Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament in Austrian royal history and among young Catholics today

DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

in Austrian royal history and among young Catholics today

John-Henry Westen interviewed Theresa Habsburg and Alexander Tschugguel at Voice of the Family’s online conference “Love and reverence due to Our Lord” on 16 July 2020.

Alexander Tschugguel lives in Austria. He first came to public attention by removing the Pachamama idols from the church in Rome during the Vatican synod on the panAmazon region in October 2019. He has since founded the St. Boniface Institute and travels the world to encourage Catholics to take a more active approach to their faith in order to protect the Church from the secular and globalist tendencies.

JOHN-HENRY WESTEN: Alexander, can you tell us a little bit about the House of Habsburg and their great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament? ALEXANDER TSCHUGGUEL: Yes, first I should say that as Austrians, especially traditional Catholic Austrians, we all have a deep regard for the House of Habsburg.

The family has been Catholic for about a thousand years. They never became Protestant, even though a few of them, unfortunately, tried to turn away from the faith. However, they always remained Catholic and many great Catholics came from the family.

The first Habsburg to be the king of the Holy Roman Empire was King Rudolf (1218-1291). Once when he was out hunting, he saw a priest with the Blessed Sacrament on his way to someone who was about to die. The priest was standing by a river and he could not cross without endangering the Holy Sacrament. Rudolf immediately dismounted and gave his horse to the priest. He led the horse, with the priest and the Holy Sacrament, over the river. On the other side, the priest wanted to return the horse to King Rudolf but he said: “I am not worthy to sit on this horse again because now this horse has carried Our Lord Almighty”.

This is a good story to show the ideas and ideals, which were carried through the centuries by this family.

There is another story about the Holy Sacrament and Maximilian (1459-1519), the “last knight” as he is called. Maximilian reigned during the 1500s, just before the Protestant revolution took place, and when he died he wanted his body to be flagellated and to have a picture painted of this scene to be shown to the Austrian people, so that they would always remember that everything passes away, also the Emperor. And that your body, as well as everything earthly, is not the most important. It is more important that you go to heaven. As a sign of his devotion to God, by his testament, King Maximilian ordered his favourite armour, the armour the knight wears in battle, to be put in front of the Holy Sacrament, kneeling, in a church in Innsbruck in Tyrol, so that the people would always see his armour in front of the Holy Sacrament as a reminder that all people who live in this country should do the same.

Emperors and kings, if they are good emperors and kings, should always give an example to their people.

The third story I would like to share with you is about the last emperor, who everyone knows, Blessed Emperor Karl of Austria. He kept diaries which are very important, especially for the time after his reign. He wrote, for example, that on the ship that brought them to the exile, he and his wife, Empress Zita, asked to bring a priest on board so that they could assist at Holy Mass but they were not allowed to do so. Emperor Karl wrote in his diary that this was one of the most terrible days because until that day, he had been to Mass every day throughout his life.

Another story about Emperor Karl I would like to add was from the last day of his life. He was feeling very weak during the night and he knew that his life on earth was coming to an end. At 2am he asked a priest if he could receive the Holy Eucharist, but then he hesitated: “Father, am I allowed to receive the Sacrament, am I worthy to do that because due to my sore throat I had to take a sip of water?” As we know, back then it was only possible to receive Holy Communion if you were fasting from midnight. And so the priest had to assure him that he could because he was about to die. Karl received Holy Communion and then he died.

We have many such stories from the Habsburg family which really inspire us to follow their example of piety.

JHW: What a wonderful example. So what has this meant for Austrians down through the generations and what does it mean for you personally? AT: Indeed, for generations, we have had in Austria, thanks to the public signs and actions of the Habsburgs, real encouragement for the Catholic faith.

However, during the Reformation in the 16th century, in the German-speaking area, 90 per cent of people lost the faith. Emperor Maximilian II was very weak, and at the end, he did not even attend Mass any more. His son Rudolf II was a bohemian and very much involved in the occult. When he was about to die, he said, no, I won’t go to confession. Both of them remained officially Catholic but they had really abandoned the faith. Maximilian even gave rights to the Protestants throughout the empire. However, the brothers of Maximilian were Karl, who was residing in Styria, and Ferdinand, who was residing in the country of my family, Tyrol. They were both devout Catholics. At the end of the 16th century, they met with the Kurfürst [Prince-Elector] of Bavaria to plan the Counter-Reformation. Together with Cardinal Klesl, they managed to re-Catholicise the Holy Roman Empire. It was really fantastic.

