Burial of Zitas of Bourbon-Parma

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Zita von Bourbon-Parma as Queen of Hungary in December 1916

The funeral of Zitas von Bourbon-Parma was an event in the spring of 1989. Zita von Bourbon-Parma was the wife of Charles I / IV. from 1916 to 1918 last Empress of Austria and until 1921 Apostolic Queen of Hungary .

Zita moved to St. Johannes Stift in Zizers ( Switzerland ) in 1962 , where she died on March 14, 1989 at the age of 96. The funeral services in Vienna were broadcast on television by ORF with a comment by Horst Friedrich Mayer , August Paterno and Hugo Portisch ; the broadcast time of the live broadcast as part of the Eurovision was around five hours.

Funeral ceremonies before the transfer to Vienna

After her death in Zizers, Zita's body was taken to the Cantonal Hospital of Graubünden in Chur for embalming . After the exact modalities of the conservation had been discussed between Rudolph Habsburg-Lothringen and the Austrian pathologist Walter Widder, Widder and an autopsy assistant opened the corpse : "We placed a cannula on the leg artery through which we introduced formalin into the body." Formalin replaced blood in the body within an hour. One effect of this approach was that the putrefaction process stopped almost entirely and the sunken facial features of the dead became fuller again. The heart was also removed from the body and preserved. It was later picked up by an employee of Rudolph Habsburg-Lothringen and placed in a silver container that had been specially made for it.

Marble domed hall of Klosterneuburg Abbey (2017)
Austrian Archduke hat (1616)

Zita's embalmed corpse was placed in a cedar wood coffin with a metal lining and then laid out in Muri for almost half a month . After a pontifical request on March 22, 1989 in the Chur Cathedral , Zita's body was transferred to Austria. From March 28th to 30th she was laid out in the marble domed hall of Klosterneuburg Abbey , where the coffin was decorated with the archduke's hat and the population could say goodbye for three days. The honor guard was held by members of the Klosterneuburg fire department. On the evening of March 30th, Zita's coffin was brought to Vienna.

Funeral ceremonies in Vienna

Laying out and requiem in St. Stephen's Cathedral

After the transfer to Vienna, another laying out took place in St. Stephen's Cathedral , during which the coffin was covered with the imperial standard . Initially the coffin was laid out in the “Tirna or Savoy Chapel ”, later in the side aisle in front of the high grave for Emperor Friedrich III. The insignia of the Order of Malta , the Order of the Star Cross and the Order of Elizabeth were displayed on cushions. On the day before the funeral, thousands of domestic and foreign visitors said goodbye to the deceased in St. Stephen's Cathedral, with waiting times of one hour. "A brief entry in the condolence book , a reach for the coveted death cards - and space had to be made for the crowd," reported APA editor Michael Lang on March 31, 1989. Because of the onslaught, the city burial had to add new sheets for the condolence books to print. A total of 150,000 people signed the condolence books.

The solemn Requiem at St. Stephen was on April 1, 1989 at 15:00 and was organized by the Vienna archbishop Cardinal Groër directed concelebrants were the Altbischöfe Wechner of Feldkirch and Vonderach of Chur . Emperor Karl died on April 1, 1922 at 3 p.m. Around 7,000 people attended the Requiem in St. Stephen's Cathedral, including more than 600 guests of honor. The Republic of Austria was represented by Federal President Waldheim and Vice Chancellor Mock , Waldheim's predecessor in office Kirchschläger , several federal ministers , provincial governors and the Mayor of Vienna Zilk also took part. The Roman Catholic Church was represented by the Apostolic Nuncio for Austria, several cardinals, archbishops and bishops. Other religious communities and the ambassadors of Hungary, Belgium, Turkey, USA, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Canada were also represented. Mozart's Requiem formed the musical framework for the service. At the beginning Cardinal Groër read a letter from Pope John Paul II. The first part of the mass with the liturgical service was predominantly in German, whereby the other languages ​​of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy were also taken into account. The first reading was given in German by Zita's grandson Karl Habsburg-Lothringen , the second reading in Hungarian by Zita's daughter Elisabeth Liechtenstein . This was followed by an address and sermon by Cardinal Groër on the life of the deceased. The intercessions were read in Latin, German, Czech, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Polish and Italian. The Eucharistic celebration of the Requiem was in Latin, the closing song “ Closer, my God, to you ” and the final blessing again in German. During the exodus from St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Austrian imperial anthem and the Hungarian national anthem were sung and the " Pummerin " was rung. The other bells in the cathedral also rang for the duration of the funeral procession.

