He said, “We have read that we should strive to not just meditate on but also to delight in the Word of God. This afternoon we have an opportunity to say `Hello’ to the Good News and to see how Blessed Titus Brandsma, Patron of the Philippine Province of the Carmelites, can guide us in delivering the Good News in our times.”

At the Public Lecture, the speakers explored how Blessed Titus (1881-1942) was formed in the course of being a novice, a new priest, a doctoral student in Rome and then as a scholar, academician, mystic and journalist.  

They also focused on his writings, expressed thoughts, details and reflections on his journalistic vocation which, they said, was seamlessly integrated with his spirituality.  

The speakers

A licensed Physical Therapist, Br. Ritche Salgado is a professed brother of the Order of Carmelites in the Philippines and is a non-canonical member of the Provincial Council.

In 2003 he started writing for media outfits like Cebu Daily News, The Freeman and Bulatlat

In 2011 he was chosen by the College of Mass Communication of the University of the Philippines-Diliman to be part of the 15^th Graciano Lopez Jaena Fellowship grants. In 2018 he was sent to the Netherlands and Germany to attend the International Course for Carmelite Student Friars and get to know Blessed Titus better.

For his part Br. Hallig worked for 25 years with the Manila-based Philippine Star.   He was editor-in-chief of the nationally-circulated lifestyle magazine The Fortnightly and the political SpyBiz Magazine. He was also communications consultant to the Bank of the Philippine Islands as well as to hotels, restaurants and public relations agencies.

He has an AB Journalism degree (cum laude) from the University of Santo Tomas and units in MFA in Creative Writing from De La Salle University.

Formation

According to Br. Salgado, when Titus entered the Order in 1898, he was introduced to the spirit of the Tourane Reform which had redesigned the Carmelite habit and shortened the novitiate period to just a year after Titus completed the two years require earlier.

The Reform also instituted individual piety, prayer, penitential practices, devotions, regulation of life, devotion to Mary and – prefiguring Vatican II – going back to the source and being enriched by it in order to be renewed and to meaningfully respond to the signs of the times.

How did his formation figure in Titus being a journalist?

Br. Hallig said, “He was very scholarly and was into the lives of the Carmelites. As a novice in Boxmeer, his very first work, which foretold the fullness of spirit in his later writings, was on the lives of saints. And he shared information with the other novices; later on as a journalist, he was dedicated, sincere, quick to respond and generous with information for youth and families.”

Bro. Hallig shared an anecdote of how Titus once saw a fruit vendor with a heavy cart near the convent. He would then “just happen to be there ‘when the vendor came. Casually and despite his frail body, he would say “Oh, you’re here?” and then help push the cart past the convent.  

Titus continued his formation until he was ordained in 1905. He was not immediately sent to Rome for doctoral studies but had to stay in the friary as sacristan and occasional writer. His superiors wanted him to become more humble because he always stood out.

A year later he was allowed to go to the Universita Gregoriana. He had been sickly as a novice such that during Physical Education, he would just read and write most of the time. In Rome, his health continued to play a major part in his academic life. At the Carmelites’ Collegio San Alberto, he became weak from the change in diet from meat, milk and cheese. Again, he was forced to focus on writing. As such, he laid the foundations for the periodical Carmel Roses.

 Returning to the Netherlands, Titus recuperated and bounced back with the help of his friend Fr. Hubertus Driessen, He returned to Rome in 1909 and then to the Netherlands as Dr. Titus.

Academician

Br. Salgado’s research showed that as a teacher, lecturer, philosophy and mysticism professor and Rector Magnificus of the Catholic University of Nijmegen which he had helped found, Titus was merciful, compassionate, God-fearing, thirsty for knowledge and very interested in spirituality and mysticism as a way of changing people.

He once said, “We must study to serve one another; in this way we may create a sphere wherein all will become saints.”

And so, Titus did research to help others become better persons who approximate the humility of Christ. He realized that he could better help people if he saw each encounter with them as an encounter with Christ.

Br. Hallig related how while teaching at the seminary in the city of Oss, Titus  sparked an interest in the humanity of Christ by proposing that a  statue of the Sacred Heart be carved with the heart outside the body.

“He was overruled by traditionalists but he made citizens reflect how  Christ is just as human as any of us and that for us to encounter him, we don’t need to look far – just at our neighbor.”

While teaching, Titus continued his practical work and responsibilities, prayed and concretized  his love for his neighbor. He established a trade school in Oss when he saw the need to diversify income sources as the price of the people’s main product – butter – went down.

In the 1930s Titus mulled over the gains of the Dutch National Socialist (Nazi) Party, said Br. Hallig:  “He used his being a teacher to share with people the risks of this to society. He gave lectures which were often attended by non-students who later turned out to be spies.”

