For more than six hundred years the Hapsburgs exercised political power over Europe. When Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria died in 1916 an era of Hapsburgs came to an end. He had ruled for 68 years, he became Emperor of Austria in 1848 and was crowned King of Hungary in 1867. At his funeral on the 30th November 1916, the Dual Monarchy presented itself for the last time in all its tradition, pomp and splendour. The funeral for Emperor Franz through the streets of Vienna included a huge procession of elegantly dressed dignitaries who escorted a horse drawn carriage with the coffin through the city’s streets. Over three hundred thousand people turned up to the funeral to show their appreciation for the Emperor’s decades of faithful and dutiful service.
When the funeral procession arrived at Vienna’s ancient Capuchin Church, they carried the ornate coffin down the four hundred year old stairs to the Imperial Crypt accompanied with sombre music from the military band. At the bottom of the stairs which were lit by torch light, was a great iron door that barred the way to the final resting place for the descendants of the Hapsburg family. On the other side of the locked iron door was the Cardinal of Vienna waiting for the coffin to arrive.
The military officer leading the royal coffin of the Emperor stopped at the door and cried out “Open!” as he was obligated to do as part of the prescribed ceremony established centuries ago.
“Who goes there?” responded the Cardinal from behind the iron doors.
The officer responded: “We bear the remains of his Imperial and Apostolic Majesty, Franz Joseph the First, by the grace of God Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, Defender of the faith, Prince of Bohemia-Moravia, Grand Duke of Lombardy…” and the officer continued to list the Emperor’s thirty-seven royal titles.
At the conclusion of the long list of the titles of the Emperor, the Cardinal’s response was swift, he said “We know him not!” and the iron doors stayed closed.
The officer knocked again, and once again the Cardinal responded from behind the closed door “Who goes there?”
The officer responded for a second time this time using a much abbreviated and less ostentatious series of titles for the deceased ruler.
“We know him not!” the Cardinal replied again.
The officer then gave a third and final knock. Once again the Cardinal asked: “Who goes there?”
This time the officer’s reply stripped the Emperor of all but the humblest of titles “We bear the body of Franz Joseph, our brother, a sinner like us all.”
With this final acknowledgment that we are all equal, the Cardinal swung open the huge iron doors of the crypt, and the body of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria was admitted to his final place of rest.
Before our Creator we are all equal, we are all sinners. As the Apostle Paul says in the Bible in the book of Galatians chapter 3 verse 28 ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus ’. Between men it doesn’t matter where you are born, what skin colour you have or what name you possess for before God the Creator, we are equal, and that is we are all sinners. Paul tells us in the book of Romans 3:2 ‘For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;’. All humanity is reduced to the same level as sinners before God, neither one’s wealth nor one’s name can open the way to salvation. The end of verse 28 in Galatians reveals something very important that there is hope of Salvation, ‘for ye are all one in Christ Jesus’. To those who humbly acknowledge their need of salvation and turn to Christ Jesus they are made one in Christ, and therefore receive forgiveness for sins and allowed to enter the gates of eternal life. (P. Pilgrim pilgrimway101@yahoo.com_
