Conversion in Dachau

Blessed Titus Brandsma

One of the most horrible places during World War II was the concentration camp in Dachau where thousands, possibly millions were killed. Among them was Fr Titus Brandsma, a Carmelite priest from Holland. He was the first journalist killed by the Nazis. Pope St John Paul II beatified him in November 1983. During the cause of his beatification, one of the witnesses who spoke in his favor was the nurse who gave him the lethal injection. She recalled how on July 26, 1942, while she was giving him the injection, Fr Titus offered her his Rosary beads. He told her ‘Take these Rosary beads...and use it to pray.’ She refused them claiming that she does not pray. But he insisted ‘take them anyway, and just say Pray for us sinners.’ These were the last words of Fr Titus Brandsma. That nurse, who now still lives under a different name said that she converted to the Catholic faith just because of the Rosary beads. In 1955, this nurse presented herself at the cause of beatification and related her story, while telling the details of the last 10 days of Fr Titus. She gave him poison to die, while he gave her Rosary beads, which led to her conversion.