Titus also wrote the president of the Theological Association in the Netherlands: “Socialism is very attractive but we must work to remove the addiction to it. The Catholic faith in our country is seriously threatened and weakened by very many doctrines which culminate in German National Socialism….This influence can best be halted, on the one hand, by exposing the theory of this National Socialism and the philosophy from which it rose…. And on the other hand, by clearly stressing in an enthusiastic and positive way the value of the human person in both the natural and supernatural orders.”

As a school administrator, Titus responded to the growing discrimination against Jewish students by saying, The Church makes no distinction of sex, race or people in carrying out her mission. We cannot refuse admission to anyone who wants a Catholic education.”

How did his being an academician figure in Titus’ journalism?

Br. Salgado pointed out that his study of National Socialism helped Titus to be a better person alert to burning issues of increasing importance: “He learned with others and was very interested in sharing his writings. Like Prophet Elijah, he was determined.”   

Mystic

According to research done by the two speakers, Titus was greatly influenced by the mystics, especially the Flemish ones. He became interested in Blessed John Russbroec’s concept of “divine touch.”

It is said that Titus personalized what he read and dove deep into scripture and the mystics, into nature, into solitary and communal prayer. He then shared the fruits of his experience with those he encountered every day.

At the same time, Titus had an awareness of people and places that connected him to feelings and emotions far beyond his known world, as well as an ability to recognize the voice of God calling him to a hidden vocation still awaiting revelation.

“Titus was never disturbed because he knew how God was in his soul,” explained Br. Hallig. “For him, prayer was keeping in touch with the Divine Presence in the face of others. He never had a prayer book but he was so much in love with prayer that he was full of quiet, intense and mental prayer. He was a mystic on the move.”     

Journalist 

According to Br. Hallig,Titus was influenced by his being a Carmelite in choosing the media to publicize his ideas and to bring and emphasize the Good News to people. 

He added, “Writing was his outlet and his means of communicating with others what he had learned through his studies, so that they too would be able to benefit from it.”

 Along these lines, Titus was described by St. Pope John Paul II during the rites for his beatification on November 3, 1985 as “having a heart that could not remain indifferent to the many brothers who were outside the academic institutions and who could also wish for a word of clarification. For them he became a journalist.”

Br. Hallig characterized Titus the journalist as firm but compassionate, adding that the way he addressed Nazism best personified him as a journalist.

“As spiritual director of the group of Catholic newspapers in the Netherlands. Titus knew that the National Socialist Party (NSP) had attacked Catholic dogmas, proclaimed ideas contrary to religion itself, and ordered via telex the publication of their propaganda pieces in these papers.”  

The pressure on the press was such that readers were no longer sure whether or not they were reading Catholic papers.   And so, on December 30, 1941, Titus consulted Archbishop Jan de Jong about visiting these papers to give moral support.

He was warned that authorities would find it easier to arrest him than the Archbishop himself.   But he insisted, “I can act more easily than you. I can travel, advise and evoke a kind of fidelity that may astound everyone.”

Having encountered doubts if a united front might be possible, Titus wrote, “The hour is past when there can’t be any turning back by the Catholic press. They would be disobedient to their archbishop and to their conscience, should they give their support to these ideas and to this movement. This instruction [the Telex message] is not yet official. Perhaps it will not become so… But if that order is given, even under the threat of grave penalties such as the suspension or the suppression of a paper, the publishers and editors must categorically refuse the articles imposed. It is not possible to act otherwise.  The bounds have been passed…”

He added, “The more we are united in this refusal, the stronger we shall be…. I …write this declaration after mature reflection, after discussion with various people in authority, and with His Excellency the Archbishop… It will be very hard for many of you who will be losing your daily bread. Only those who try and force your consciences will bear the responsibility… I do not yet dare to think that they will go as far as that, but if they do, God will have the last word, and will reward the faithful servant.”

Titus stood by what he believed was right. He linked the rights of the Church, manifested in the exercise of authority and in the free expression of the Catholic press, to the sanctity of human rights and freedom.

Prisoner

Less than three weeks after consulting the Archbishop and having seen 14 editors cross-country,  Titus was arrested on January 19, 1942 in the Carmelite monastery in Nijmegen. Labelled as a dangerous man despite being sickly and frail, he never wavered when interrogated.  

Titus was confined in Cell #577 of Scheveningen Penitentiary. He was then moved to the dreaded Amersfoort Concentration Camp on March 12, 1942 and to Dachau on June 19, 1942.

In Scheveningen, Titus continued to write. He started a biography of St. Theresa of Avila purely from his photographic memory, writing on the margins of books he had been allowed to keep. He also wrote a poem on solitude and his experience of the presence of God with the lines “Never were you, 0 Lord, so near…”

Before a Picture of Jesus in My Cell became famous in Holland. In his PowerPoint Presentation Br. Hallig showed a slide of the original copy of the poem handwritten February 12-13, 1942: “Titus turned seven weeks in jail into a retreat and his prison into a monastic cell.”  

