Blessed Charles of Austria was one of the few political leaders in Europe who followed their faith and their reason to denounce the atrocity of World War I.

He was born in 1887 to a family that was ruling Austria and Hungary. Charles was raised in the Catholic faith, and grew up with devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Eucharist.

In 1911, he married Princess Zita, also a devout Catholic, and the two bore eight children. When his uncle, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in 1914, Charles was next in line to reign. The emperor began to fold Charles into his discussions about ruling, but this education was cut short as World War I broke out.

Two years later, the emperor died, and Charles took the throne as emperor—he was the last ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In his reign, he worked very hard for peace, and was the only political ruler to support Pope Benedict XV’s plans for ending the war.

Political negotiations fractured the empire and when the armistice brought an end to the war, Charles left the throne (though he did not abdicate) and was exiled to Switzerland. He worked to oppose the rise of Communism; he also tried several times to reclaim his role as ruler, but fell short and did not want to incite civil war. He lived out the rest of his days with his family on the Portuguese island of Madeira. In 1922, Charles caught pneumonia and died.

When Pope St. John Paul II beatified Charles in 2004, he said, “The decisive task of Christians consists in seeking, recognizing and following God’s will in all things. The Christian statesman, Charles of Austria, confronted this challenge every day. To his eyes, war appeared as ‘something appalling.’ Amid the tumult of the First World War, he strove to promote the peace initiative of my predecessor, Benedict XV.”

Blessed Charles of Austria, you brought your faith to the task of building peace during World War I—pray for us!