The Empress Zita Association organized a meeting between “Zitas” in order to promote the figure of Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary (1892-1989), and facilitate her beatification.
Newsroom (21/09/2023 21:00, Gaudium Press) On Saturday, September 9, the Empress Zita Association organized a meeting between “Zitas” in order to promote the figure of Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary (1892-1989), and facilitate her beatification
The Empress Zita Association was founded in 2009 by Abbot Dupont of Solesmes Abbey and Archduke Rudolf of Austria, grandson of Blessed Charles and Empress Zita. The aim of the association is to contribute to the process of beatification of Zita of Habsburg, so that her figure can be recognized by the Church as an example of life and holiness.
The Association for the Beatification of Empress Zita was created to spread the life, spirituality and virtues of the Empress of Austria to people who face difficulties and trials during their lives, so that they can find in the figure of the Empress a model to emulate.
To this end, on September 9 the Association held a day of meetings dedicated to the servant of God Zita of Bourbon-Parma. The “Day of the Zitas” took place in the diocese of Nanterre, France, and sought to bring together the women and children, as well as the families, who bear the name Zita in order to give them more knowledge about the life and spirituality of the Austrian Empress and also to explain the workings of the association working for her beatification.
The program included talks for adults and children, entertainment and games, a Mass celebrated by Bishop Matthieu Rougé and a blessing for the Zitas present, as well as a time for eating and sharing.
Biography of Empress Zita
Empress Zita was born in Pianore, Italy, on May 9, 1892. In 1899, she made her first stay at the abbey of Santa Cecilia de Solesmes, with which she maintained a close relationship throughout her life.
In 1911, Zita married Charles I, the great-nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph and second in line to the imperial throne. In 1914, with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia of Hohenberg in Sarajevo, Bulgaria, Charles and Zita became first in line to the throne. Emperor Franz Joseph died on November 21, 1916 and Charles was declared Emperor of Austria in the midst of the First World War.
With the end of the First World War, the Habsburgs are deposed from the throne and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is divided into several states, such as Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. The couple went into exile in Switzerland and then on the island of Madeira, where Charles died in 1922. Widowed at just 29 years old, Zita raised her eight children in the Catholic faith, proving to be a strong and pious woman until her death on March 14, 1989.
Her husband, Charles I, was beatified in 2004 by Pope John Paul II. The process of Zita’s beatification began in 2009. (FM)
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