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Submitted by redakcja2 on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 15:11
The Last King of Hungary
Historia

God preserve, God protect our King and country, says the Hungarian version of the Habsburgian anthem Gott erhalte. Today we are commemorating the 98th anniversary of the sorrowful death of Blessed Emperor and King Charles of Austria. Otherwise his feast day in the Roman calendar falls on 21st October, on the day of his marriage with Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma – indicating that sainthood is achievable through marriage.

Until today, Blessed Charles was our first king, on whose coronation the Hungarian anthem was sung: God, bless the Hungarians!

For Hungarians, Slovaks and Croats, Charles is the omega to Saint Stephen’s alpha; for the Jews and for too many of us in Central Europe, he is the last chapter of a Golden Era; and for Poles, he is the namesake of Karol Wojtyła, Saint John Paul II. It is not by accident, that John Paul was the one, who canonized Charles on 3rd October, 2004.

The young Charles was unexpectedly promoted as heir to the throne and then coronated as Emperor-King; of course it was not taken into account during his upbringing: he was raised to become a soldier. The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the hell of World War I, and then the death of Franz Joseph I set him higher and higher. During the war by preparing for peace, he was already planning a future for his empire, but he voluntarily withdrew from his throne at the sight of the different political developments of his countries; he could not undertake the necessary but bloody restoring of order in the name of God — this is his real personal tragedy. After the restoration of peace, he tried to return to his throne twice, but the Habsburg name was not tolerated by the brawling successor states of his empire, not even by the Hungarian government; which was frolicking with the royal title in its name and wearing the flowers of revolution under its wraps, not even financially supporting the ruler living in Portuguese exile and indeed in dire need.

Charles was taken by the Spanish flu in Funchal, Madeira on April 1st, 1922. The following prayer can be actualised during the current pandemic:

O Blessed Emperor Karl, you accepted the difficult tasks and burdensome challenges that God gave you during your life. In every thought, decision and action you trusted always in the Holy Trinity. We pray to you to intercede for us with the Lord our God to give us faith and courage, so that even in the most difficult situations of our earthly lives we may not lose heart, but continue faithfully in the footsteps of Christ. 

Ask for us the grace that our hearts may be moulded into the likeness of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Help us to work with compassion and strength for the poor and needy, to fight with courage for peace in our homes and in the world, and in every situation to trustingly place our lives in the hands of God, until we reach Him, as you did, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Imprimatur: Archdiocese of Vienna,  5.18.2004, ZI. K787/07, K788/04, Vicar Apostolic Dr. Franz Schuster

 

image source: http://www.emperorcharles.org/why-canonize-an-emperor