Saint Titus Brandsma was a Dutch Carmelite priest who was executed by the Nazis on 26 July 1942 at Dachau concentration camp in 1942.

Born Anno Sjoerd Brandsma on 23 February 1881 to Titus and Tjitsje Postma in Oegeklooster, Friesland, Netherlands. His parents ran a dairy farm and were Catholic in an area that was predominantly Protestant (Calvinist).  He grew up in a family of three sisters and one brother. Of the six children, five would join religious life. Only one daughter would not do so. At age 11, he attended a preparatory school for boys in Megen for those considering a priestly or religious vocation. The minor seminary was run by the Franciscans.

After graduation, he entered the Carmelite order in 1898 and took the name Titus (his father’s name) as his religious name. Unlike most Carmelites who focus on living a contemplative life of prayer, he felt called to do more. He was drawn to journalism and writing that would become his second vocation. He was ordained in 1905 and later received a doctorate in philosophy after studying in Rome. He would return home and help found the Catholic University of Nijmegen in 1923. He would teach and later become its head. As the 1930’s drew closer, he became increasingly concerned with the rise of Nazism and antisemitism in Germany. He penned articles calling it a black lie and repeated his criticisms in public lectures.

His superiors in Rome decided in 1935 to conduct a lecture tour of Carmelite foundations in the United States. To better learn how to speak English, he stayed with Carmelite communities in Dublin and in Kinsale (a seaside town). While in Ireland, he met Éamon de Valera, the President of the Executive Council (later called Taoiseach). Accounts of his stay indicate that was known for drinking considerable amounts of whiskey without ill-effect! Just before he crossed the Atlantic to the U.S., he received word he had been appointed spiritual advisor to 30 Catholic newspapers in the Netherlands. His travels in the United States took him through the East and Midwest. His journals reveal a man deeply impressed by the many things he saw. And saw the work of God in Niagara Falls.

Germany invaded the neutral Netherlands on 10 May 1940. There was no declaration of war, just the day opening with the sound of roaring aircraft. The Dutch put up a lot of resistance to the attack but in the end could not sustain it. Germans had bombed Rotterdam and not wanting to suffer the fate of Warsaw (which had been bombed into submission), the Dutch surrendered (apart from Zealand which fought until 18 May) on 14 May 1940. With Germans now in control, they began implementing German laws. Catholic schools were told to expel Jewish students, barred priests and religious orders as school principals, limited charitable contributions, and censored the Catholic press. Brandsma plead the Germans not to impose these rules on behalf of the Dutch bishops; they declined.

Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the Reich commissioner of the German-occupied Netherlands, was unhappy with the Dutch bishops opposing him. He ordered all newspapers, including Catholic ones, to accept advertisements and press releases from the Nazi regime. The Dutch Bishops opposed this action. Brandsma was tasked with assisting in contacting Catholic newspaper editors to oppose the order. He was told by Archbishop de Jong that doing this was dangerous and he was not obliged to accept it.

“Father Titus knew exactly what I said, and he freely and willingly accepted the duty,” de Jong recalled.”  (de Jong recounting his conversation to Father Titus to Father Boniface Hanley, O.F.M whose book “No Strangers to Violence, No Strangers to Love” relates accounts of Father Titus)

 Father Titus traveled the Netherlands delivering letters from the bishops asking the newspaper editors to not comply with the German edict. He was able to visit 14 editors before the Gestapo arrested him at the Boxmeer monastery on 19 January 1942. Kneeling before his superior to receive the blessing before being taken away, he commented on the fact they were taking a 60-year-old man to jail. During his interrogation, was asked repeatedly why he broke German orders. He made it clear that as a Catholic, he could not have done anything differently. He was asked to write out his reasons for his refusal. And he did. He made clear that the Dutch people would give their lives, if necessary, for their religion. He further said: “The Nazi movement is regarded by the Dutch people not only as an insult to God in relation to his creatures, but a violation of the glorious traditions of the Dutch nation.” He concluded by asking for God’s blessing for both the Netherlands and Germany.

At the Amersfoort transit camp, he and others did forced manual labor clearing trees and other things. Despite meager rations, he shared his food with the hungry and especially with Jewish prisoners. He continued his priestly duties by offering clandestine prayers, hearing confessions, attending to the sick and dying, and even managed Stations of the Cross. The Gestapo was not done with him yet and continued interrogating him hoping the forced labor and meager food might have softened him up. It didn’t. He was sent to Dachau and arrived there on 19 June 1942. He arrived, according to accounts, in a calm and gentle state. He continued being cheerful and the Germans continued their beatings in Dachau.

Other religious and Carmelite brothers were in the camp as well. Father Titus was able to conceal a Holy Eucharist on his body. Though they tried to comfort him, Titus said that he had Jesus with him in the Eucharist. He retained, according to one recollection of him, a cheerful courage. He advised others to be patient and avoid hatred. “We are here in a dark tunnel, but we have to go on. At the end, the eternal light is shining for us,” he told them. He suffered painful sores on his feet but his fellow prisoners carried him back at the end of the day.

Dachau was known for its sadistic medical experiments so most prisoners avoided going to the infirmary. Father Titus though, due his declining health, was forced to go. He would receive a lethal injection on 26 July 1942 from a nurse. This same nurse, who Father Titus gave her his rosary, recalled his look of compassion for her. She did not want the rosary or pray, but Father Titus asked her to say the second part of the Hail Mary which says “pray for us sinners.” He told her if she prayed, she would not be lost. That same nurse would later become Catholic.

In the years since his death, he would become honored as a martyr. In Nijmegen he is considered one of its greatest citizens and in 2005 erected a memorial church in his name. Outside of Dachau, a street now bears his name. Nor were his scholarly pursuits forgotten. In 1968 the Titus Brandsma Institute in Nijmegen was created to further studies on spirituality. His strong words criticizing the Nazi regime and its antisemitism have not been forgotten either. In a time when many might not say much to defend Jews, he was out there making it very clear that what the Nazi’s were promoting was wrong. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1985. After investigation and confirmation of a miracle, he was canonized by Pope Francis in 2022. At his canonization mass, Pope Francis noted:

“Holiness does not consist of a few heroic gestures, but of many small acts of daily love.”

Sources

“Who Was Titus Brandsma?” EWTN News. Last modified September 26, 2025. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/europe/who-was-titus-brandsma-the-wwii-catholic-martyr-who-will-be-canonized-in-may?redirectedfrom=cna.

O.Carm. “St. Titus Brandsma, Priest and Martyr.” Last modified July 27, 2026. https://ocarm.org/en/item/6929-st-titus-brandsma-priest-and-martyr.

Franciscan Media. “Saint Titus Brandsma | Franciscan Media.” Franciscan Media, May 15, 2026. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-titus-brandsma/.

Verkerk-Wheatley, Susan, and Anne-Marie Bos, trans. “Why Do the Dutch People… – Writings of Titus Brandsma.” Last modified February 1, 2019. Accessed July 28, 2026. https://www.titusbrandsmateksten.nl/why-do-the-dutch-people/.

Videos

Carmelites, “Who Is Saint Titus Brandsma?,” Video, YouTube, July 21, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op0k1Fn9owQ.