Saintly Kings

Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat.
Christ conquers, Christ rules, Christ commands.

Christ the King is a subject I'm working on for a blog.  Today, though, I want to take note of two holy, earthly kings, whose feast days we celebrate within about a week of each other.

   St. Louis IX, King of France, was born in 1215 A.D. At 12 years of age he became king. His very devout mother raised him and told him it were better to die than to commit a mortal sin. He became a king who wanted to please Christ, the true King. He heard Mass twice every day in the palace, and at midnight rose for the Divine Office of Matins. He always began his day with the recitation of Prime.

   When we say the Creed at Mass, we can refer to St. Louis as the one who began the practice of genuflecting at the words, "et homo factus est," (and [Christ] became man). He also brought about the practice of bowing at the passage in the reading of the Passion, where Our Lord dies.  The Church adopted both those things as part of its rituals.

   He undertook one of the Crusades to try to take Jerusalem back from the muslims (Saracens). He stayed for five years in the East to help the Christians. When he returned to France he built Sainte Chapelle as a reliquary for the crown of thorns which Baldwin II, Emperor of Constantinople had given him - another story to tell.  He was austere with himself, disdaining all earthly pleasure and riches, and was exceedingly generous to others. He would often go to the wood at Vincennes, sit down under a tree and listen to all who would speak to him.

   He always wore the cross to show that his vow to follow Christ was yet unaccomplished. In 1270 he undertook another Crusade, but was taken ill with the plague and died near Tunis. He died on a bed of ashes at the same hour that Christ died on the cross.

His feast was August 25.

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On September 2, the feast of another holy king is observed, that of St. Stephen, King of Hungary.  In the crypts of St. Peter's Basilica is a chapel in his honor.  I was pleased to hear Mass in that chapel once.  There are many chapels within St. Peter's dedicated to various saints.

   Stephen was descended from the Huns, those terrible invaders.  God apparently chose St. Stephen to convert his subjects to christianity.  He was given his name by his mother, who had a vision of St. Stephen the First Martyr (deacon during the birth throes of the Church; stoned to death under the watchful eyes of Saul, who would become the great St. Paul).  That Stephen told her that her son would be the first king when the Pope had raised the country into a kingdom, which was the way things were done in those days. Christ was King over all Christian nations and their rulers were subject to Him first.

   Stephen married the daughter of another holy king, St Henry. The men he surrounded himself with were holy and wise. He would spend all night in meditation, like Louis IX practiced austerity, and gave much to widows and churches.

   His zeal in promulgating the Faith won for him the title of Apostle of Hungary. He and his successors had the privilege of having the cross borne before them in processions. He proclaimed the Blessed Virgin the Patroness of Hungary and died in 1038 on the feast of her Assumption.

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A  note on King  St.Henry: He was Duke of Bavaria and Emperor of Germany. He used his power also to extend God's kingdom.  He died in 1024.

Looking the world over in this "enlightened century", I don't think we can find any holy rulers. There may be one - somewhere - but I haven't observed any. There is one who died in the last century, who may be, one day, canonized.  That is Blessed Carl of Austria. He was last of the Hapsburg emperors, driven from the throne and died in his 30s in exile.  His wife, Zita, abandoned by her people, but living a pious life, has been declared Venerable.  They were a truly devout and holy couple. The secularists of this world have managed to rid every nation which was once truly Christian, of most of the vestiges of a country under the Kingship of Christ.

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