Neither are the souls of the pious dead separated from the Church which even now is the kingdom of Christ. Otherwise there would be no remembrance of them at the altar of God in the communication of the Body of Christ. -- Saint Augustine of Hippo from “The City of God

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Friday, February 23, 2007

Saint Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga


Alberto was born in 1901, in Vina del Mar, Chile. His father died when Albert was only four, and his mother moved with her two sons to Santiago after selling the family farm to pay off debts. Albert knew what was to be poor from an early age and remembered how frequently the family had to move. He was very acquainted with the struggles of the homeless and needy.

“It is good to put your hands together to pray, but it is better to open them in order to give,” were the watchwords of Alberto’s mother. He learned compassion from his mother and would share what little he had with the poor children. He attended the Jesuit school in Santiago on a scholarship. From a very young age Albert showed deep concern for the poor who lived in the slums. He spent Sunday afternoons helping serve the poor in the most blighted areas.

Alberto spent many hours in prayer and could feel a growing call to become a Jesuit priest. He postponed his desire to become a Jesuit until his mother and brother were better provided for. After leaving school, he worked afternoons and evenings to help support the family and also to support his law studies at the Catholic University.

Graduating at 22 years, with a law degree, he entered the Jesuit novitiate. His formation years in the Society of Jesus took him through South America and Europe. He was ordained in Belgium in 1933. Alberto was so happy and content and only wanted to live out his ministry wholeheartedly.

Albert returned to Santiago in 1936 to teach at St Ignatius School and gave adult classes in at the Catholic University. Young people were drawn to him through the retreats and missions he led. His passion for Christ was evident and it sparked young hearts to give themselves to Christ, to work in the vineyard for His glory.

The Eucharist was the central unifying force of Father Alberto’s life. The Mass was his life and he saw his life as a continual Mass.

Alberto had a heart for the poor. He worried about the poor and the orphans that roamed Santiago’s streets. They were ignored and forgotten but Father Alberto would change that. In the poor and homeless, Father Hurtado saw Christ. "Christ, in his mystical body, is dying of tuberculosis on the streets or under a bridge." and "If we don’t see Christ in the person we rub elbows with every moment, that is because our faith is tepid and our love imperfect."

In 1944, a very sick homeless man knocked on Father Hurtado’s door looking for a place to stay. This encounter left him feeling very distressed. He voiced his concerns at a women’s retreat and suggested opening a shelter. The women were so moved that they responded by giving very generous donations of land, jewels and money. This was the beginning of El Hogar de Cristo, Christ’s Home which opened in May 1945. The hospice was open to anyone.

The hospices increased in number and not only did they offer the poor shelter for the night but also helped re-habilitate people and taught them true Christian values. He wanted them to respect their value as a person and more so as a child of God. Father Alberto would go out in the night in his green truck looking for children sleeping on the streets. People recall Father Hurtado in his green pickup truck picking up the poor and homeless and bringing them to the Hogar.

Father Alberto wrote a book, Is Chile a Catholic Country?, which criticized materialism and its toxic effects on the young and poor. He criticized the very unjust social structure and systems. His critiques were not well received. He was misunderstood and seen as a radical. Undaunted, he started labor unions whose foundations were based on Christian humanism and the Church’s social teachings. It was “a way to make the Church present in the area of organized labor.” He wrote many papers on social justice and the Church in the years that followed.

He encouraged the businessmen, employers and the rich to act as coworkers with Jesus for the betterment of the society. To the workers, he helped them to see their labor as a Christian activity, not something separate from their faith.

At fifty, Father Alberto had the symptoms of the disease that would end his life. He had a stroke and was then diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He received his prognosis as a gift from God. His most eloquent testimony was given during his last illness and death. The greatness of God and the depth of the man himself were revealed in the way he faced the moment of his departure.

Upon learning of his immanent death, he replied: “How can I not be overjoyed! How can I not be grateful to God! Instead of a violent death he has sent me a long illness so that I can prepare myself; He has not sent me pain but rather the pleasure of seeing so many friends, to be able to see them all. Truly for me God has been a loving Father; the best of fathers.”

Despite his great pain, he was heard to say, “I am content, O Lord, I am content”. He lingered for more than a year and died in 1951 surrounded by his Jesuit brothers. At his funeral, great crowds came to bid farewell to their beloved priest, Papa Alberto.

