Saintly journalists have dedicated, sacrificed lives for truth

By Brother Mickey McGrath, OSFS

“Do not yield to hatred. We are here in a dark tunnel but we have to go on. At the end, an eternal light is shining for us.” ~ Saint Titus Brandsma

When Titus Brandsma (1881-1942) was canonized by Pope Francis last summer, I knew nothing about him but his name and the fact that he was a Dutch Carmelite killed by the Nazis at the Dachau concentration camp. Once I began diving into the details of his life, I knew I had another BFF and spiritual director in heaven. Despite a lifetime of poor and ever-failing health, Titus remained a positive thinker with a great sense of humor who enthusiastically loved his work as a journalist and writer – even in the darkest days of World War II. Underlying everything he did as a university teacher and renowned journalist was his determination to present the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to a world and church in desperate need of the Gospel message of love, mercy and justice.         

Soon after the Germans invaded Holland in 1940, the Dutch bishops promulgated a letter to be read at every Mass throughout the Netherlands and Belgium condemning the Nazis’ persecution of the Jews. In retaliation, the Germans rounded up every Christian convert of Jewish origin and sent them to concentration camps for extermination. Among the victims was Titus’ fellow Carmelite, Saint Edith Stein, who had been transferred to a Dutch Carmelite monastery for safety from Cologne in her native Germany. It was Saint Titus who crafted that letter for the Dutch bishops. And since it was not the only time he used his journalism ministry as a platform to condemn the evil of Nazism, the Germans placed him under surveillance and ultimately condemned him to Dachau, where he died by lethal injection in 1942.

Saint Titus has not yet been officially proclaimed a patron saint of journalists, but most agree it is inevitable. The current patron of journalists and writers is Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), who was not actually a journalist by profession. Following his ordination In 1594, the young Saint Francis was assigned as a missionary to the Chablais region, an area in the French Alps near his hometown of Annecy. This once strongly Catholic world near Geneva, Switzerland, had become dominated by very anti-Catholic Calvinists. Catholics who chose to remain so were forced to practice their faith in secret under threat of punishment. Catholic churches were closed, vandalized and whitewashed while dancing, alcohol and fun of any kind were forbidden.

Saint Francis, a courageous young man of his times, used modern technology – the printing press – to catechize and evangelize. Despite threats against his life and severe winter storms in the mountains, Saint Francis printed 85 pamphlets in French (not Latin) over the course of a year with Catholic-themed sermons and Church teachings, which he slipped under the doors of people’s homes, tucked under windows and left on benches in the public squares. As a result, the majority of the population returned to the Catholic faith, and Saint Francis proved himself a worthy candidate for bishop in 1599. He was declared patron saint of journalists by Pope Pius XI in 1923.

Directly inspired by Saint Francis’s example, Servant of God Dorothy Day (1897-1980) – co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement along with Peter Maurin – published the Catholic Worker newspaper, copies of which were distributed in public parks, street corners and subway trains. All her life, Dorothy was a passionate journalist who had spent her earlier, pre-conversion years writing about the many social injustices of the times, such as the miserable plight of Jewish immigrants in the lower east side of Manhattan. In her later years, the activist wrote articles and essays denouncing war and the nuclear arms race, and supporting civil rights and migrant farm workers’ rights.

In his recent apostolic letter celebrating the 400th  anniversary of the death of Saint Francis de Sales, Pope Francis said, in reference to the patron of journalists: “It is very important to keep in mind the times in which one writes.” These three saintly  prophets – Titus, Francis and Dorothy – exemplify the truth of the pope’s words. May they inspire each of us – as well as all journalists of faith – to seek and share the truth of Christian love and mercy in our increasingly troubled world.

Brother Mickey McGrath, an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales, is an artist, author and speaker who lives in Camden.