Mourning conduct through downtown Vienna

After the service ended at around 5 p.m., the coffin was taken on the former imperial court hearse, a black carriage drawn by up to eight horses, through downtown Vienna to the Capuchin Crypt (also known as the “Imperial Crypt”). While the coffin was being loaded onto the wagon, Tyrolean riflemen stood in line . Burial officials in gray uniforms provided logistical support.

The imperial court hearse from the Wagenburg (Vienna) , with which the coffin of Empress Zitas was brought to the Capuchin Crypt .

The imperial court hearse was built in 1876 and cost 20,000 guilders at the time. It was used only four times before Zita's burial, namely at the funerals of Empress Maria Anna (1884), Crown Prince Rudolf (1889), Empress Elisabeth (1898) and Emperor Franz Joseph (1916). In the House of Habsburg-Lothringen, black was only available as a mourning color for the emperor and his wife, for other family members red was required. Therefore there was also a red court funeral car for the archdukes. Since the end of the monarchy, both carriages have been part of the exhibits in the Wagenburg in Schönbrunn Palace . Six black draft horses provided by the Federal Stud in Stadl-Paura were used at Zita's funeral . The coachman was Federal Stud Chief Official Johann Steininger.

40,000 people lined the streets of downtown Vienna. Due to the number of visitors, the way of the funeral procession was in parts with barriers and guarded by security forces and the police. During this part of the funeral, the bells of the churches in the city center were rung. The funeral procession took about three quarters of an hour, moving in dark clouds and thunderstorms with heavy rain, from St. Stephen's Square on Graben and Kohlmarkt to Michaelerplatz , from there through the Stallburg over the Joseph Place to Albertina , before there the Tegetthoffstraße along the New Market with the Capuchin Church. The rainy weather and the early dusk gave the ceremonies a gloomy appearance, which was also shown on the TV broadcast by ORF.

In addition to the family of the deceased, numerous delegations from student associations and traditional military associations from the area of ​​the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy took part in the 1.3-kilometer-long conduct , including numerous country teams , around 850 riflemen from North and South Tyrol, numerous civil guards , the Kaiserjäger and the Carinthian satellite bodyguard from St. Veit an der Glan . Civil associations from the territory of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy were also represented in their traditional costumes , such as the Transylvanian Saxons . The conduct was accompanied by a total of four music bands. An artillery detachment of the Kollerschlag Citizen Guard fired 21 gun salutes from the Albrechts ramp (Albertina).

Burial in the Capuchin Crypt

Capuchin Church Vienna

After the ceremony with three knocks on the door of the Capuchin Church, at which Dr. Heinz Anton Hafner acted as herald , the coffin was carried inside by six Tyrolean riflemen . The Viennese Capuchins formed a trellis with candles, the Vienna Boys' Choir were housed on a grandstand in the "Imperial Chapel". As part of a short service, musically framed by the choir boys, Franz Cardinal König gave a speech and carried out the consecration.

Then the coffin, accompanied by the monks of the Capuchin monastery , was quietly carried from the church down the stairs to the Capuchin Crypt by employees of Bestattung Wien and placed there in the presence of the clergy and numerous family members in front of the altar of the "Crypt Chapel". Zita's eldest son Otto , in the presence of his brothers Carl Ludwig , Rudolph , Felix and Robert, presented the symbolic key to the coffin to the custodian of the Capuchin crypt, Father Gottfried Undesser. He addressed those present and invited them to prayer. After sharing the Ave Maria , Cardinal König quietly blessed the coffin with holy water , after which he spoke briefly with the members of the family. The clergy then left the crypt and the live broadcast by ORF ended.

