Did you know that the last crown prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire—and historically the claimant to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire—died in 2011? You may remember the Habsburg dynasty from history class in high school. When Otto von Habsburg was born in 1912, he would have been heir to the thrown of the empire of Austria-Hungary. This was before the start of World War I, which of course brought an end to the empire and the reign of the House of Habsburg.
Otto had a front row seat to World War II, denouncing Nazism strongly, and was even sentenced to death by the Nazi regime after the annexation of Austria. For the remainder of his life, he remained active in politics and frequently spoke out against totalitarianism.
Why this vignette about Otto von Habsburg? When I was a student at Franciscan University of Steubenville, I completed a semester abroad at Kartause Maria Thron in the small town of Gaming, Austria. Otto von Habsburg was a guest speaker one evening. The takeaway from his talk? Vladimir Putin is the greatest threat to international order.
This was 2005, mind you. The United States was actively at ware in both Afghanistan and Iraq and while Russia might have been considered irksome, it didn’t seem like much of a threat. Otto von Habsburg’s words may have been interesting, but they seemed a bit dated.
Let’s not end on that note.
The Ukrainian National Boys Choir
At the time I was studying in Austria, there was another academic institution called the International Theological Institute (ITI) which shared a campus with Franciscan University. One of the unique things about the ITI is that many of their students were Eastern Catholics, which is to say, they were part of Catholic churches that were in union with Rome but which had different liturgical traditions and even had married priests.
Students from Franciscan University would occasionally join students and faculty of the ITI for prayer in the Eastern tradition. One of the prayers they would pray is called the Akathist, which is sort of like the Rosary in Western tradition, but is accompanied by beautiful chant. Take a listen:
Something you have to know about Franciscan University is that it’s sort of an “Evangelical Catholic” school. When we would celebrate mass at the chapel in Kartause Maria Thron, our musicians would plug guitars and microphones into amplifiers in the choir loft and sing “praise and worship” songs. We raised our voices to the heavens, as it were, but our music was admittedly out of place in a fourteenth century monastery.
One of the men at the ITI was good friends with the choir director of the Ukranian National Boys Choir1. He invited the choir to visit Gaming and provide music for the Divine Liturgy on Sunday. Franciscan Students were invited to attend.
I’m not able to put into words what is was like to experience that liturgy. There were of course no guitars, microphones, or amplifiers, yet the way the boys in the choir sang filled the entire chapel with sacred music. It was loud, and full, and entirely immersive. I wasn’t able to understand the language, but just being there felt something like heaven.
My heart breaks for the people of Ukraine. The boys I heard in the choir that Sunday are now all grown. Perhaps many now have families of their own. I pray for their safety and for peace.
That’s how I remember it, at least. I’ve been searching to find a choir by that name and am coming up short.