Pope Francis to canonised priest murdered by Nazis

The Dutch priest Titus Brandsma, who was murdered by the Nazis at the Dachau concentration camp in 1942, would be canonised on May 15.

The Vatican made the decision at a meeting of the College of Cardinals on Friday.

Along with Brandsma, the Italian nun Maria di Gesù (1852-1923) and the French nun Maria Rivier (1768-1838) will also be canonised by Pope Francis.

Brandsma, who was born in the Dutch province of Friesland in 1881, was a priest of the Carmelite Order and opposed the Nazi regime.

He was arrested by the Nazis in early 1942 and taken to the Dachau concentration camp a few months later.

There, he was tortured and murdered by lethal injection on July 26, 1942.

He was beatified on Nov. 3, 1985, by Pope John Paul II.

In November 2021, Pope Francis acknowledged a miracle attributed to Brandsma, fulfilling the final condition for canonisation.