1990 Documented Theca with Relic of St. Titus Brandsma, WW2 Martyr of Press Freedom

Round glass-fronted yellow-metal reliquary theca housing a second-class ex indumentis (“from the clothing”) pre-canonization relic of Saint Titus Brandsma. Displayed against crimson silk, the relic is identified in Latin on a typeset cedula label: “B. Titi Brands. M.” (Blessed Titus Brandsma, Martyr). On the back, under the protective cap, the theca is secured with a seal of red Spanish wax bearing an imprint of the coat of arms of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (commonly known as the Carmelites). Accompanied by the matching authentics document issued in Rome on February 22, 1990, by Father Redemptus Maria Valabek, O.Carm., Postulator General.

Saint Titus Brandsma, O.Carm. (†1942), was a Dutch Carmelite priest, philosopher, university professor, and journalist. An outspoken opponent of Nazi ideology, he defended freedom of the Catholic press and urged Dutch newspapers to reject Nazi propaganda. Arrested by the occupying authorities in 1942, he endured imprisonment and mistreatment before being transferred to Dachau concentration camp, where he was killed by lethal injection. Beatified as a Martyr by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1985, he was canonized by Pope Francis in 2022. Widely invoked by journalists and defenders of press freedom, his feast day is July 27.