www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Blessed Charles of Austria

Does anyone know where icons of Blessed Charles/Karl of Austria can be obtained? I am primarily looking for online sources. I have searched for some time and have found nothing.

Dear byzanTN,

I don't know where the icons can be found, but I'm not Catholic and would love to know some things about blessed Charles of Austria. I believe he had been mentioned quite a few times on this forum.

Zenovia

For you Zenovia:

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc8t.htm

Emperor Blessed Charles, pray for us that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

Dear Dr. Eric,

Thank you for the information. But boy am I dumb. I should have thought of googling it myself.

Zenovia

Judy Lauderbaugh of Charleroi, PA has written an icon of Blessed Charles of Austria. You can obtain prints of the icon from her. You can private message me for her contact information.

Fr. Matthew

Also, this is the official website of the Blessed Emperor Charles Prayer League:

http://www.emperor-charles.org

My mother's hometown is Charleroi, Pennsylvania.
Her late uncle was mayor there for 24 years.

The iconographer has given me her permission to publish her information on this forum. She is:

Judy Lauderbaugh
807 Oakland Ave
Charleroi, PA 15022-1850

rjlaud@comcast.net

Kaiser Karl was obviously a good person and tragic personality but I haven't heard much about his image among the Rusyns, Galicians or for that matter the Slovaks? Does anyone have anything on this?

They wouldn't exactly have a soft spot in their heart for the last guy to run a crumbling empire that used them as cannon fodder in a bloody and suicidal war.

--tim

His relics are enshrined in two Byzantine Catholic Churches: Saint Anthony in Carei, Romania and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Albuquerque, NM. Also, there was a two page flier at the Byzantine Catholic Church at Rozsak tere in Budapest about the pilgrimage in his honor in Budapest.

Galicians (who are just as much Rusyns as anybody else is) have a warm spot in their hearts for the Hapsburgs in general and Blessed Charles in particular. Their usual comment on Franz Joseph is that he was the best long-term government they had in the twentieth century. He's often referred to as "Цісарь - Дідо", which means the Emperor-Grandfather.

As to the beatification, have a look at the video of the ceremony - lots of people turned up from everyplace in Austria-Hungary, in national costumes and in the old Army uniforms.

And, of course, one should remember the Empress / Apostolic Queen Zita (the widow of Blessed Charles) presiding, in full regalia and within the altar rails, at the consecration of Bishop Daniel (Ivancho) in 1946 in Pittsburgh.

The expulsion of the Hapsburgs was accomplished quite undemocratically, against the will of the people, by England and France.

Fr. Serge

The reason I asked about the feelings of present-day people in the Old Country re Karl was because for many of us second, third generations our folks departed Austria-Hungary before Kaiser Karl's time. I know that my grandparents thought highly of Franz Josef even during the war while living in the US.

I have interviewed people in their 90s in northeast Slovakia who have recited various fables about Franz Josef and Maria Teresa, both of whom figure in folk tales in a similar way that Russian peasants told fantastic stories about the tsar (any tsar).

In fact, many of the stories are similar to the Russian versions.... Young Franz Josef disguised himself as a peasant and traveled the empire to find out what life is like and learned how poorly the peasants were being treated, and vowed to make their lives better, etc. etc.

None of them mentioned Karl I. And that makes sense. After two years of a horrible war, the old peasant belief in the goodness of the emperor (especially an ancient Franz Josef) wouldn't likely have transferred to the new guy. And even while Franz Josef lived, remember that Eastern Christians of the Empire, including Greek Catholics greeted the invading Orthodox Russians as liberators.

Frankly, I have never found nostalgia for Austria-Hungary among Slovaks or Rusyns. In fact, there's little consciousness of the empire at all. Remember that the chaos of the war was follwed by 20 years of the anti-monarchy atmosphere of the first Czechoslovak Republic. Then there was the chaos and disruption of World War II and, of course, 40 years of Communist oppression.

The one exception to that lack of Austro-Hungarian consciousness was a group of ambassadors from the successor states. I had a conversation with the Czechoslovak ambassador to the US before the country split up and she talked of a regular breakfast she had with the Polish and Hungarian ambassadors and waxed nostalgic about Austria-Hungary as a cultural and economic unit.

--tim

Leaving legendary material to one side, it is necessary to keep in mind both the distinction between Austria and Hungary and some other pertinent facts about Europe after World War I.

One would hardly expect non-Magyars who had lived in the Hungarian Kingdom to push for a restoration of Austria-Hungary, even though, had they been endowed with second sight, that would have been in their best interests. A restored Empire could probably have stopped Hitler dead in his tracks before he seized Czechoslovakia, and prevented the Fascists from taking power in Hungary. Never mind; Czechoslovakia paid for its folly in full measure.

In the early twenties, Horthy would gladly have restored the Apostolic King, if only because he knew full well that the Hungarians themselves seriously wanted the King back, and that Charles would have rewarded the Regent appropriately. However, the Regent could not restore the King in the teeth of Anglo-French opposition plus the mobilization of Czechoslovakia - Masaryk and his government were Masonic, and in league with the former Entente to keep the Empire in the history books and the Emperor as far away as possible.

