May 15th, 2022 Canonization of Carmelite priest, Blessed Titus Brandsma
We all look forward with excited anticipation for the May 15th, 2022 canonization of Carmelite priest, Blessed Titus Brandsma. Follow us on Facebook (@CarmeliteDevelopmentCenter) and Instagram (@carmelite_development_center) for canonization schedule updates and how you can participate with live stream to events in Rome. You can join us in celebrating this momentous occasion as photos taken by members of our Order will be posted to our social media, so be sure to check back frequently. Further, the Carmelite Friars Development Center has put together a beautiful set of a special edition rosary featuring images of Blessed Titus Brandsma and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. You will also receive a booklet featuring a Homily written by Fr. Michael Driscoll, O.Carm. (whose cure was attributed to the intercession of Blessed Titus Brandsma) as well as the life of Blessed Titus Brandsma and journey to sainthood. Please click here to order. (Order early to allow time for shipping)
The Carmelite Office of Communications announced “Pope Francis will canonize Blessed Titus Brandsma on May 15, 2022, in a ceremony at St. Peter’s Square in Rome. Brandsma was a Carmelite priest, college professor, writer, ecumenist, respected lecturer and journalist in the Netherlands. He was arrested on January 19, 1942, for speaking out against the Nazi regime and working to keep the country’s Catholic newspapers in line with Church teaching on Nazism. At the time, the Nazi regime was occupying the Netherlands, Fr. Brandsma’s homeland, and attempting to bring its people in line with Nazi dogma. Brandsma was eventually murdered at Dachau Concentration Camp on July 26, 1942.
His view on Nazism were well known in the Netherlands and within the Nazi leadership. The Nazis called him “the dangerous little Friar.” For Catholic journalists he became a model for the vocation to journalism, of ethical conviction, and of commitment to the truth.
Brandsma also received many testimonials following his death from people of all faiths. They reflect that Brandsma maintained hope among the people of all faiths, even in the darkest hours of the concentration camps. Among many powerful testimonies as to Fr. Titus’ exemplary Christina manner in the camps is that of a Protestant pastor: “I can testify that Titus Brandsma was a son of God by the grace of Jesus Christ.” Others spoke of a general respect and affection for Brandsma because of his easy and friendly way. “He knew no hatred or aversion, nor impatience of hardness”.
The diocesan process for the beatification and canonization of Brandsma was initiated in the Diocese of Den Bosch, in the Netherlands, in 1952. It was the first process of a presume martyr of National Socialism. On November 3, 1985, Pope John Paul II solemnly proclaimed Blessed Titus Brandsma as a martyr of the faith.
In July 2016 the diocesan inquiry into the presumed miracle obtained through the intercession of Blessed Titus took place in the Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida. The Presumed miracle was the healing of Fr. Michael Driscoll, O. Carm., from advanced malignant metastatic melanoma that spread to the lymph nodes. In November 2020, the Medical Consultations, appointed by the Vatican Congregation of the Causes of the Saints, recognized the impossibility of a scientific explanation for the cure of Fr. Driscoll from cancer. The cure was attributed to the intercession of Blessed Titus Brandsma. On May 25, 2021, the Congress of Theological Consultors recognized the miracle. The same opinion was reached by the cardinals and bishops in the Ordinary Session held on November 9, 2021.
Finally, on November 25, 2021, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation of the Causes of the Saints to promulgate the decrees regarding the miracle attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Titus Brandsma opening the way to canonization. On March 4, 2022, during the Ordinary Public Consistory, Pope Francis confirmed the opinion of the cardinals and bishops, announcing the date of Fr. Titus’ canonization.”