On October 16, 1994, Pope John Paul II beatified Father Alberto in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI canonized him in 2005.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Blessed Titus Brandsma-Martyr


Not too many people have heard of the heroic Priest Titus Brandsma; let us take a more intimate look at this great man of Faith and courage, who lived the true meaning of living and dying for love of God and his fellow man.


Anno Brandsma was born in a little hamlet area of Friesland, Holland in the year 1881 on February 23; he was born into a very tight knit but loving family. His Mother was of an anxious nature and so was very protective of her family, as was his Father, Titus, who was also very proud of their Friesland heritage. Catholicism was not well embraced where the Brandsma family lived and so Titus as head of their home became involved in local politics as he tried hard to preserve their culture from modern intrusion.


But also apart from politics Titus, Anno's father made his living as a dairy farmer in that region of Holland, where he focused on producing milk and cheese to be sold. It was hard living with very few modern conviences, so all the children from early on were raised with a great work ethic as well as a strong Catholic Faith.


Anno attended the Franciscan school or 'gymnasium' at Megen, Holland, many of the students from this school like Anno would later enter the Priesthood. But Anno told others that he didn’t particularly like this school and preferred a more communal approach in living and studying their Faith and the schools other curricular activities.


Upon completion of his studies with the Franciscans, Anno Brandsma felt a calling to embrace the Carmelite Order; he entered the Carmelite Monastery in Boxmeer Holland in the year 1898, where he took his fathers name Titus as his religious name. From the beginning of entering the Carmelite Monastery, Titus showed an extraordinary gift for journalism and writing. Titus was ordained a Catholic Priest on June 17, 1905, and after further studies at the Roman Gregorian University, graduated on October 25, 1909 with a doctorate in philosophy.


Father Titus Brandsma spent his early Ministry in education where he joined the faculty of the newly founded Catholic University of Nijmegen in 1923. Because of Fr. Titus journalistic interests and gift of writing the Archbishop De Jong of Utrecht appointed Fr. Titus as spiritual advisor to the staff members of the more than thirty Catholic newspapers in Holland; this coincided with the more virulent and tyrannical presence of the Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler! It didn’t take long for Fr. Titus to begin criticizing the new German Leadership.


When the Germans invaded Holland in the year 1940 then began the persecution of the Jewish people, upon this the Dutch resistance rose up to counteract the Nazi oppression. Also the Catholic Hierarchy announced that the Sacraments would be refused to Catholics who supported the Nazi occupation and it’s Regime!


During this difficult and most dangerous of times Fr. Titus Brandsma also became more involved in the Dutch resistance, making little effort to conceal his activities from the Nazi's. And it was his refusal and the Church's refusal to print National Socialist propaganda which infuriated the Nazi's. Especially as Fr. Titus also felt compelled to personally deliver to each Catholic editor a letter from the bishops ordering them not to comply with a new law requiring them to print official Nazi publications.


This proved to be too much provocation for the Nazi's and they arrested Father Titus on January 19, 1942; he was interned at Scheveningen and Amersfoort in Holland before being sent to Dachau, where he arrived on June 19, 1942.


Father Titus Brandsma's health was always a little fragile and he suffered periodically with kidney infections throughout the 1930's. So the brutal conditions at Dachau quickly saw his health decline rapidly. Fr. Titus had many times to visit the camp 'hospital' due to his health problems, which then enabled the Nazi's to use this Holy Priest for biological experiments!


But even though Father Titus was imprisoned at Dachau, these were not empty years, as Fr. Titus kept up his prolific abilities to write with deep and mystical meaning upon suffering, and also other holy works.


But unfortunately this Holy Priest health could not stand up to the brutal beatings, forced labour and the vile experiments upon his emaciated figure. Father Titus Brandsma a man and a Priest of Holy and Courageous countenance was killed by the Nazi's with a lethal injection on July 26th in 1942!


This was a Priest who lived a joy filled life even amidst the greatest evil; he is a testament to the Spirit of Love for God and his fellow man. He is a modern mystic, though many of his writings were lost during the years of the war what remained is Mystical Theology based on his own sufferings and that of the Church. Though he did not seek martyrdom yet he bowed with humility when it embraced him as one who is called to atone for the many. With a Christ like love he forgave his enemies and is a shining example of love conquering evil!


Titus Brandsma, 0. Carm. was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul, II on November 1985.


Copyright © 2007 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.