Shortly afterwards the people were led to Protestantism again by Rudolf and Matthias, who were not faithful Catholics. But then in 1619, Ferdinand II was crowned. He had been raised by Jesuits and at that time, this meant a very strong Catholic formation. He attended Holy Mass daily and made a pilgrimage to Loreto, the place where the house of the Holy Family stands. There he knelt in front of the statue of Our Lady and promised her that he would make Austria Catholic again. He kept this promise and really turned the country around. After that Austria was Catholic up until modern times. We are still mainly Catholic,

but Vatican II and the subsequent reforms have of course changed much.

So, this is what the Habsburgs did for Austria. And even though there were some who fell away from the faith, in every generation there was someone who at least tried to be more faithful than, let us say, the average.

So, what does it mean for us Austrians in the present time and especially for me?

It means for us that it is possible to maintain the faith even at times when everyone seems to want to abolish it. It was possible at a time when only 10 per cent of the country was Catholic. Now we are still more than 50 per cent Catholic in Austria, so it should be a little easier. We have a great example and we would love to follow this example.

JHW: In Austria today, even though it is 50 per cent Catholic, Catholicism is probably quite different from what we would consider proper Catholicism. This is partly manifested in the method of reception of Holy Communion. How do you yourself receive and why do you do it that way? AT: I am really lucky because the priest who led me to my conversion is very conservative, and he told me that the only proper way to receive Holy Communion is kneeling on the tongue without touching it with your hands. Since I became a Catholic, I have always received this way.

The problem with Holy Communion on the hand in Austria is that, as in many Catholic countries, when the reforms after Vatican II were introduced, people were taught that everything that a bishop or the pope says is infallible. This mentality began to develop already around 1900. It is wrong, but this is something which has really had an effect.

Now, even though it looks as if everyone in Austria only receives Communion on the hand, we have a counter-movement which has gained momentum. There are many people my age, who only receive on the tongue, even though their parents were taught only to receive on the hand. Like in many other countries, although the official numbers of Catholics are still very high, the numbers of Catholics who go to Mass and really believe are much smaller. However, among the people who go to Mass and believe, the number of people who receive Communion on the tongue is actually very high. JHW: It is interesting too that especially among the faithful young people we see that a lot. Can you tell us something about your experience of reception of Holy Communion during coronavirus when many bishops around the world have been telling people that they must receive on the hand and on the hand only? How have you confronted that? AT: First of all, I have to thank the priest, who was courageous enough to bring me Holy Communion when I was sick with the coronavirus.

I have talked to many doctors all around Austria, I think more than 80 or 90 doctors and surgeons, to organise an initiative telling the bishops to abandon the current restrictions. They all confirmed what is logical: the less contact you have with another person, the less chance there is to transmit any disease.

Those who receive Holy Communion as often as possible know that the occasions when the priest touches your tongue are rare. I have been a Catholic since 2009 and I never remember the priest touching my tongue. All priests I have talked to, who only distribute Communion on the tongue, also told me the same.

The doctors wrote a letter to the Bishops’ Conference of Austria and now they officially allow reception of Communion on the tongue again.

The great examples in the history of our Church must teach us. For example, St. Charles Borromeo, who was a great saint, tried to find creative ways to distribute Communion during the plague. He erected altars on the streets so that people could see Mass being offered from their windows. He then separated the sick priests from the ones who were still healthy. The sick priests distributed Holy Communion to the sick people and the healthy priests to the healthy people. If there were only healthy people he used a silver spoon as the eastern orthodox do. So, there was always a way for the people to receive Our Lord worthily. This is the way our Church should lead.

Theresa Habsburg is a student of Arabic and Middle Eastern studies in Vienna. She grew up in a large Catholic family of the Habsburg dynasty and is engaged in Catholic and pro-life issues. During the coronavirus crisis, she arranged for young people from Austria and many European countries to record videos asking their bishops to reopen churches and allow public Mass after lockdowns.

