Who is Blessed Karl of Austria?

BETTY ANN WEBER | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 02.08.08

ORLANDO | Blessed Karl was born Aug. 17, 1887, in Persenbeug Castle, Austria. Karl Franz Josef Ludwig Hubert Georg Maria von Habsburg-Lothringne was the last of the powerful Habsburg monarchs (1278–1918).

His parents, Archduke Otto and Princess Maria Josephine of Saxony, provided their son with a steadfast Catholic education. He soon developed a deep devotion to the holy Eucharist and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In 1911, Karl married Princess Zita of Bourbon and Parma and was blessed with eight children.

Karl became heir presumptive with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, his uncle, in Sarajevo in 1914, precipitating World War I. When his great-uncle Franz Joseph I died, Karl’s reign began. He became Emperor of Austria Nov. 21, 1916, and was crowned apostolic king of Hungary Dec. 30, 1916. Additionally, he assumed command of the Austro-Hungarian Army.

He professed that commitment to peace was one of the most sacred duties of a king. He was the only political leader to support Pope Benedict XV’s peace efforts.

At war’s end, he initiated wide and laudable social legislation, resulting in the transition to a new order. Nonetheless, he was banished from his country.

At the bidding of the pope, and to sidestep a civil war, the monarch tried to re-establish his government in Hungary, and failed. Karl and his family, reduced to poverty, were exiled to the Island of Madeira, Portugal, where April 1, 1922, he died at age 34.

Praising Karl at his beatification in 2004, Pope John Paul II noted in his homily that the ruler found war appalling. “From the beginning,” he said, “the emperor (Karl) conceived his office as a holy service to his people.”

He was the only male monarch beatified in 400 years.

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