The “Zita Memorial Cross” created for the occasion was later awarded to a group of participants in the funeral ceremony in Vienna from the traditional military associations.

Magdalena Hawlik-van de Water wrote in 1993 about the former Empress and Queen: “She died at the age of almost ninety-seven in the Johannesstift in Zizers, Switzerland, where she had spent the last years of her life. For them, their burial in the Capuchin Crypt, the place where the Austrian emperors and their families have rested since 1633, was the logical consequence of their life, their self-image and, last but not least, their love for Austria. "

Funeral ceremonies in Muri

Stele behind the altar of the Loreto Chapel of the Muri Monastery in Switzerland with the heart urns of the imperial couple

After Zita's body was buried in Vienna, a separate heart burial took place for the heart on December 17, 1989 . At her request, it was brought to the Loreto Chapel of the Muri Monastery in Switzerland, where the family crypt of the descendants of the last Austro-Hungarian ruling couple is located.

The urn of Zitas found its place in a brick stele behind the altar of the chapel, where the urn of the former Emperor Charles I, who died in 1922 in exile on the island of Madeira , had been since 1971 . The silver urn with its heart bears the chronogram written by Karl Wolfsgruber : “ Z I TAE A V STR I AE IM PERATR ICI S H V NGAR I AE REG I NAE C OR I NSEPARAB ILI TER C ON IV G I S C OR DI IV NGAT V R ".

A plaque near the altar reads: “ Plus pour vous que pour moi - behind this altar now rests in God's holy peace the long-suffering heart of Her Majesty the Empress and Queen Zita, Princess of Bourbon and Parma, née. in Pianore on May 9th, 1892, passed away blissfully in the Lord on March 14th, 1989 in Johannesstift zu Zizers, after 67 years of separation united with the heart of her husband, Emperor Karl I von, who returned to his creator in Madeira on April 1st, 1922 Austria, apostolic king of Hungary, king of Bohemia, Croatia, Galicia, Dalmatia etc. etc. "

Effects on Austrian domestic politics

Domestically, the funeral was not without controversy, as it brought the at times very difficult relationship between the former imperial family and the Republic of Austria back on the agenda. The government initially intended to refuse Zita's sons Felix and Carl Ludwig , who refused to submit a declaration of renunciation of the throne demanded by the Republic of Austria, to attend the funeral. They were finally allowed to enter the country, but only with a permit for a few hours. The public debated whether active officials of the republic and members of the armed forces should take part in the funeral ceremonies in an official capacity.

While the Habsburg family emphasized the private character of the funeral and bore the costs, numerous tourism managers saw the opportunity to use the "Habsburg myth", which is important for tourism in Vienna. The German news magazine Der Spiegel described the funeral services for Zita as "a monarchist spectacle".

After a lengthy debate within the then ruling coalition of SPÖ and ÖVP , Chancellor Franz Vranitzky (SPÖ) demonstratively stayed away from the Requiem in St. Stephen's Cathedral, while Vice Chancellor Alois Mock (ÖVP) took part in the celebrations as did Vienna's Mayor Helmut Zilk (SPÖ), who " of an event with a historical dimension ”.

Viktor Reimann wrote in a guest article for the Salzburger Nachrichten : "It is both the funeral and the final salute for the monarchy, which, whatever mistakes were made back then, cannot be denied greatness and fascination."

