Two Paths for Austria

This war without end is criminal. What is abominable is that they do not want to end it. No, they do not want. Do not try to tell me that there was no way to end it. Emperor Charles offered peace; he is the only decent man to have appeared in this war, and he was not listened to. There was, through him, a chance that could have been seized... Clemenceau called the emperor a "rotten conscience", it's ignoble. Emperor Charles sincerely wanted peace, and therefore was despised by the whole world. [...] A king of France, yes a king, would have had pity on our poor, exhausted, blood-soaked nation. However democracy is without a heart and without entrails. When serving the powers of money, it is pitiless and inhuman.
—Anatole France

After eight years, my sojourn in Austria is coming to an end. I am returning to California to take up a position teaching high school history. While I am of course excited at that prospect (nor am I being ironic—teaching history properly to young minds is a joy), it would be wrong to say that I am glad to be leaving this lovely country. Although I had only expected to be here five years when I arrived at Trumau’s International Theological Institute in 2018, various considerations kept me another three—and were it not for the importance of the job that awaits me back home, I’d be happy to stay until my death.

The very day that I was about to leave for Europe eight years ago, my editor at TAN, the late, lamented John Moorehouse, asked me if I could write a life of Bl. Emperor Karl—completely unaware that I was about to move to his homeland. As a result, my first year was immersed in researching the book, and visiting the sites associated with his life in Austria, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, and Croatia: the Hofburg in Vienna; the Kaisergruft; Schoenbrunn and its chapel; Schloss Hetzendorf and its Chapel; Laxenburg; Baden; Villa Wartholz; Eckartsau; Ischl; Mayerling; Artstetten; Persenbeug; Schwarzau; Buda Castle; Godollo; Brandys; Prague Castle; Bratislava Castle; Wawel Castle; and a great many others besides—though there remain quite a few I have not yet visited. I soon found a great many devotees to his cause, as well as Austrian, Hungarian, Czech, and Croatian Monarchists, who hope for a restoration of the Habsburgs and the establishment of some sort of Danube Federation. I was able to learn something of the many activities of Karl von Habsburg, the heir to the throne, and to visit his father’s archives in Budapest.

But I explored a lot more than this—the opportunities for music in Vienna alone are endless and I finally made it to the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, from which Walter Cronkite had hosted PBS’s “New Year’s Concert From Vienna” for so many years. The cafes of the city I fell in love with—Braunerhof, Hawelka, Gerstner, Landtmann, Sperl, Diglas, and on and on. So too with restaurants: Reinthaler’s Beisl, Griechenbeisl, Piaristenkeller, Zwölf-Apostelkeller, Eszterhazy Keller, and so forth. The fabulous Hotel Sacher offered me their wonderful Blue Bar, Café, and Red Bar Restaurant. The city’s many churches offer Masses by Haydn, Mozart, and Schubert. There are a great many Marian Shrines in the countryside: Maria Schutz, who saved the Semmering region from the plague; Maria Taferl, beloved by Franz Ferdinand and his Sophie; Maria Lanzendorf, visited by King Arthur and Charlemagne; and the Jewel in Our Lady’s Austro-Hungarian Crown: Mariazell—Great Mother of Austria, Great Lady of the Hungarians, and Queen of the Slavic Peoples. Moreover, the land is dotted with many great monasteries, among which are the Benedictine Melk, the Augustinian Klosterneuburg, and the Cistercian Heiligenkreuz, the ITI’s once-august landlord. From Tyrol to Transylvania, and from Czechia to Croatia, all these lands which Bl. Karl offered his sufferings to reunite are a riot of Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, Classicist, Neo-Gothic, and Art Nouveau art and architecture. The Liturgical Year plays a huge role in national life, because Holy Days of Obligation are all national holidays; Corpus Christi, the Advent and Easter Markets, Ball Season, May Poles—it goes on and on. In general, the city, the country, and indeed, all the other countries over which the Habsburgs presided reflect even now the grace, charm, and style that it requires centuries of Catholic culture and wise Monarchical rule to provide. Only those with a vested interest in doing otherwise can come away from all of this without a deep love for the handiwork of the House of Habsburg, who have left their mark over a huge chunk of Europe.

But, of course, the current ruling cliques in all of their former lands are quite different from the Habsburgs. Indeed, despite the deep heritage that the current regimes milk for both tourist dollars and legitimacy, each country bears the scars from the deposition of the dynasty in 1918 (and in Hungary, the two attempts at Restoration in 1921). Although reflected in all of them, the parting of the ways is nowhere more clearly exhibited than in Austria itself.