JOHN-HENRY WESTEN: Alexander has shared some stories about your family history, especially in relation to the Blessed Sacrament. Can you also tell us a little about the devotion to the Blessed Sacrament in your family today? THERESA HABSBURG: For a start, it is important to say that we are a very big family, and so I have quite a few aunts, uncles, and cousins who I don’t know yet. I probably only know a small fraction of all of my relatives. But speaking about my immediate family, the devotion to the Blessed Sacrament has been very important. We have always known that it was part of our history.

However, of course, even though we have such a rich history, and deep Catholic roots which go back a long way and are a huge blessing, like everyone else, the Enlightenment, the effects of the French revolution and of modernism have not left us untouched. It is evident in the fact that after Joseph II, a black sheep of the family, there have been no vocations to the priesthood for about 200 years until my uncle, Paul, who is a priest in Paris now.

My parents, of course, grew up with the faith. However, you grow in your faith every day and I see that with my parents. I can only see their love for Christ and for the Eucharist grow from day to day. That makes such a big difference for children if you have grandparents and parents that carry the love for Christ and for the faith with them. By their example, they give that love for Christ to us. Seeing your parents live that and seeing your aunts and uncles really live that, you know that this is part of who we are, as Habsburgs, and that the Catholic faith is such an important part of our life.

I am confident that a large part of the family is still devoted to the faith, because we have these deep roots, and also because of the blessings we have received from the prayers of our ancestors, we are also the recipients of those graces.

JHW: Absolutely. But why is it such an important matter for you to receive Our Lord worthily, to receive Our Lord kneeling and on the tongue? TH: It hasn’t always been that clear to me. I think when I was younger, I also received on the hand. We grew up in the countryside and it was very common there. But as I grew and grew in the faith and met amazing Catholics and priests, I’ve come to understand it in a deeper manner.

Also in the past few months, we have been lucky enough to have great priests in Vienna who continued to offer Mass. Discussions about what we believe, what we think the Eucharist is and what we think the Mass is came up all the time.

In the beginning, I wasn’t sure what I thought, the whole situation was very unusual for everyone. But with realising how integral to our faith it is to be able to go to Mass and to receive the Eucharist, came a deep understanding that there is also a right way to receive the Eucharist. If we actually believe that we are receiving the true Body of Christ, we know that we can never be worthy of receiving Him. However, if there is a way to at least try to attain as much humility as possible, to receive Him as worthily as possible, then I feel that there shouldn’t be a question.

EMPEROR KARL OF AUSTRIA AND EMPRESS ZITA, 1911. PUBLIC DOMAIN

PHOTO CREDIT: DON ELVIR TABAKOVIĆ, CAN. REG.

JHW: It is interesting that it was the coronavirus crisis and the demand to receive Holy Communion only in the hand, which has brought for you and I think for many people even more clarity on this very issue. TH: I think I also saw that. I feel like I saw the crowds parting. There was a very strong group of people who were really striving to get the Mass back and who were really concerned about this issue. At the beginning, I wasn’t sure what the right thing was, because it was so unprecedented. You had to really think about it and to reevaluate what we believe, but as soon as I did that, it was so clear. I realised also that most of the people who were striving to get the Mass back were the same people who were striving for Communion on the tongue only.

JHW: As a young person, what would your encouragement be to young people about loving Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament in general and about how to receive him specifically? TH: I can only speak as someone who is not very advanced in the faith. I wouldn’t say that I’m advanced at all, but I think that it’s important to make yourself as small as possible, if that makes sense.

For me, attending the traditional Latin Mass has made an incredible difference. In today’s world, everything is about you, everything is about how you present yourself, what you get from the world, how the world can make you feel better, how you can be on top of the world. But it only makes sense that if it comes to loving the One who made everything that we call the world, we would have to make ourselves very small, especially today, even to begin to understand what is happening.

The whole structure of the Latin Mass leads us away from the self and towards God. The way you receive God, the way you get to encounter God in Mass made such a difference. I’m just amazed how the recent weeks have helped me in my faith as it should have been a dry period of the faith, but we’ve had absolutely amazing priests, who guided us through this time. It completely changed my understanding of the Mass and the Eucharist.