Gerhard Herm tried to put the public mood at Zita's funeral, which was also reflected in domestic politics, into words as follows: “When her body was transferred from St. Stephen's Cathedral to the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna on April 1, 1989, the authentic Habsburg breath wafted through for the last time the streets of Vienna. For kilometers the train that accompanied her sarcophagus, unsure of the television journalists who had to comment on the event. Something had been there, big, distant, already breathed with mythical splendor, contrasting in a most strange way with the tallow glare of the present. But what exactly? Nobody seemed to really know anymore. "

After 1989

Image of the first sarcophagus (1991–2008) Zitas at the temporary location in the “New Crypt” of the Imperial Crypt
Today's sarcophagus (since 2008) Zitas in the "crypt chapel" of the imperial crypt

On May 8, 1991, two years after the burial in the Capuchin Crypt, Zita's coffin was placed in a copper sarcophagus, which was hermetically sealed and soldered. The copper sarcophagus was initially placed on a double pedestal made of white marble, on which there would also have been space for the sarcophagus of Emperor Charles I if it had been transferred from the church of Nossa Senhora do Monte on Madeira to the Capuchin crypt. The Habsburg-Lothringen family ultimately did not undertake such a reburial, as Karl's son Otto in particular saw this as an affront to the people of Madeira, who had helped his father a lot in the last months of his life. Since the beatification of Charles I in 2004, such a transfer would have been a matter for the Catholic Church .

The remains of Zitas rested in the copper sarcophagus from 1991 until 2008. In the meantime, the sarcophagus has changed its location several times within the Capuchin crypt. Initially, it was in the "crypt chapel", while this room was being adapted for further burials, it was temporarily stored in the "new crypt" (see illustration). In 2008, Zita's mortal remains were placed in a new sarcophagus and returned to their original location in the "crypt chapel", with the new sarcophagus now being given a single pedestal made of red marble. Today's Zitas sarcophagus is similar in its artistic design to the type that was also used for the sarcophagi of her sons Carl Ludwig († 2007) and Otto († 2011), who were buried next to her, and her daughter-in-law Regina († 2010).

On December 10, 2009, the beatification process began for Zita under the chairmanship of the Bishop of Le Mans .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d from Zita's heart. Report on Vorarlberg Online, July 18, 2011 (accessed on September 6, 2012)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g With Otto von Habsburg's mother, Vienna once again became an imperial city. Report on STOL.it, July 13, 2011 (accessed on August 24, 2014) ( Memento from August 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ a b c Quoted from "The last Empress dies with Zita", in: Salzburger Nachrichten of September 8, 2018, p. 4.
  4. ^ Report by DER SPIEGEL 13/1989 (accessed on July 7, 2012)
  5. ↑ Dieter Kindermann, The Habsburgs Without Empire: History of a Family since 1918 , Vienna 2010, p. 64.
  6. ↑ Zita Memorial Cross ( Memento from August 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Provincial Government of Styria
  7. ^ Zita memorial cross , Ordenskunde Jörg C. Steiner (accessed on September 6, 2012)
  8. ↑ Magdalena Hawlik-van de Water, The Capuchin Crypt. Burial place of the Habsburgs in Vienna , 2nd edition Vienna 1993, p. 309.
  9. ↑ Illustration of the heart urn stele in the Loreto Chapel (1) , accessed on August 10, 2015
  10. ↑ Illustration of the heart urn stele in the Loreto Chapel (2) , accessed on August 10, 2015
  11. ↑ Jan Mikrut (ed.): Emperor Karl I (IV.) As a Christian, statesman, husband and family father . Volume 1 of the series of publications by the International Research Institute for the Promotion of Church History in Central Europe. Dom, 2004, ISBN 3-85351-188-0 , p. 197; or:
    Josef Gelmi: The last emperor: Karl I. (1887-1922) and Tyrol. Tyrolia, 2004, ISBN 3-7022-2619-2 , pp. 97-98.
  12. ↑ planet-vienna.com: Kaiserin Zita (accessed on July 25, 2011)
  13. ^ Report by DER SPIEGEL 13/1989 (accessed on July 7, 2012)
  14. ^ Report by DER SPIEGEL 13/1989 (accessed on July 7, 2012)
  15. ^ Gerhard Herm , Splendor and Decline of the House of Habsburg . Econ, Düsseldorf 1989, ISBN 3-430-14449-3 , p. 341.
  16. ↑ Magdalena Hawlik-van de Water, The Capuchin Crypt. Burial place of the Habsburgs in Vienna , 2nd edition Vienna 1993, p. 311.