(LifeSiteNews) — Archduke Eduard von Habsburg-Lothringen, the Ambassador of Hungary to the Holy See, has given LifeSiteNews a written interview about his new book on marriage and family, which is set to be released on October 15.
In the book, titled, Building a Wholesome Family in a Broken World: Habsburg Lessons from the Centuries (Sophia Institute Press), Habsburg tries to encourage young people to build wholesome families in spite of the societal wreckage that is taking place in our world of today.
Being a member of the Catholic Habsburg dynasty that ruled much of Europe from the thirteenth to the twentieth century, he is relying on his dynasty’s experience and wisdom about marriage. The Habsburgs have been for centuries strong defenders of the Catholic faith and have played historic roles throughout the years, including at the battles of Lepanto (1572) and Vienna (1683). The last monarch of Austria-Hungary, Charles of Habsburg, died in 1922 at the age of 34 and has been declared Blessed by the Catholic Church. His wife Zita, who died at the age of 96 in 1989, has also had a cause of beautification opened.
This Habsburg couple is widely seen as a model for a happy marriage. They had eight children, were both devout Catholics, and were beloved rulers of their kingdom. It is symbolic that Charles’ feast day is October 21, the date of his marriage in 1911 to Princess Zita, instead of the day of his death, April 1.
In light of this heritage and charism, it is only fitting that another Habsburg would write a book on marriage. Eduard Habsburg himself is happily married for 29 years and has 6 children – one son and five daughters – with his wife Maria Theresia von Gudenus. He told LifeSiteNews in the interview that this marriage is the “greatest decision of my life and my personal path to happiness.”
In his introductory remarks to his new book, Habsburg tries to encourage young people in a broken world, knowing that marriage and the family are the kernels of society:
It’s true, in our age, that many families are broken. But as much as the technocrats in our consumer society would like to keep us all alone, glued to screens and spending money, this is not what we are meant to be. We are meant to be in families—families that are not broken but whole, wholesome, and healthy. Family life is what everybody should be striving for. It is what everybody really wants.
In the interview with LifeSiteNews, Habsburg first sums up the key recommendations to young people in his earlier book, The Habsburg way, starting with: “Get married – and have lots of Children.” Further explaining: “I speak about the other core values like a lived Catholic faith (also a prominent topic in the new book), the concept of Empire and Subsidiarity (an enormously important word for our times), law and justice, tradition, courage in war and how to die a good death.” His new book develops more his thoughts on one of these points, the family.
To again build up healthy, happy families will take time, according to Habsburg. “So the way to begin is really a slow one – one couple after another, with the courage to put God into the center of their families, with the generosity to have lots of children, even if that means sacrifice,” he tells LifeSite. “That way, people will see that it is possible.”
Our full interview with Ambassador Habsburg, for which LifeSite is grateful, can be read in full below:
Maike Hickson: What caused you to write a book on marriage and the family?
Eduard Habsburg: I’d say two reasons for writing Building a Wholesome Family in a Broken World. First and foremost, I myself had a great experience with getting married and having six children. It was the greatest decision of my life and my personal path to happiness. So it’s natural I want to share that, and my “secret recipes” how to get there. More concretely, after a talk on blessed Karl two girls walked up to me and asked “How can we find husbands as good as Blessed Karl? is this even possible in today’s world?” That convinced me that my new book should be about that yes, it is possible to do that, even today. But it’s more difficult than, say, even thirty years ago.
MH: How does this book build upon your previous one, The Habsburg Way? Could you sum up for us what the Habsburg way is and how the Habsburg way looks in marriage and family life?
EH: You are absolutely right that my new book builds on “The Habsburg Way.” Just that the first book was more a book on our family history, the central characters and the seven core values of the Habsburgs that enabled them to stay strong and united for nearly 800 years in European history. if you open that book you will find the first of the seven values is “Get married – and have lots of Children”. This could be the summary of my new book. Then, I speak about the other core values like a lived Catholic faith (also a prominent topic in the new book), the concept of Empire and Subsidiarity (an enormously important word for our times), law and justice, tradition, courage in war and how to die a good death. While the second book is more about my personal recipes for a successful marriage, Habsburg history is heavily present, with lots of encouraging and touching episodes.