Since 1918, every Austrian has been faced with two paths—we might call them the Blessed Karl Path and the Karl Renner Path. The Habsburgs and their peoples were given an ultimatum by Woodrow Wilson: depose the Imperial family and become republics like Czechoslovakia (already recognized as an ally by Wilson and his minions) or starve. Peace and food would not come until the Double Eagle was killed. In response, the country quickly vivisected; rump Austria was presided over by Karl Renner (1870-1950), leader of the Socialists. Bl. Karl refused to abdicate but did agree to withdraw from government pending a referendum on whether or not there was to be a Monarchy or a republic. Renner hustled him out of the country as nastily as he could, restrained only by the quick action of Colonel Strutt. Strutt, an Englishman sent by George V (still feeling guilty over the murder of his Romanov cousins) was able to use Renner’s innate cowardice to guarantee decent treatment for the Imperial couple as they set off into exile. Needless to say, the Referendum was never held. Friedrich Cardinal Piffl, Archbishop of Vienna, a happy recipient of Habsburg patronage while it was there to be given, rallied to the new although anticlerical regime, declaring in 1919 that it was Austrians’ religious duty to support Renner’s republic against any attempt at Habsburg restoration. Renner seized all of the Habsburgs’ personal property, and made it illegal for them to return under so-called Habsburg Law; his Nobility Law made it a crime for noblemen to either use their titles or the word “von” in their names. He certainly had no lack of pettiness in his character.

Renner remained a leading figure in the Socialist Party for decades, although he lost the chancellorship early on. The Great Depression hit Austria very hard; in 1932 a very different Chancellor came to power: Engelbert Dollfuss. An officer during the Great War, he was faced with a very difficult situation; once again, the country faced starvation. Under these conditions, the railway workers went on strike because of the decision to pay them their salaries in installments. On March 4, 1933, the debate began. Karl Renner, as leader of his party—the largest in the House—was Speaker, with two assistants. Both of these resigned their positions, so as to vote—Renner did likewise, thus effectively shutting down Parliament.

Dollfuss was faced with a fresh dilemma. If he called for new elections, he believed there was a strong likelihood that Renner and his Socialists would team up with the Nazis to deliver the country to Hitler—which they would indeed do five years later. To head off this disaster, he used the emergency powers in the constitution to shut the whole thing down. With the help of his advisors and inspired by Pius XI’s encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, he tried—as with Salazar in Portugal, De Valera in Ireland, and Smetona in Lithuania—to come up with a Catholic alternative. Labeled by Marxist academics in the 1960s as “Austrofascism” or “Clerico-Fascism” (as wonderful an example of the “poisoning the well” fallacy as may be found in the history of propaganda), Dollfuss and his Corporate State attempted to guide Austria through the storms of the 1930s.

Dollfuss would not have much time to work, however; he had become convinced of the need to restore the Habsburgs as a counter to Germany. But before he could do anything in that direction, an attempted coup by the Nazis on July 25, 1934 resulted in his murder—so that it may well be said that Austria is the only country in Europe with a Head of Government who died fighting the Nazis. His successor, Kurt von Schuschnigg, was able to fend off the threat with the help of Italy—Mussolini at the time being an ally not only of Austria, but Britain and France. The following year, the Austrian government returned the stolen Habsburg properties to the family.

Unfortunately, outside events were moving against Austria. Mussolini fell out with Britain and France over Ethiopia and was slowly but successfully courted by Hitler. Renner and his Socialists supported a Nazi takeover, and Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Piffl’s successor, went along. He would later regret doing so, and showed real bravery in facing the new regime. But Renner remained committed to collaborating with the Nazis—until, of course, they lost. Following his lead, the Nazis immediately re-stole the Habsburg properties.

In the meantime, from 1938 to 1945, while most Socialists were following Renner in collaborating with the Nazis, most of the Resistance (save for some few Communists who suddenly rediscovered their love of country when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941) was Catholic, Monarchist, and Dollfussite. As a result, they are generally ignored by the modern Austrian government, media, and education industries. Fr. Heinrich Maier should be particularly remembered as a heroic martyr. Habsburg loyalist that he was, he was doubtless gratified that the youngest sons of Bl. Karl and Empress Zita, having finished their studies at Quebec’s Laval University (and while their eldest brother, Otto, heir to the throne, was serving as an advisor to FDR in Washington), surreptitiously entered the country and joined the Resistance in Tyrol.

After Fr. Maier’s execution by the Gestapo, the Soviets took Vienna. Renner was all ready to jump ship again, having prepared a slavish letter to Stalin. Fortunately, Stalin had already taken his measure and had his agents looking for him. Once found, he was elevated by Stalin to the Chancellorship. Meanwhile, Otto had reentered the country with the French and had set up headquarters with his brothers in Innsbruck. The newly installed Chancellor Renner invoked his Habsburg Law and had them expelled. So it was that the Resistance Fighters were chased off, and the Collaborator remained securely in place obeying his masters. His Socialists lost the late 1945 election, and so Stalin had him made president of the republic, in which sinecure he died in 1950.

In 1956, Franz Cardinal König succeeded Innitzer. Apart from playing an interesting role at Vatican II, König showed which of the two roads he would take in 1968 and 1969. When Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae came out, His Eminence convinced his brothers on the Austrian Bishops’ bench to sign what was called the “Maria Troster Declaration.” This declared that a refusal to accept the encyclical’s teaching was not a reason to go to Confession before Communion—in essence entirely negating its efficacy, for all that it claimed the bishops agreed with the encyclical. But the wily Cardinal was not finished. When, in 1974, the Head of the Austrian People’s Party, Karl Schleinzer, asked his help in the upcoming struggle over abortion, His Eminence of Vienna said he did not want “another Kulturkampf,” and sat silently in Parliament as it was passed.

