{"id":5454,"date":"2026-10-20T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/?p=5454"},"modified":"2026-10-19T18:44:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T22:44:58","slug":"blessed-karl-and-zita-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/spiritual-reflections\/blessed-karl-and-zita-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessed Karl and Zita"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/oct21a.png?ssl=1\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"433\" height=\"431\" data-attachment-id=\"3947\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/spiritual-reflections\/blessed-karl-and-zita-2\/attachment\/oct21a\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/oct21a.png?fit=433%2C431&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"433,431\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"oct21a\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/oct21a.png?fit=433%2C431&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/oct21a.png?resize=625%2C622&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3947\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.0045924225028702;width:840px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/oct21a.png?w=433&amp;ssl=1 433w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/oct21a.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/oct21a.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 433px) 100vw, 433px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>the Peace Maker<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Uniquely among the responsible leaders on all sides of the First World War, Karl had frontline experience. After assuming power he strove to alleviate the horrors of war he saw, and took concrete steps to bring about peace. As emperor he understood peace to be his absolute, kingly duty. In his ascension manifesto, therefore, he named peace as his central goal. Only Karl took up the peace proposal of Pope Benedict XV, incorporating its principles in a set of proposed peace accords (which historians have evaluated as thoroughly realistic and having had great potential).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Social Aid &#8211; Informed heavily by Catholic social teaching, he established the world\u2019s first-of-its-kind Ministry of Social Welfare to care for war victims, widows, and orphans.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Charitable Action: He personally distributed his private wealth as alms, used royal carriages and palace resources to deliver coal and food (such as organizing soup kitchens) to the poor in Vienna, and fought against wartime usury.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cause for Canonization .&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.emperorcharles.org\/resources\">WEB<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/oct21as.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"625\" height=\"407\" data-attachment-id=\"8768\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/spiritual-reflections\/blessed-karl-and-zita-3\/attachment\/oct21as-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/oct21as.jpg?fit=774%2C504&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"774,504\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;surfer&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1729451267&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"oct21as\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/oct21as.jpg?fit=625%2C407&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/oct21as.jpg?resize=625%2C407&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8768\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/oct21as.jpg?w=774&amp;ssl=1 774w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/oct21as.jpg?resize=300%2C195&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/oct21as.jpg?resize=768%2C500&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/oct21as.jpg?resize=624%2C406&amp;ssl=1 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>the Peace Maker Uniquely among the responsible leaders on all sides of the First World War, Karl had frontline experience. After assuming power he strove to alleviate the horrors of war he saw, and took concrete steps to bring about peace. As emperor he understood peace to be his absolute, kingly duty. In his ascension [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[55,44,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-evangelization","category-saints-and-blesseds","category-spiritual-reflections"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7bfMR-1pY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2604,"url":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/spiritual-reflections\/blessed-karl-and-zita\/","url_meta":{"origin":5454,"position":0},"title":"Blessed Karl and Zita","author":"monks4christ","date":"October 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Uniquely among the responsible leaders on all sides of the First World War, Karl had frontline experience. After assuming power he strove to alleviate the horrors of war he saw, and took concrete steps to bring about peace. As emperor he understood peace to be his absolute, kingly duty. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Saints and Blesseds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Saints and Blesseds","link":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/category\/saints-and-blesseds\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screenshot-405.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screenshot-405.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screenshot-405.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Screenshot-405.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8764,"url":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/pope-benedict-xvi\/blessed-karl-and-zita-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":5454,"position":1},"title":"Blessed Karl and Zita","author":"monks4christ","date":"October 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"the Peace Maker Uniquely among the responsible leaders on all sides of the First World War, Karl had frontline experience. After assuming power he strove to alleviate the horrors of war he saw, and took concrete steps to bring about peace. As emperor he understood peace to be his absolute,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pope Benedict XVI&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pope Benedict XVI","link":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/category\/pope-benedict-xvi\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blessed-Karl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blessed-Karl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blessed-Karl.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3945,"url":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/spiritual-reflections\/blessed-karl-and-zita-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":5454,"position":2},"title":"Blessed Karl and Zita","author":"monks4christ","date":"October 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Uniquely among the responsible leaders on all sides of the First World War, Karl had frontline experience. After assuming power he strove to alleviate the horrors of war he saw, and took concrete steps to bring about peace. As emperor he understood peace to be his absolute, kingly duty. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;New Evangelization&quot;","block_context":{"text":"New Evangelization","link":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/category\/new-evangelization\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/oct21a.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7009,"url":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/spiritual-practices\/blessed-karl-and-zita-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":5454,"position":3},"title":"Blessed Karl and Zita","author":"monks4christ","date":"October 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Uniquely among the responsible leaders on all sides of the First World War, Karl had frontline experience. After assuming power he strove to alleviate the horrors of war he saw, and took concrete steps to bring about peace. As emperor he understood peace to be his absolute, kingly duty. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Saints and Blesseds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Saints and Blesseds","link":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/category\/saints-and-blesseds\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blessed-Karl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blessed-Karl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blessed-Karl.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":181,"url":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/saints-and-blesseds\/blessed-emperor-karl-von-habsburg\/","url_meta":{"origin":5454,"position":4},"title":"Blessed Emperor Karl von Habsburg","author":"Father Boniface Hicks, O.S.B.","date":"October 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"October 21 is the memorial of Blessed Karl von Habsburg, the last Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Blessed Karl is not merely an historical figure of minimal importance or a curiosity of a past age. To the contrary, he remains exemplary in his marriage and fatherhood, in his tireless pursuit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Saints and Blesseds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Saints and Blesseds","link":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/category\/saints-and-blesseds\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/image-26.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/image-26.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/image-26.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3150,"url":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/spiritual-practices\/consecration-to-the-immaculate-heart-of-mary\/","url_meta":{"origin":5454,"position":5},"title":"Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary","author":"monks4christ","date":"March 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, in this time of trial we turn to you.\u00a0 As our Mother, you love us and know us: no concern of our hearts is hidden from you.\u00a0 Mother of mercy, how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Marian Consecration&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Marian Consecration","link":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/category\/spiritual-practices\/marian-consecration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Immaculate-Heart4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Immaculate-Heart4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Immaculate-Heart4.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Immaculate-Heart4.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5454"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11053,"href":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5454\/revisions\/11053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}