When Emperor Charles attempted - twice - to regain his throne in Budapest, he acted at the express urging of the Pope, who was alarmed at the prospects of the Communists coming to power in Eastern Europe. Time has proved that the Pope was right.

While still in possession of the throne, Emperor Charles had set measures in motion to provide a much stronger share of the government for the Slavs in both Austria and Hungary. One should also note that he made no attempt to resist the break-up of the Empire by force of arms, even though he could have put up quite a fight - neither then nor later would Charles instigate a civil war; he had seen more than enough bloodshed in World War I. In consequence, he is still known as the Peace Emperor, which was among the main motives for his beatification. We need his intercessions today.

Fr. Serge

Blessed Charles of Austria came to the Hapsburg throne in 1915, at a young age. He did all he could to stop the war with little success.

No one questions his personal sanctity or his devotion to his family or his concern for the many peoples of his empire. How bright and how effective he was is another question but it's irrelevant.

On a topic unrelated to Charles, has anyone written an icon for St. Gianna Molla?

Actually Blessed Charles became Emperor and Apostolic King in 1916. His accession address promised that he would do everything possible to make peace - he went even further than the proposals of Pope Benedict XV. Unfortunately, the Anglo-French Entente wasn't having any. The peace proposals of Blessed Charles are now available for all the world to read.

A popular proverb to the contrary, it does not take two to make a quarrel (find the bully of your choice and watch him or her in action). It does, alas, require two parties to make peace. The Entente was determined to crush the Central Powers and succeeded, with the happy results that we are all only too familiar with.

However, we have cause to rejoice - the beatification has given us back the Emperor, and this time no power on earth can take him away from us ever again!

Fr. Serge

Father Serge,

Indeed, when taken by the standards of a fallen world, Blessed Karl would be considered a failure. However, his efforts at making peace, his love for God, his family, his peoples, all the calumnies, betrayals, and sufferings he endured unjustly yet with serenity and forgiveness for all of his enemies make brilliantly clear his virtue.

1 Timothy 5:25 "So also good deeds are conspicuous; and even when they are not, they cannot remain hidden."

Fr. Matthew

October 21 marks the feastday of Blessed Charles of Austria. It was on this date in 1911 that he and Princess (future Empress) Zita were married at Schwarzau.

Blessed Charles of Austria pray to God for us!

Holy father and apostolic emperor Charles, pray to God for us!

Amazing! That war produced two Emporors that became saints and each suffered in their own way. What a tragic era, and the beginning of a century of horrors. Some say the hundred years given to satan hasn't ended yet.

Zenovia

There was a Mass at Saints Peter and Paul Church in Vancouver, British Columbia on Saturday, October 21, 2006, the feastday of Blessed Charles of Austria. A stained glass window featuring Blessed Charles was blessed and a relic was venerated and then enshrined. Then there was a conference given by Brother Nathan Cochran, O.S.B., the American/Canadian Delegate of the Emperor Charles League of Prayers. Brother Nathan announced that two miracles attributed to the intercession of Blessed Charles are being investigated presently.

Fr. Matthew

Honestly now, there is an historical disconnect here. Was it not Austria-Hunary that desuaded our people the Rusyn/Galicians to abandon their Orthodox roots for the Latin Rite..??? Have we forgot the 'treaty' of Brest..?? And where is the nobility in that. To rip a people from their heritage. Hmmm, kind of like the English superimposing their power over others they decided to dominate and 'civilize'. What of the anti-opinion here..?? mik

Dear Mike,

You write asking:

To consider these points:

"Was it not Austria-Hunary that desuaded our people the Rusyn/Galicians to abandon their Orthodox roots for the Latin Rite..???"

Well, no, it wasn't - not if you meant to write "persuaded" instead of "desuaded". If you meant to write "dissuaded", that would be a compliment to Austria-Hungary. Austria actually favored the Greek-Catholic Church and gave her significant support.

"Have we forgot the 'treaty' of Brest..??" From the context, it appears that you are speaking of the Union of Brest, which took place in 1596, Austria was not a party to it, nor involved in it, neither for good nor for ill. Those who like the Union of Brest cannot give Austria the credit, and those who dislike the Union of Brest cannot give Austria the bleme; Austria had nothing to do with it.

It is just possible that you are referring to the several Treaties of Brest-Litovsk of early 1918. Had these remained in force after World War I, the results would have been excellent for Ukraine, and these Treaties did not involve ripping the people from their heritage. So if that's what you are referring to, what would be the point?

You comment:

"Hmmm, kind of like the English superimposing their power over others they decided to dominate and 'civilize'." - that applies perfectly to the terrible artificial famine in Ukraine in the early nineteen-thirties. But I am unaware that Austria has ever been accused of doing any such thing.

You ask:

"What of the anti-opinion here..?? "

If this farrago of mixed-up attributions of the behaviour of others to the Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary is the best the anti-opinion can do, well: "Honestly now, there is an historical disconnect here."

Better luck next time!

Father Serge