It was on April 1st 1922 that the Emperor Charles of Austria - now venerated as the Bl. Emperor Charles - died in exile in Madeira.
A memorial card for the Emperor from 1922
The website of the Emperor Charles League of Prayer has a detailed account of the Emperor-King's last months and of how, as a devout Catholic with a deep sense of obligation to and for the people over whom he was called to rule, he prepared himself and his family for his early death - he was only 34. It can be read on the site or here.
His death was a personal tragedy, a loss to his immediate family and to his wider dynasty and encapsulates the disastrous consequences of the break up of the Habsburg monarchy in 1918. His beatification in 2004 recognised not only his own personal holiness of life but also his attempts to end the war in 1917. Had that been possible the positive benefits that would doubtless have ensued are incalulable.
May the Bl. Emperor Charles pray for the lands and peoples of the Habsburg empire, for the restoration of the Christian ordering of European society and for the peace of the world.
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