King Charles IV of Hungary, with Zita and Crown Prince Otto. Coronation portrait Budapest, 1916.
(Wikpedia)
Posted on 12/14/2009 7:59:28 AM PST by GonzoII
Many readers will rejoice - fittingly on this Gaudete Sunday - to learn that last Thursday, 10 December 2009, the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God Zita, last Empress of Austria and wife of Blessed Emperor Charles, was solemnly opened by His Excellency Msgr. Yves Le Saux, Bishop of Le Mans, France. The process was opened in Le Mans, and not in the Swiss diocese of Chur, where the Empress died 20 years ago in 1989 in Zizers, with the consent of Msgr. Huonder, the Bishop of Chur, and the permission of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, because within the diocese of Le Mans is situated the Abbey of Solesmes, well known to NLM readers for its leading rôle in the early liturgical movement in the 19th century, especially regarding Gregorian chant, and which was the spiritual center of the Servant of God Zita, her home among her many exiles.
The ties of the Empress with Solesmes go back to 1909 when after studying with the Visitandine Sisters at Zangberg, Bavaria, she briefly went to study with the Benedictine nuns of the abbey of St. Cecilia of Solesmes, the female sister-abbey of St. Peter of Solesmes, likewise founded by Dom Guéranger, then in exile on the Isle of Wight in England. Her sisters Princesses Maria della Neve Adelaide, Francesca, and Maria Antonia of Bourbon-Parma were all nuns of St. Cecilia abbey. Zita herself later, in 1926, became an Oblate of St. Peter's Abbey of Solesmes. She also received a papal indult allowing her to spend three months of each year within the enclosure of St. Cecilia's abbey. All counted, the Empress spent about 1400 days at Solesmes, i.e. almost 4 years. Her intense spiritual life included, after rising each day at 5:30 a.m.
(Excerpt) Read more at newliturgicalmovement.org ...
Let it be known that GonzoII doth hereby pingeth His Majesty, of a matter historical, that may be of interest to same!
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
What a beautiful woman on the inside and out. Supposedly on their wedding night Charles commented to Zita they would help each other get to heaven. When she was allowed back in Austria she gave an interview on TV and expressed thought that Prince Rupolph was murdered and not committed suicide during the Mayerling Incident.
No more Saints from Royalty until AFTER Fr. Michael J. McGivney. Founder of the Knights of Columbus.
Would Empress Zita have reigned after Emperor Charles death, or Prince Otto?
Either way, it would have been one of the longest reigns in history - 67 years for Zita, and 87 years and counting for Otto.
I assume the crown would of passed to Otto. Queen Elizabeth’s II mom lived for a long time after her husband died but she was no longer Queen.
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