Laudetur Iesus Christus! Today Thursday October 21 is the feast of Blessed Karl of Austria, the last Holy Roman emperor of Austria-Hungry who died less than 100 years ago, and has a large following among the Latin Mass faithful. You may recall we invited Bishop Athanasius Schneider to provide a talk on this soon to be saint back in 2017.
TONIGHT 7pm Thursday October 21, we are pleased to announce that there will be a 7pm High Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas in commemoration of Blessed Karl.
Who is Blessed Karl of Austria?
Blessed Karl von Habsburg was the last Holy Roman Emperor who reigned just 2 short years from 1916 – 1918. He inherited World War I from his predecessor, tried tirelessly to end the war through an authentic peace, and was a devout ruler who had a devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. He was married to Servant of God Princess Zita of the House of Bourbon (who died in 1989) and was the father of 8 children. After being deposed from power by the globalist revolutionaries (who hated all things Catholic), he died in exile on the Portuguese island of Madeira in 1922. He was beatified by St. John Paul II in 2004 (who was named Karol in honor of Bl. Karl) and his feast day is October 21 – the date of his wedding to Zita. It is likely that when Servant of God Zita is beatified (and hopefully canonized) they will be honored with a husband-wife feast day. When Blessed Karl’s tomb was opened in 1971, his body was discovered to be incorrupt.
In a time when self-proclaimed “Catholics” who support abortion are in the highest levels of government, we are needing holy and pious Catholic leaders in government who promote the Social Kingship of Christ and who are faithful to marriage and the Church gives us Blessed Karl, and hopefully soon his wife, Zita. Blessed Karl has a growing popularity among Latin Mass attendees for his fidelity, promotion of the Social Kingship of Christ, and the Catholic monarchy. Here are some resources about Blessed Karl:
- Local Catholic publisher, TAN books has just published a new book on Blessed Karl by author Charles Coulombe: https://www.tanbooks.com/blessed-charles-of-austria-a-holy-emperor-and-his-legacy.html
- To learn more about Blessed Karl please visit his official website at: http://www.emperorcharles.org/biography
*Although not technically on the EF calendar yet, since it’s a feria day (non-feast day), a Mass of the Confessor can be offered for his commemoration.
Blessed Karl’s Local Connection to Charlotte and the Latin Mass
CLMC readers may be surprised to learn that Blessed Karl of Austria’s family actually has ties to Charlotte. His granddaughter, Archduchess Maria Beatrix and her husband, Count Riprand of Arco-Zinneberg lived in Charlotte during the 1980s and began developing several of the shopping centers in Charlotte, Huntersville, and Raleigh that we may frequent today.
Additionally, the couple visited Charlotte in 2018 and in a joyful surprise to us, attended the 12:30pm Latin Mass at St. Ann where the royal couple were equally surprised in seeing the CLMC’s Blessed Karl portrait on the Latin Mass welcome table as they entered the narthex. The Count and Countess graciously stopped to chat with us after Mass.
Sadly though, we have learned that Count Arco (+) passed away in August after a recent battle with cancer. Please consider offering your Mass intentions for the repose of his soul.
Count Arco has died. The prominent NC developer was a descendant of European royalty
Lastly, if you missed our e-mail earlier this week about the petition to Bishops Jugis about the vaccine mandates, you can read/sign it here:
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bishop-jugis-condemn-forced-vaccinations
Blessed Karl of Austria, pray for us!
Charlotte Latin Mass Community 