Sunday, September 26, 2004
He's blessed?!?
Give this guy a Roman throne.
On October 3, Pope John Paul II (bio - news) will preside at the beatification of Carl I, the last Hapsburg emperor of Austria-Hungary, in a ceremony that has already revived controversy about the deposed emperor's role.
Carl I will be beatified alongside four others: the French Albert Vigne and Joseph Cassant, the Italian Ludovica de Angelis, and the German Anne Katherine Emmerich. The beatification of Anne Emmerich-- whose mystical visions furnished inspiration for Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, has also provoked some dispute, since some readers have found anti-Semitic sentiments in her extensive writings.
But as the date of the beatification approaches, the greater part of the public controversy involves a political figure who died in exile, having been driven from his throne, and having tried in vain to bring a quick end to World War I. Carl von Hapsburg died on the island of Madeira in 1922, at the age of only 34. Yet his name excites strong emotional reactions in Austria to this day.
"My father was without a doubt the only head of state during World War I who truly sought peace, moved by his Christian conscience," observes Otto von Hapsburg, the 91-year-old head of the renowned family. During the war-- and against the advice of his cousin, Germany's Wilhelm II-- he refused to allow the use of poison gas or the bombardment of civilian centers in Venice; he also tried unsuccessfully to conclude a peace accord with the French President Clemenceau.
On October 3, Pope John Paul II (bio - news) will preside at the beatification of Carl I, the last Hapsburg emperor of Austria-Hungary, in a ceremony that has already revived controversy about the deposed emperor's role.
Carl I will be beatified alongside four others: the French Albert Vigne and Joseph Cassant, the Italian Ludovica de Angelis, and the German Anne Katherine Emmerich. The beatification of Anne Emmerich-- whose mystical visions furnished inspiration for Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, has also provoked some dispute, since some readers have found anti-Semitic sentiments in her extensive writings.
But as the date of the beatification approaches, the greater part of the public controversy involves a political figure who died in exile, having been driven from his throne, and having tried in vain to bring a quick end to World War I. Carl von Hapsburg died on the island of Madeira in 1922, at the age of only 34. Yet his name excites strong emotional reactions in Austria to this day.
"My father was without a doubt the only head of state during World War I who truly sought peace, moved by his Christian conscience," observes Otto von Hapsburg, the 91-year-old head of the renowned family. During the war-- and against the advice of his cousin, Germany's Wilhelm II-- he refused to allow the use of poison gas or the bombardment of civilian centers in Venice; he also tried unsuccessfully to conclude a peace accord with the French President Clemenceau.
