Blessed Titus Brandsma

Anno Brandsma was born in Friesland (Northern Netherlands) in 1881. He entered the Carmelite Order aged seventeen, taking the name Titus. He did his novitiate in Boxmeer, a town traditionally famous for its Eucharistic devotion. He studied in Rome, eventually after some delay due to ill-health, he obtained a PhD at the Gregorian University in 1909. Poor health was to prove a lifelong problem for him.

He became Professor of philosophy and the history of mysticism in the new Catholic University in Nijmegen, becoming Rector in 1932. All his life he was involved in writing, publishing and journalism. In 1935 he became spiritual director of the Union of Dutch Catholic journalists.