country. It had also made an equal, though contrary, impact on the Nazi forces of occupation. Reprisals were not long in coming. 

The commissar of the Third Reich made his response with actions: on August 2 all Catholics in the Netherlands who had Jewish ancestors were arrested and sent to concentration camps. The commissar stated publicly: “All this is in retaliation for the pastoral letter of the bishops.”

Father Miguel Maria Arribas, O.Carm.

Chapter XIII, Holocaust

Note: Saint Titus Brandsma arrived in Dachau from Kleve Transport Camp on 19 June 1942. He died by an intravenous injection of carbolic acid on 26 July 1942 at 2:00 p.m. Saint Edith Stein was deported from the Carmel of Echt, Holland in the arrests on August 2nd.

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: In February 2011, photographer Payam Fahr captured this image of the Dachau gate in the midday sunlight. Image credit: payam_fahr / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/06/18/titus-arrivdach/

#bishops #concentrationCamp #Dachau #martyrdom #Nazi #Netherlands #oppression #pastoralLetter #prayer #StEdithStein #StTitusBrandsma

At no better moment, out of the mouths of the religious, could the plea to Mary resound that their Jesus, who is now veiled from their sight, will someday appear unveiled after they have departed from this place of exile: Et Jesum benedictum fructum ventris tui nobis post hoc exilium ostende. And reveal to us, after this exile, Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb.

All now stand before the altar of Mary. The Blessed Sacrament is placed on the repositorium, above which the statue of Mary glimmers in the light. Her hands hold the Scapular, the promise of her protection.

Saint Titus Brandsma

Saturday Evening in the Church of the Carmelites (excerpt)

Note: We thank the Titus Brandsma Instituut for providing this translation by Susan Verkerk-Wheatley and Anne-Marie Bos of Brandsma’s fine essay,  ‘Zaterdagavond in de kerk der Carmelieten’, which appeared in the review Carmelrozen, Vol. IV, August 1915, p. 93-96.

Featured image: Father Brandsma preaches at the Marian Congress in Nijmegen, Holland in 1920. At that time he was teaching philosophy and mathematics to the Carmelite students in Oss. Photo credit: Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut (used by permission).

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/17/mdj2024-ep18/

#BlessedSacrament #BrownScapular #Carmelites #exile #friars #Jesus #promise #protection #SalveRegina #StTitusBrandsma #statue #VirginMary

As the extremely cold winter was coming to an end, all of Europe was experiencing apocalyptic terror.

Early on Thursday, March 12, a police officer entered Titus’ cell to announce: “In the name of the Supreme Commander of the Security Police I inform you that you are to follow me. You are leaving for the camp in Amersfoort. Transport is waiting.”

Titus had scarcely time to pick up his books, his pen and papers, his pajamas … Amersfoort! He was already nostalgic as he abandoned his cell-become-hermitage, a place where he had passed hours of intensely spiritual experience. He had barely grabbed his things when a soldier slammed the door behind him.

In the central yard, Titus found at least a hundred prisoners in formation; on command, they climbed into canvas-covered trucks for the trip to the concentration camp at Amersfoort, in the interior of the Netherlands. The vehicles formed a caravan under the guard of the SS Police. 

In Titus’ van, there was soon a heavy cloud of tobacco smoke as the prisoners smoked nervously, down to the very butts of their cigarettes. A friendly student offered him a little package of sugar candy; at first, he declined, but when the young man insisted he finally accepted. This was the first of many pleasant moments he shared with the youth, named Reef. 

Taking advantage of the unexpected release from their cells and of the opportunity of companionship, they began to talk to one another, asking, “Does anyone know anything about the camp at Amersfoort?” “How long are we to be kept there?”

One of the prisoners being transported, van Mierlo, recounts:

“I was in the same truck as Fr. Gilis, a Redemptorist from s’-Hertogenbosch; Fr. Titus was there as well. We were sitting next to each other. At one point I asked Fr. Gilis if he could hear my confession, for I had been arrested without warning on December 12, 1941. In spite of my repeated requests to make my confession while in Scheveningen, I was never able to do so, and I was filled with very dark visions about what was to happen to us.

“Fr. Gilis thought he could not do this because he lacked faculties for this area. That caused a discussion and someone asked Fr. Titus’ opinion. He said that we were all in an emergency situation and that consequently, our duty was to help one another. Then he told Fr. Gilis, ‘You need have no concern and can hear his confession without scruple.’

“I was very grateful for those words, and Fr. Titus and I became close friends. That same day, in the camp at Amersfoort, I made a general confession with Fr. Gilis.”

Miguel Maria Arribas, O.Carm.

Chapter VIII, Apologia from prison

Arribas O.Carm., M 2021, The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite, Carmelite Media, Darien, Illinois.

Featured image: A portrait drawing of Fr. Titus when he was imprisoned at Amersfoort Transit Camp 12 March to 28 April 1942. The artist, John Dons, captures the complete sadness of the concentration camp yet sees with Fr. Titus a willing acceptance of pain and a profound inner peace. John Dons was later executed. Image credit: Carmelites (used with permission of the Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/03/11/titus-12mar42/

#Amersfoort #charity #compassion #confession #Nazi #politicalPrisoner #prison #StTitusBrandsma #suffering #transfer #trial

Just before his profession, he placed on social media a photograph of his hand holding a cross, accompanied by a quote from the Carmelite St Titus Brandsma, who died in the Nazi camp at Dachau, saying, “The Cross is my joy not my sorrow.”
https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/17407/carmelite-requests-joyful-faces-only-at-funeral

#carmelites #fraypablomaria #sttitusbrandsma #ewingssarcoma #courage

Martyr St Titus Brandsma was born in the Netherlands #onthisday 23 February 1881. Sixty years later, when forced to declare that he wasn't a Jew: "Obviously I'm pure Frisian. But this is very painful for the Jews. I must stand alongside them."

Read more 👇🏼
http://carmelitequotes.blog/2023/02/22/titus-bday/

#happybirthday #sttitusbrandsma #catholic #carmelite #martyr #saint #quotes

“What is the charge?” asked #TitusBrandsma when the Gestapo came to arrest him on 19 January 1942. They searched his cell. He whispered to the friars as he was led away, "Memento mei"—pray for me.
✝️Learn more!
http://carmelitequotes.blog/2023/01/18/titus-arrest/

#StTitusBrandsma #onthisday #arrest #Gestapo #Netherlands #Nijmegen #jail #prison #martyr #Catholic #Carmelite #quotes