Cardinal Adrianus Simonis, President of the Dutch Bishops’ Conference, recently sent a letter on behalf of the Dutch episcopate to Cardinal Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to support “with force and conviction an acceleration of the process that may lead our beloved compatriot Titus Brandsma to be inscribed in the book of saints”. According to Simonis, this is “a question that the bishops and the entire community of the faithful in the Netherlands have particularly close at heart”. The process of canonization, begun shortly after the beatification of Brandsma, is being promoted by the Carmelites, to which Brandsma belonged. In his letter, the Dutch cardinal recalls the day, the 3 of November 1985, on which Brandsma was declared a Blessed by John Paul II: “that was a day of great joy and gratitude to a witness of faith of our community at the heart of the Church in the presence of large numbers of Dutch faithful, both Catholics and Protestants, celebrated by the Holy Father”. According to Simonis, since then “many Dutch people and also Catholics beyond the frontiers of our country are wondering when Titus Brandsma will be declared a saint”. And he continues by declaring that “this question is also prompted in our heart”. The letter continues by recalling some of the key testimonies in the life of Brandsma, who was deported by the Nazis to the concentration camp of Dachau because he had defended the freedom of the Catholic press. The bishops recall Brandsma as a “fervent supporter of the pacifist movement of 1931” and as a man who “tried to understand what consequences the underlying causes of violence and war might have and he found them in the unbridled struggle to assert personal profit and personal power”.
