Titus Brandsma: The herald of truth and of the Virgin Mary

Saint Titus, Dutch Carmelite, professor of history, philosophy and journalist: Man of peace in a Europe at war. Exclusive interview with his vice-postulator: Fray Fernando Millan Romeral

Tito Brandsma (February 23, 1881-July 26, 1942) wrote against Nazism in the Netherlands, asking people to resist hatred, discrimination and ideology. On his desk, he had the image of the Virgin of Carmel to which he was very devoted. He asked her to faithfully serve the Church, while he informed and proclaimed freedom, brotherly love and peace.

The courage of faith and truth. This is how he describes the holiness of Father Tito, martyr of Nazi fascism, the vice postulator of the cause of his canonization, Fray Fernando Millán Romeral. That is why John Paul II called it a “martyr of freedom of expression”.

From the pulpit to countryside of extermination. The Carmelite prayed the Rosary for his executioners and even meekly converted the nurse who would give him the lethal injection. He would die at the age of 61 in Nazi Germany’s Dachau concentration camp on July 26, 1942.

Tito Brandsma paid the price for the truth. Now, a group of journalists are asking Pope Francis to make the new saint their patron saint, while false news, propaganda and disinformation coexist in the midst of the “piecemeal world war”, named after the Pope, including the war in Ukraine that breaks decades of peace in Europe.

Every canonization is a joy for the Church, but in this case it has some special nuances, because Father Tito was a journalist and was very involved in the events of his time.”. Fray Fernando Millan Romeral told Aleteia.

What meaning has the canonization of a saintly journalist had in these times of conflict, post-truth and war?

“Father Tito Brandsma lived through the invasion of Holland, the attempt to control the media and with a very deep sense of duty and his Christian faith, he opposed these measures and would end up being arrested in January 42[…]. So he is a figure that has many suggestions for our time and for our Church. In these times when journalistic ethics is very threatened by the lobby of power, we are seeing it with the war in Ukraine.

The first victim of a war is the truth, it is the information‘. Father Tito was also an apostle of peace. He has a famous conference in the year 31 in which he says that we must reverse this defeatist and pessimistic belief that war is inevitable.

No, war is avoidable, peace is possible and we must work in all areas of life for peace and harmony. And unfortunately, because this message is also very current today, with the situation we are experiencing, with the war in Ukraine and with other forgotten wars in Africa, for example, that produce innocent victims.”

Today journalism is in a great dilemma, because of misinformation, especially when covering conflicts and wars. What do you think Father Tito leaves us as a model for his colleagues today?

“We hear about post-truth, fake news, lobbies, power. Ours is, in this sense, a very delicate time. These dangers are multiplied by the media, by social networks, because it is very easy, from anywhere in the world, to invent a lie. So, Father Tito’s testimony is tremendously significant.

He fought for the independence of the Catholic press from being forced to publish Nazi propaganda and National Socialist slogans. So this was what his arrest cost her, his arrest, she paid for it with his own life.

Also another very nice idea that Father Tito had regarding the press is that the press should not be a place of confrontation, but of humble proposals, of dialogue, of meeting. And this is also very current.

Today we see that on television, well, there are these gatherings, these debates, where what it is about is shouting more than the other and where people do not listen to each other. Father Tito proposed a more serene communication, more open to dialogue and, therefore, it is highly topical.”

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Papa Francesco sull’aereo with i giornalisti

The International Association of Journalists Accredited to the Holy See has launched a proposal to Pope Francis for Father Tito Brandsma to be proclaimed patron of journalists. What do you think about it?

“Well, it seems to me a very interesting request and I hope it will be successful. Francis de Sales is really a very nice saint. Father Tito had great devotion to Francis de Sales, but as journalists have said, he was not really a journalist in the modern sense of the word. While Father Tito was a journalist in the full sense. So it would be very nice, yes, for him to be a patron and for his testimony to be disclosed in the world of journalists in the field of communication.

He was, for example, director of a newspaper. He wrote thousands of articles. He was a person who also believed in disclosure. That is, he wrote short and simple spirituality articles for simple people. Therefore, I believe that he is a good patron in heaven and he can continue to help all who have this vocation.”

AUSCHWITZ

JANEK SKARZYNSKI | AFP

Father Tito exercised his journalistic vocation during the Nazi totalitarian regime. What elements of his life can help us to be servants of the truth?

“Yes, he lived in very harsh and very difficult circumstances. The confrontation between Father Tito and Nazism had been going on for a long time because he was a professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of Nijmegen and in his classes, since he dismantled the fallacies of National Socialism; for instance, racial superiority, rejection of the Jewish people, etc.. The National Socialist police, the Gestapo, had Father Tito on file. Besides, he had also confronted the occupation government on the occasion of the expulsion of Jewish children from Catholic schools.

