A royal, holy marriage

Blessed Karl of Austria and his wife, Servant of God Empress Zita.

Today’s post is a bit late — I just returned from a conference in Washington, D.C., in commemoration of Blessed Karl of Austria.

I came away with a strong sense of, above all, his manliness. He is a model of what we need so badly, in our time: how to be a leader, how to put the good of family and country first, how to serve God above all. His manliness exemplified chivalry, not unbridled power.

Today, October 21, is the feast day of Blessed Karl, the day of the anniversary of his marriage to a holy woman, Empress Zita. It was she who I first heard about, and only afterwards her husband. She was an exemplary and intelligent wife: she educated her children and made a home for her family.

The mutual devotion of the couple has always impressed me. Even while carrying their 8th child, she was as committed to doing God’s will as he was, and she accepted with great abandonment all that commitment entailed for her. Blessed Karl died at the age of 34 while they were in exile, in poverty and want; she was 30. They had been married for ten years.

Their granddaughter, Princess Maria-Anna Galitzine, whom I met this weekend — a gracious and pious lady — spoke about them in this interview:

NCR: Blessed Karl's feast day (Oct. 21) is his wedding anniversary, a very unique thing on the calendar of the saints. Perhaps, you could share one story that your Grandmother Empress Zita, told you about her marriage to Blessed Karl.

Princess Maria-Anna: Empress Zita treated the subject of her marriage with so much reverence that she did not speak of it very often. She did recount the joy of her honeymoon trip with Blessed Karl. They took a tour of the Empire and she would speak of what joy they had. You could tell that they had a joyful marriage.

Of course, they struggled. The circumstances of the war and their exile were very painful and difficult. Yet, Blessed Karl’s first concern was always for his family, especially for the education of his children. Empress Zita inherited a love of education from her father and Blessed Karl absolutely supported a quality education for his children. He was especially concerned about their religious education. When he was dying, he wanted his eldest son, Crown Prince Otto, to be at his bedside. He wanted his son to see how a king and emperor died and how he gave his last breath to God.

… He told his wife on their wedding day, “Now we must help each other to get to Heaven.” This sums up very well the sacrament of Christian marriage.

Princess Maria-Anna spoke with Fr. Mitch Pakwa about her grandmother here.

A blessed feast day to you, and may the Servant of God Zita help us in our housewifely education here at the School!

21 October 1911: Zita of Bourbon-Parma and Charles of Habsburg-Lothringen were married in the Schwarzau Castle in Lower Austria.

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