In Amersfoort where priests were called Black Pests, Titus ministered to the spiritual and human needs of fellow inmates. He prayed with them and heard confessions. He also joined the Tillburg Circle of priests and intellectuals who carried out corporal and spiritual works of mercy and who loved him so much that they called him Uncle.

He also wrote his superiors that he was at peace. But in Dachau, Titus reached his breaking point despite realizing that he was in God’s hands and that he might as well leave things to the Lord. In one incident, he was confronted about hiding the Sacred Host in his eyeglass case. He hid the case in his armpit and found the strength to hold on to it until the guards stopped beating him up.  

In just a little after a month in Dachau, Titus died on July 26, 1942 from the torture, hunger insults, loss of rights and experiments on his body with anti-malaria injections. The membranes of the body were affected and just broke down.

Br. Hallig pointed out “He died trying to make sure of the independence of Dutch newspapers. He is a martyr of press freedom and the journalist of our times in seeking to ensure that the ideals of Christian values are imparted in every story published.”  

Dangers to media

There are no first-class relics of Blessed Titus because his body was cremated and then thrown into a mass grave. But he can be honored by Christian newspapers when they adhere to his vision of helping communicate, disseminate and impart human values.

“Titus once said that we are the other Theotokos,” said Br. Halllig. “Like Mary, we should be bearers of Christ    in everything that we do.” 

Here, Br. Salgado used the term pamamayani sa paghahari ng kagandahang loob ng Diyos whereby  people will consider the goodness of God and where media can spread the call to spirituality. But he also pointed out that media professionals are harassed, physically and otherwise, and face the risk of death.

He cited 99  cases of media-related attacks, threats, arrests, cyber libel cases, strafing, shootings,  slay attempts and actual killings (44 cases perpetrated by state agents/public officials) as documented by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR).

He also referred to data from Bulatlat on attacks against alternative media outfits in the form of Red baiting, death threats, harassment, denial of service, DDOS or attacks on a website coming from multiple sources which are also victims of attacks after being infected by a Trojan Horse, and lastly, traffic or bandwidth or application attacks.

Initial steps

What should we do as private citizens, media practitioners and Catholics/Christians, asked Dr.  Carmen Alviar, emcee of the Public Lecture and volunteer at ISA for external affairs.

For 15 minutes the participants grouped into three and then proposed courses of action.  

To applause from the audience the Radio Group, headed by Kim Tengco of Tinig ng Apostolado on DWBL 1242 AM (1:30-2:30 AM  Sundays), affirmed God as the only one who can judge people. “We must   develop our spiritual life so that we will have the heart to say yes.”

The members of the Print Group  – headed by Tonyo Cruz of Bulletin Today – “stand on our right to press freedom and value the ideas of Blessed Titus. Based on our experience in the recent polls, we say that we have to reflect on how to reach the basic sectors and on what is happening now (pagninilay sa mga nangyayari).”

And lastly, the Online and Parish-based Groups (particularly the Confraternidad ng Nuestra Senora del Carmen)  – headed by Sarah de Leon of Manila Today  – focused on guidance about the news on radio and in print, and noted restrictions on  freedom.

“On the report of the Print Group on integrating press freedom into reflection sessions, let us see how it is in our communities. What should we do to share (ipahayag) with and alert citizens to the dangers to media? And how do we initiate changes with commercialization of the media?”

Dr. Alviar invited comments from  Ma. Angela Ureta, a communications and strategic planning consultant and a former executive producer at ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs.

“What would Titus Bransdma do?” asked Ureta, a Carmelite associate. “He told Catholic editors to resist the publication of Nazi propaganda (fake news too) in their papers but he did not tell them to hit back (gumanti kayo). There is strength in such a collective silence.

“And to me, there are three qualities of Christ-like journalism: Journalism for truth; the courage to pursue and put in facts; and the improvement of writing skills. As media consumers maybe we should ask, Does this media person have a picture of the faith and of the truth? Or does he have to toe the line and keep to his comfort zone?”

Closing

For their part Br. Salgado and Br. Hallig stated, “How and why did Titus know God? Like St. Teresa of Avila and other mystics, he had love and acceptance of what was happening. And in every undertaking in his life there was abandonment to the will of God.

“Titus didn’t need to be in a cloister to serve God. He asked only for the grace to love and be faithful until the end. Like him, may we as students of life never tire of learning and serving others and the Lord.”                  

The two facilitators received certificates and tokens of appreciation from ISA.

Executive Director Fr. Rico Ponce, O.Carm. thanked them as well as the audience for sharing their thoughts and opinions.

He added, “May we continue to be inspired by Blessed Titus who once said, `If you want to win the world for Christ, you must be ready to come in conflict with the world.’ ”    

For the closing prayer, ISA selected a series of petitions to the Sacred Heart.  

Perla Aragon-Choudhury