It must not be considered too surprising that both Church and State in Austria opposed Bl. Karl’s beatification. It was not until John Paul II, who was named after the late Emperor, was elected that the cause could move forward. His first miracle, which had occurred as long ago as 1960, was approved. Despite the opposition of Renner’s spiritual heirs, the noble Emperor-King was beatified in 2004. But even today—although there is devotion to him in his former realms, it is more tolerated than promoted, save at certain local levels.

Of course, this is not the only case where the spirit of Karl Renner has interfered in a case for beatification. That of Fr. Johannes Messner (1891-1984) comes to mind. Priest and economist, and one of Dollfuss’ co-workers in trying to construct a Christian State, he had to flee when the Nazis took over and returned after the war. His cause was launched in Vienna in 2002. But things changed; on November 30, 2015, the beatification process was suspended because, according to Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, “at least one essential element” for the continuation of the process is lacking: “extensive, continuous, and sustained veneration of the Servant of God in the Archdiocese of Vienna.” One is reminded of a similar comment by a prelate in England about G.K. Chesterton.

One might be forgiven for thinking that this was less a reason than that of the political establishment’s renewed assault on Dollfuss’ memory. In January of 2007 a mural which included Dollfuss was ordered covered from the Sanctuary of the Prandtauer Church in Sankt Poelten. The next round came from the very top. For decades, regardless of the party in power, a Mass was offered every July around the anniversary of Dollfuss’ death, in the Chancery’s chapel. The chapel itself was built near the room where Dollfuss was assassinated by the Nazis during the failed July Putsch. In 2010, Socialist Chancellor Werner Faymann officially canceled the Mass. In 2012, the City of Vienna stripped the Hero Chancellor’s plot of its status as an “Honour Grave.” It is hard to think that the closing of Fr. Messner’s cause was unconnected with this campaign, which culminated with the closing of the Museum in Dollfuss’ birthplace in 2022, in the home town of the then Minister of the Interior.

The same pettiness on the Renner Road was recently exhibited in the Fr. Waldstein case, where that foremost spokesman for integralism was attacked by his academic and ecclesiastical superiors in the nastiest ways imaginable. Whatever else one says about the learned Cistercian, he is well-educated and distinguished in his abilities as both a scholar and a teacher. But the Rector of Heiligenkreuz practically foamed at the mouth in discussing him—and told a few whoppers along the way—such as saying that Fr. Waldstein insists on the execution of heretics today. Indeed, the Rector came across as far more of a Monty Python-like Inquisitor in his treatment of the hapless monk. He added insult to injury with his crass comment “I wouldn’t let any first-year student get away with the theological principles he used.” After that performance, a number of lesser institutions and individuals hastened to jump on the dogpile.

But this has ever been the way of the Karl Renner Path followers in power. True to the man whom they continue to venerate as a hero, justice and even plain reality mean nothing compared to self-aggrandizement and an easy position. The memory of the Habsburgs, Dollfuss, and any who supported either or both of them must continually be blackened, as a thief must constantly reassure himself that he was right in nicking that wallet.

Perhaps the latest entry in this sorry story was the interview given by the new Archbishop of Vienna, Josef Grünwidl, on this last All Saints Day. Amongst other things, His Grace said in regard to the Ordination of Women: “I would like to see the ordination of women, but at the current level of the universal Church I do not see any realistic possibility that a decision in this direction will be made.” Having enlightened his audience on doctrinal issues, he hastened on to the morality of euthanasia. “Ultimately, we must respect a decision of conscience. If a person – despite all the help we can offer – comes to the conclusion that they will take the step of assisted suicide, then this decision must be respected. It saddens me when it comes to that.” Seemingly the spirit of Cardinal Piffl lives on.

Now, this long and pathetic chronicle should not give the reader the idea that few if any Austrians follow the path of their blessed Emperor. There are quite a few—and I have had the joy of meeting a great many. But as the story of Fr. Waldstein shows us, they are not in charge in Austria, either in Church, State, or Academia—and are subject to all sorts of harassment. It is ironic that a system that condemns those who call for a historical understanding of the Inquisition in itself roots out what it considers heresy without any of the legal safeguards that the original court had. So for the moment the lords of the land shall continue as they have, lauding a Nazi collaborator as a hero, and calling disciples of the Resistance “Far Right Extremists”—and by their feckless actions radicalizing those whom they don’t agree with.

To be fair, this is not just an Austrian problem. Every formerly Catholic nation has been divided in two in this sense since whenever the Faith was first pushed out—in France it was 1789, in Italy 1860-70, and in Quebec since the Quiet Revolution. But it is just a bit more grotesque in Austria because everything that sustains the country culturally and economically is the creation of the Old Regime. But ultimately, none of this can last forever; the sooner the leadership of Austria and her neighbors attempt to follow the path of Bl. Karl, the sooner their situation will become sustainable.