The Habsburg Way: 7 Rules for Turbulent Times by Archduke Eduard Habsburg

(Manchester: Sophia, 2023), 155

"If God has placed you in any position of authority, not matter how great or small, use your gifts for the good of those you govern." (154)

Introduction

"A core Habsburg ability is being able to translate values into the appropriate form for any given time without sacrificing the principle." (4)

"In a time where every Christina value is being increasingly driven out of public life and politics, the Habsburgs stand for timeliness things like family, faith, the peaceful cohabitation of nations and languages, and the peaceful coexistence of diverse races and cultures." (7)
Offers a reminder that "the current, prevailing republican form of government is not the only possibility" (9)
"I believe that living these ideas—and requiring them from our political leaders—would greatly improve our contemporary world." (10)

Latin: Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube, Others may lead wars, you, happy Austria, get married (26)
The Habsburgs didn't have the resources for a large army, so they built a power base through marriage politics (27)
Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (33)
"The Catholic faith provides a deep spiritual foundation, and facilitates the formation of the deepest bond between spouses." (36)

"There is a story told about Rudolf I, the first Habsburg ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. One day in about the 1260s (more or less when Thomas Aquinas lived), Count Rudolf of Habsburg went hunting in his forests in Switzerland. He came to a river where a priest was bringing viaticum (the Blessed Sacrament) to a dying man. The river was too swollen for the cleric to cross it. So Rudolf dismounted his horse and allowed the priest to use it to cross the river. When he reached the other side, the priest wanted to give the horse back to Rudolf. But the Count of Habsburg reportedly said these famous words: 'Far be it from me that I shall ever ride Lon a horse that has carried my Lord and Savior. Keep the horse!'" (50)
Charles V's pragmatic response to Martin Luther: "he pointed out that it was more probable that a German monk was wrong than that for more than one thousand years Church teachers had been." (52)
Ferdinand II was the main champion on the Counter-Reformation in Europe: "Non-Catholics think me unfeeling for banning heresy. But I love them rather than I hate them. If I didn't love them, I would freely leave them in their error." (58)
The many "L I" marks in Vienna are the logo of Leopold I (64)

The empire in Dune is more like the Habsburg empire than the evil empire in Star Wars (79)
Subsidiarity is the key principle for understanding the Holy Roman Empire and the Austo-Hungarian monarchy: issues should be addressed by the lowest institutional level that is competent to resolve them (79), for two reasons: efficiency, and accountability (80)

Royal service: "serving always meant putting your own interests second", i.e. language, region, privacy (94)
Leopold had ten sons, and is a model for Fatherhood in raising men (98)
Franz Joseph to Theodore Roosevelt: "The idea of my office is to protect my peoples from their politicians. (102)"

Otto von Habsburg: "Those who don't know where they come from do not know where they are heading—because they don't know where they stand." (105)
"Knowing who you are gives you sovereignty over yourself. It will give you the confidence not to be swayed by fleeting fads, but to follow the truth. "(116)

"The next time you are in Vienna, walk to the Heldenplatz and contemplate the famous equestrian statue of Charles in the middle of battle." (129)
Blessed Karl: "I will do all within my power to banish the horrors and sacrifices of war at the earliest possible date and to win back for my peoples the sorely missed blessings of peace." (131)

Habsburg knocking ritual (135)
- Who desires entry?
- Name with all their titles...
- "We do not know him."
- Who desires entry?
- lists all their deeds...
- Who desires entry?
- Otto, a mortal and sinful man
Maximilian ordered his suit of armor placed in perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, where it remains today
The death of Blessed Karl is "poignantly described in the little booklet, Death of an Emperor, which I frequently recommend" (143)
Spiritual Disciplines prepare us for death: "Karl's manner of death would never have occurred in a soul that had not been shaped by a life of daily Holy Mass, frequent rosary prayer, devotion to the Sacred Heart, and regular Confession." (143)

"If God has placed you in any position of authority, not matter how great or small, use your gifts for the good of those you govern." (154)

Read more
Leopold and how he raised his ten sons (98)
Read Blessed Charles of Austria (147)

Topic: Habsburgs

Source

Created: 2025-09-24-Wed
Updated: 2025-10-21-Tue