Franz Horten was born and raised in a Catholic family. After studying English and French at the universities of Leipzig, Münster, Grenoble and London, he obtained a doctorate at the University of Bonn. He then joined the Order of Preachers in 1909, taking the name Titus Maria. After his novitiate, he studied philosophy and theology at the Teutonic Provincial Study Center in Düsseldorf. He was ordained a priest in Rome in 1915. He returned to Düsseldorf, where he stayed with wounded soldiers in a monastery converted into a lazaret. He was then sent to teach foreign languages at the Dominican School in Vechta. From 1923 he was director of the Albertus Magnus Publishing House. As the Nazi regime tightened its grip on Germany, the publishing house's activities became a focus of persecution. Titus was arrested and imprisoned in 1935. in. He died before his the end of the trial in 1936, probably due to malnutrition and isolation treatment.
- In 2011, his body was moved to the chapel of the Dominican school in Vechta. The process of his beatification is ongoing.
Bibliography:
Ulrich Schulte (Ed.): P. Titus Horten OP. Ein Ordensmann in the Dritten Reich. (Domininikanische Quellen und Zeugnisse, band 12). St. Benno Verlag, Leipzig 2008;
Ludger Fortmann: Pater Titus Horten (1882-1936). Herder, Freiburg 2015.
