This past Sunday, Prince of Peace Church in Taylors, South Carolina, inaugurated a new shrine to Blessed Karl of Austria, the 13th such shrine in North America, and the first in South Carolina. Fr Boniface Hicks, O.S.B., a monk of St Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and delegate for the Emperor Karl League of Prayer in the U.S.A. and Canada, celebrated Mass and preached, then solemnly blessed the shrine on behalf of the Gebetsliga. Our thanks to the pastor, Fr Christopher Smith, and to Dcn Jordan Hainsey, who is very active with the Gebetsliga, for this report and the accompanying photos.
Devotion to Blessed Karl on the part of the parish’s faithful prompted addition of the new shrine to the church. One parishioner at Prince of Peace, Angela Calabro, even went on pilgrimage in 2018 to Muri Abbey, Switzerland, where the hearts of Blessed Karl and his wife, the Servant of God Empress Zita, are enshrined. “I am so excited and grateful that we are getting a shrine to Blessed Karl here. It’s so important in our world today to have such a wonderful example of holy marriage.” The pastor, Fr Christopher Smith, also shares a devotion to Blessed Karl that began over eight years ago during a visit to Austria. “As a military man, family man and secular leader, he had a deep sense of his vocation to work, his duty to country and family, as stemming from a life of personal holiness in the Church... an example of heroic virtue and leadership during an incredibly difficult time that would break lesser men.”
The Blessed Karl shrine is located next to a similar shrine to St Josemaría Escrivá, and features an image of him together with a 1st-class relic. Commissioned in Spain by parishioners Thierry and Tanya Weringer, the new reliquary was given to the glory of God in memory of Tanya’s mother who was Austrian and deeply devoted to Blessed Karl. To learn more about the new shrine and Prince of Peace Church. To learn more about the cause of canonization for Blessed Karl, visit: http://www.emperorcharles.org
Blessing of the Shrine
Devotion to Blessed Karl on the part of the parish’s faithful prompted addition of the new shrine to the church. One parishioner at Prince of Peace, Angela Calabro, even went on pilgrimage in 2018 to Muri Abbey, Switzerland, where the hearts of Blessed Karl and his wife, the Servant of God Empress Zita, are enshrined. “I am so excited and grateful that we are getting a shrine to Blessed Karl here. It’s so important in our world today to have such a wonderful example of holy marriage.” The pastor, Fr Christopher Smith, also shares a devotion to Blessed Karl that began over eight years ago during a visit to Austria. “As a military man, family man and secular leader, he had a deep sense of his vocation to work, his duty to country and family, as stemming from a life of personal holiness in the Church... an example of heroic virtue and leadership during an incredibly difficult time that would break lesser men.”
The Blessed Karl shrine is located next to a similar shrine to St Josemaría Escrivá, and features an image of him together with a 1st-class relic. Commissioned in Spain by parishioners Thierry and Tanya Weringer, the new reliquary was given to the glory of God in memory of Tanya’s mother who was Austrian and deeply devoted to Blessed Karl. To learn more about the new shrine and Prince of Peace Church. To learn more about the cause of canonization for Blessed Karl, visit: http://www.emperorcharles.org
