Blessed Charles of Austria

But the age of chivalry is gone—That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever. Never, never more, shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience, that subordination of the heart, which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom. The unbought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprize is gone! It is gone, that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honour, which felt a stain like a wound, which inspired courage whilst it mitigated ferocity, which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which vice itself lost half its evil, by losing all its grossness.

The Irish Statesman Edmund Burke wrote these words, meditating on the French Revolution. Had he known of the future Emperor of Austria-Hungary, he may have held his peace. In Blessed Charles von Hapsburg was that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience and subordination of heart. He was, in some ways, the last true kingly king in Europe, the last great member of a noble and holy house.

Charles was born on August 17, 1887 to Archduke Otto Franz of Austria and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony. He studied Law and Political Science and served in the Austria-Hungarian military. In 1911, he married Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma, whom he fell in love with as a result of her devotion to the Lord and similar life. On the day before their wedding, Karl said to his fiancée, “Now let’s help each other get into heaven.”

Zita and Karl dedicated their marriage to Our Lady, and had the inside of their wedding rings engraved with the Latin, “Sub tuum praeidium confugimus, sancta Dei Genitrix,” that is, “We fly to your protection, O most Holy Mother of God.” Their honeymoon was similarly focused, with them making a pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Mariazell.

Not many years after their wedding, the world was torn by the outbreak of the Great War. The death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand made Charles the heir apparent, and the death of his uncle, Emperor Franz Joseph, led to Ferdinand’s coronation in 1916. Despite the difficulties of wartime rule, Zita and Charles’ marriage continued to be both holy and affectionate, with Charles having a telephone line installed from his military camp during the First World War to the imperial palace expressly so that he could call his wife. He, alone of world leaders, sought to follow Pope Benedict XV’s plan to end the war and bring about peace. 

The defeat of Austria-Hungary in World War I led to his dethronement and exile. Charles and his family would spend the next years moving from place to place, eventually coming to rest in Madeira. Now a father of eight, he lived with his children and wife in a modest house in Quinta do Monte. In March of 1922, he became sick with bronchitis, which developed into severe pneumonia. He suffered two heart attacks and died of respiratory failure on April 1, 1922. On his deathbed he forgave those who had conspired against him and said, “I strive always in all things to understand as clearly as possible and follow the will of God, and this in the most perfect way.”

As it would happen, two years before his death a son was born to a Polish soldier who had served under him. The soldier so admired the Emperor that he decided to name his son “Karol” after him. This child, St. Pope John Paul II, would beatify him in 2004. At the beatification Mass, the Pope said, “From the beginning, the Emperor Charles conceived of his office as a holy service to his people. His chief concern was to follow the Christian vocation to holiness also in his political actions. For this reason, his thoughts turned to social assistance. May he be an example for all of us, especially for those who have political responsibilities in Europe today!”

So let Charles of Austria be an example for us today of a political leader, a patriot, a father, and a husband who lived his calling in union with the designs of the Lord, and, God willing, may he be raised to the altars of the Church as a saint.