The Great Man Laid to Rest in Vienna: Revisions to the Ceremony

Editor: The Emperor has made a stately and sad journey through the old Lands of Central Europe, recalling our past and Christendom. He will end his final journey at the Capuchin Crypt in the center of old Vienna, the heart of Europe and the seat of beauty and majesty. There will be changes to the ceremony to befit the Emperor's activities as a European citizen.

"Otto - A Mortal, sinnful Man"

The stricken Austrian Emperor will have his worldly accomplishments announced at the knocking ritual at the Crypt of the Habsburgs.

(kreuz.net, Wien) Next Saturday his Imperial and Royal Highness, Archduke Otto von Habsburg, will be laid to rest in Vienna's Imperial Crypt, the Kaisergruft.

The funeral procession will arrive from the Stepensdom to the Capuchin Church where the Kaisergruft is near.

The Last Time in 1989

The last time the knocking ritual took place was for the burial of the last Austrian Empress, Zita († 1989, the Mother of Otto von Habsburg.

Actually, this time the ceremony will be significantly altered.

In the first part, the Master of Ceremonies will refer, as is usual, the heritage and titles of the deceased.

Then in the second part, on the contrary, will be the wordly achievements and honors that were bestowed on Otto Habsburg.

Upon each of these addresses the Capuchin Priest within the Church will respond:

"We don't know him"

The deceased son of an Emperor will then be allowed entrance into the Church when he is described as "a mortal, sinful man".

The MC knocks three times


Capuchin: "Who desires entrance?"

Master of Ceremonies: "Otto of Austria,
First Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary,
Imperial Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia,
Galicia,
Londomeria and Illyria,
Grand Duke of Toskana and Krakow,
Duke of Lothringia, of Salzburg, Steria, Carinthia, Craina and the Bokowina,
Grand Prince of Siebenburgen,
Count of Mähren,
Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and
Guastalla, of
Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, Friali, Ragusa, Zara,
princely Count von Habsurg of Tirol, of Kyburg, Gorz and Gradisca,
Prince of Trent and Brixen,
Count of Upper and Lower Lausitz and Istria,
Count of Hoehenms, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg etc.,
Lord of Triest, of Cattaro and of the Windischen Mark,
Grand Voyod of the Voyodship of Serbia, etc., etc."

Capuchin: "We do not know him!"

MC knocks three times

Capuchin: "Who desires entrance?"

Master of Ceremonies: "Dr. Otto von Habsburg,
President an Honorary President of the Pan European Union,
Member and Late President of the European Parliament,
Honorary Doctor of numerous Universities and Honorary Citizen of many Societies in
Central Europe,
Member of honorable Academies and Institutes,
Bearer of high and highest State and Church awards, orders and honors,
which were bestowed upon him in recognition of his decades long
fight for
the freedom of peoples, for law and justice."

Capuchin: "We do not know him!“

MC knocks three times

Capuchin: "Who desires entrance?"

Master of Ceremonies: "Otto -- a mortal and sinful man!"

Capuchin: "So, come in!"

Link to kreuz.net article...
© Pressefoto, ottovonhabsburg.org

Emperor Otto Habsburg's Departure From Munich at the Odeonplatz

Editor: Cardinal Marx is reading the blessing as the Bavaria bids a tearful goodbye to its Emperor.

Death of An Imperial Pen Pal

by Charles Coulombe
[Takimag]The San Fernando Valley in the 1970s was a very dull place. Hot and dusty, filled with lackluster architectural construction thrown together during the postwar housing boom, it was the last place I wanted to be.

Back in those far-off days, the LA Archdiocese’s paper, The Tidings, ran a column by the Archduke Otto von Habsburg, son of Austria-Hungary’s last Emperor-King.

My family was historically minded, and my upbringing gave me a hatred of the French Revolution and a love of the Habsburgs, Bourbons, and Stuarts. In high school in the 1970s, I became a monarchist. In the LA Central Library lurked such volumes as The Purple or the Red, Kings Without Thrones, and Monarchs-in-Waiting. I resolved to write to the Archduke Otto concerning issues political and religious. Off my note went into the post.

Link to original, here...

Otto von Habsburg Was Hitler's Enemy Number One: Sent Him to Death Camp

Prague (kath.net/KAP) Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg valued the late Otto Habsburg as "an important Europe-oriented and interesting person". It should not be forgotten, "that he knew from the beginning, what Hitler really was", said Scharzenberg in an interview.

Already as a young man, the Habsburg aligned himself against the NS Dictator.  That the military occupation of Austria was launched under the cover name of "Operation Otto", indicates that "the Nazis knew that he was their primary foe."

Even the service of the deceased to a more closely integrated Europe is unforgettable, said the Chief of Czech Diplomacy. Habsburg had "fought most courageously for all our Nations and peoples, who were in his time imprisoned behind the Iron Curtain."

Even people like Jiri Pelikan, who sat in the European Parliament for the Italian Socialist Party, had spoken of Otto as a man, "who knew his stuff and worked with complete competence".

Schwarzenberg recalled also that this would be one of the last people who had a constitutional function "in the old Monarchy": "We must not forget that he was the Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia."

The deceased had a "colossal joy", as he received an honorary citizenship of the City of Brandys nad Labem. The Castle of Brandeis on the Elbe is "the most favorite rest stop for his beloved father", he wanted to acquire it in order to make it the family home.

Brandys nad Labem is today a center for the honor of the Beautified Emperor Karl in the Czech Republic and forms with the Pilgrimage site Stara Boleslav, the place of the Martyrdom of St. Wenzel, a twin city. Pope Benedict XVI. visited Stara Boleslav in 2009 and celebrated an open air Mass in a meadow near Castle Brandeis.

The news "Lidove noviny" concluded the interview with Foreign Minister Schwarzberg, that had Otto von Habsburg gained the throne, then he would have been a Bohemian King with the longest reign. As a long serving member of the European Parliament he had aimed toward the integration of the post-Communist nations in the European and Atlantic structures.

Special mention is also to be made of his efforts to support the Czech side with the displaced South Germans [Suddeten] and for the annulment of the Benes Decree. In this connection he "did not rarely criticize the politicians of the Czech Republic, who considered his activities to be conflicting."

Link here...kath.net original...

Not sure what Amemus Amnesium is going on about at AQ, but he seems to be disagreeing with the Foreign Minister's contention about Otto Habsburg being Hitler's most significant and dangerous foe. Sometimes it's hard to decipher what this poster is talking about because he doesn't always address himself to the question, and is often more interested in his own nationalist concerns, like raising awareness about how the Sudetenland Germans were treated. Apparently, he's still upset over how Otto Habsburg favored the Czech government over the claims of the Suddeten Germans, than he is about the actual article.

So, Otto Habsburg was sent to Dachau, that's interesting. Didn't know that:


Bad translation.

1. Otto von Habsburg supported the annulment of the illegitimate and genocidal Benes decrees (plural form) which from 1945 until today declare as lawless the ethnic Germans (or Sudeten Germans, not 'south Germans') of Bohemia, Moravia and formerly Austrian (southern) Silesia.

2. I am surprised Karl Fürst zu Schwarzenberg, now a Czech minister of Foreign Affairs, would mention this. It seems the Czech people and Czech politicians with their anti-German popular agitation against the Sudeten German victims are now slowly changing their minds.

3. Otto von Habsburg was not a primary target of the Nazis, although he was one of the targets. So was Kurt von Schussnig. And he also survived the war in a privileged [so you say]concentration camp of Dachau.