MH: Were the Habsburgs generally free to choose their own spouses, or did the parents usually pick their children‘s spouses? Was there a particular Habsburg way in it?
EH: I would say the romantic idea of choosing your spouse out of love is a rather late element, not just in Habsburg marriage policy but in our world in general. Before 1800, you were mostly married away for political or alliance reasons. However, I would say the “Habsburg way” here was that you could at least be certain that your future spouse usually shared the core values of life (like the Catholic faith and the same concept of Family), and that gave you a pretty good chance to a happy marriage, even if you met your spouse only on your wedding day. Romance came in more strongly, after Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth.
MH: In the case of Franz Josef, he picked his own wife but it does not seem to have turned out to be a happy marriage with Elisabeth. Or are we wrong in this? And is there a Habsburg counsel for unhappy marriages?
EH: We cannot look into hearts, and we don’t know whether both Franz Joseph and Sisi would have called their marriage “unhappy.” But in Building a Wholesome Family in a Broken World I do give a few bullet points, a checklist before getting married, and while romance and royal blood where present in that famous engagement, they may not have checked for my bucket list. On position 1 is a strong, lived faith, and I think that Empress Elisabeth, for all of her charms and beauty, had rather shaky beliefs. But this is a long topic.
What do I suggest to people in an unhappy marriage? First of all, I am not competent and my marriage was a happy one; however, perhaps reading my book and centering on the five criteria, my “bucket list,” could help to re-focus your marriage.
MH: In light of so many broken marriages, how can we build up families again to stability and loyalty?
EH: We have to understand that we are at the end of about sixty years post sexual revolution, and of contraception mentality. Most people around us have never experienced a “normal” family life growing up; they take their ideas about relationship from the media and their surroundings. Families in media only have two children; sexual happiness only comes from extra-marital relationships. They are clueless how to even begin building a healthy and wholesome family. Because they don’t have the tools any more (that were present for millennia).
So the way to begin is really a slow one – one couple after another, with the courage to put God into the center of their families, with the generosity to have lots of children, even if that means sacrifice. That way, people will see that it is possible. If you once spent time in a household with a numerous family, see the closeness and the shared love, you will begin to think: this is something I also want. What do they have that I don’t have.
The book is a kind of how-to guide.
MH: Raising so many daughters, what do you tell them how to find a good spouse, and how do you introduce them to the possibility of a religious vocation, to choose the Heavenly Spouse?
EH: Daughters are an incredible blessing for a father. I congratulate every family that is blessed with daughters! To answer your second question, I have the feeling that religious feelings, habits and a relationship with God might come to girls more naturally, or perhaps more easily. It was never a great struggle to keep them frequenting the sacraments. Of course, I have a priest brother, my wife too, and they have a priest cousin. The possibility of a religious vocation is always around the corner. Of course, we also took time to take them to monastic communities that radiate happiness and true faith. So far, none of our children went for a religious vocation. But who knows? Only one is married as we speak.
As for how to find a good husband, I think the father is important. The father probably shapes a lot of what daughters feel their future husband should live up to. That is, if they had a good relationship with him, of course. So far, we are blessed.
MH: What do you counsel your son about marriage and also the priesthood?
EH: For my son, the principles I lay out in Building a Wholesome Family in a Broken World were (unspoken) always present in our family, and of course you regularly have conversations about what makes a marriage work. I think the above (about having relatives who are priests) applies to my son, too, and getting an early and relaxed approach to church, Holy Mass and meeting cool priests. I saw to it that my son served as an altar boy in a church with respectful liturgy, even if that meant going extra miles and hours during the week. All of this can lay the ground for a possible vocation, if God wishes so. The rest is also discernment and the personal free decision.
MH: Would you like to add some thoughts regarding the topic of vocations to the religious life?
EH: Given that many your people never ever visit a monastery, and that many never ever interact socially with a priest or a nun, it seems almost impossible to make your children experience both. But there’s a secret recipe: I once in my life met with Mother Theresa, and I remember she said, at that occasion: “Every family should adopt at least one priest.” I think this is brilliant advice, as it “schlägt zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe” (kills two birds with one stone”), regularly to be invited to family life for a priest is good, as he, let’s face it, will often fight with loneliness; and a regular contact of children with priests will open their minds to the possibility of vocation. We have tried to have many priests (and, where possible, nuns) visit us at home.