The occupation government ordered that the Jewish children be expelled and Father Tito, who had also worked in the schools, refused to obey this order and was there negotiating with the occupation government and did not expel the Jewish children. But the hardest moment of that confrontation was in relation to the press”.

A journalist martyr…

“Really, he had to play a very difficult role, because on the one hand, he had to carry the message of the Dutch bishops, which was: ‘we have to resist, we cannot publish this propaganda’. But, on the other hand, he understood that the editors of newspapers, who were mostly lay people, with families, with children to feed, well, they found themselves ‘in the middle of the fire’, because on the one hand, the church pressured them not to publish , but on the other hand, the occupation government was pressing harder for them to do so. He was very happy because the vast majority of journalists resisted.

The provincial of the Carmelites in Holland told him that he should hide for a while because his life was in danger. He responded by saying that it would have been a shame for him to ask professional journalists for sacrifices and then go into hiding.

So he acted with tremendous courage. And, well, he was there alongside the free press, the independent press. For this reason, John Paul II, in a meeting with journalists in 1985, spontaneously called him a “martyr for freedom of expression.”

Equally significant is the last extreme and merciful gesture of Father Tito with the SS nurse. who gave him the lethal injection…

“The nurse is a bit of a mysterious character. She, very young, went to the Dachau concentration camp. She was an SS nurse. She really was not a field nurse. And 12 years after the war ended, she was in jail in Germany for several years. She couldn’t set foot in Holland or Belgium because she would have been hanged. She was one of the people considered war criminals. And then she, from jail in Germany, talks to the chaplain and lets him know that she was the one who killed Father Tito.

She asked the Holy See to remain anonymous. Probably she would later have married, would have had children, grandchildren… In short, her will had to be respected. But she recounts the last days of Father Tito and they are precious memories. She tells, for example, that Father Tito wanted to give him her rosary. A rosary that he had made with bits of wood and buttons. And she rejected it, at first because she said that she didn’t believe in those Catholic superstitions, but then she ended up accepting it.

Impressive that she said: That little man looked at me and had pity on me. Well, I think this says a lot about Father Tito’s spirit; It was he who was the victim who felt sorry for that girl who was living and working in that horrible and good place, because her testimony was important in the canonization”.

Father Tito writes to his bishop so that he does not have any kind of remorse because he was in jail…

“The archbishop was a little regretful that he had not personally gone to speak with the newspaper directors. So, there were several letters from prison and from the concentration camp.

Father Tito insists to the Carmelites and his family: ‘Tell the archbishop not to worry, it is better that I did it than he did it, that would have been very dangerous. I just did my duty.’

First, the human stature, also of the archbishop, who was a sensitive man, who was very concerned about this, and second, Father Tito’s sense of duty to his ecclesiality. Father Tito acted on behalf of the Dutch church. So I think he says a lot about Father Tito’s gift of motivation and attitude.”

Pope Francis recently thanked journalists who go to war zones to cover conflicts and wars. what do you think about it?

“The union of what was previously called the UCIP, the International Catholic Union of Journalists, which has now changed its name, and organizes every three years the Tito Brandsma Award for journalists who have stood out for their fight in defense of ethics, peace and freedom of expression.

We are not aware that journalism is also a risky profession. In recent years, every year 40, 50 journalists have died in war zones, in conflict zones. So it is a profession that also has a part of heroism and that provokes admiration.

There are people who believe that they are true heroes in defense of information. I believe that the figure of Father Tito can be very significant in this sense, to remind us that there are also many very vocational people who are working at the service of truth and communication. So putting these people under the protection of the ‘little saint’, because I think that would also be very. That is why this request that he be the patron saint of journalists”.

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Choosing coherence as a companion protects us from scandal and supports us solidly in communicative crises. What do you think about it?

“Well, I would totally agree. We cannot ask society for transparency and hide the truth ourselves. I believe that, as the Pope has said on several occasions, it is a service to the truth and therefore to the Church.

The truth always sets free. There are media that have a special fixation with the church and act a bit on the limits. But in any case, I believe that it is always positive that these scandals are uncovered and where they exist, always with caution, but also with courage, with honesty, with transparency.

The example of Father Tito can be significant. In short, journalists are also doing a service to the Church and directly to the truth. On the subject of abuse, we are also talking (above all!) about victims, because there the commitment of the Church must always be very strong. The first criterion of any action and, therefore, also of information, has to be the victims.”

Titus Brandsma: The herald of truth and of the Virgin Mary