CANDABA, Pampanga—World War II martyr Titus Brandsma along with nine other blesseds celebrated as saints. A holy mass and canonization took place in Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City, by Pope Francis on Sunday, May 15.
Anno Sjoerd Brandsma was born on February 23, 1881, in Friesland, Netherlands. He became a priest in 1905. He took the name Titus when he entered the novitiate of the Carmelite Friars on September 17, 1989, in honor of his father.
St. Titus Brandsma was a priest, a professor of philosophy, and a professional journalist. Following the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, he defended the freedom of Catholic education and press against Nazism. He was arrested in 1942 after vocally opposing the mandatory Nazi propaganda in Catholic newspapers. He served as the editor of his local newspaper and the religious adviser to Catholic journalists at more than 30 publications in the Netherlands.
In the same year, he was transferred to Dachau concentration camp. He was killed “in hatred of the faith” by lethal injection.
On November 3, 1985, Pope John Paul II beatified him and described him as a “martyr of freedom of expression.”
His canonization was through a vote of cardinals during an ordinary consistory at the Vatican on March 4. It is the final step in the canonization process and allows a date to be set for a Canonization Mass.
Together with St. Titus Brandsma, nine other blesseds were canonized, namely:
- St. Charles de Foucauld, a French aristocrat and religious, a pioneer in interreligious dialogue;
- St. Devasahayam Pillai, a Hindu, converted to Christianity in the 18th century.
- St. César de Bus, the France-born founder of the Fathers of Christian Doctrine;
- St. Luigi Maria Palazzolo, an Italian priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Poor;
- St. Giustino Maria Russolillo, an Italian priest who founded the Society of Divine Vocations for men and the Vocationist Sisters;
- St. Maria Rivier, a French Sister and foundress of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary;
- St. Carolina Santocanale, an Italian Sister and foundress of the Congregation of the Capuchin Sisters of the Immaculata of Lourdes;
- St. Anna Maria Rubatto, founder of the order now known as the Capuchin Sisters of Mother Rubatto;
- St. Maria Domenica Mantovani, co-founder and first superior general of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family;
A group of Dutch and German journalists formally proposed to the Pope that Brandsma become a co-patron saint of journalists together with St. Francis de Sales, given his work in combating propaganda and fake news during the rise of fascism and Nazism in Europe. The Holy Father has yet to respond to the request.Pope Francis has now canonized 909 saints, including the 813 Martyrs of Otranto, who were canonized as a group, also known as Saints Antonio Primaldo and his companions.
