{"id":10288,"date":"2023-10-25T15:46:54","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T13:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associationimperatricezita.com\/liens-spirituels\/"},"modified":"2025-01-21T16:53:35","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T15:53:35","slug":"spiritual-connections","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/associationimperatricezita.com\/en\/spiritual-connections\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiritual Connections"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Servant of God Zita\u2019s patron saint was saint Zita of Lucca, in Tuscany, the patron saint of servants.\u00a0 Her motto was \u201cHands at work and heart to God\u201d.<\/em> \u00a0The Servant of God Zita made this motto her own, similar to the Benedictin \u00abOra et Labora\u00bb. <\/em><\/p>

Throughout her life, the Servant of God Zita forged links with many religious institutions and monasteries, primarily with the Benedictine family. Most of these monasteries have a vivid memory of Empress Zita and are now praying for her beatification.<\/p>

From a young age, Zita was closely connected with the Abbey<\/a> of Sainte C\u00e9cile de Solesmes<\/a>.\u00a0 She first visited the abbey in 1899, when she came to see her grandmother, Queen Adelaide of Portugal, who had entered religious life in 1897 as Mother Adelaide of Braganza.\u00a0 Zita\u2019s sister, Ad\u00e9la\u00efde joined Sainte-C\u00e9cile de Solesmes in 1907, her sister Franziska in 1913 and her sister Maria Antonia in 1919.<\/p>

This monastery, founded in 1866, can be viewed as the center and anchor of the Servant of God\u2019s spiritual life, the place where she would be regenerated.\u00a0 She made frequent and long stays there, benefiting from an indult<\/em> of Pope Pius XII that allowed her to stay in the enclosure of the monastery thus sharing in the life of the nuns. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u201cHoliness is the sole purpose of life, and life is not worth living unless we strive for it\u201d<\/em><\/p>

Mother C\u00e9cile Bruy\u00e8re, founder and first abbess of the monastery.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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These words are the heart of the life of the Servant of God.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Abbaye Sainte C\u00e9cile de Solesmes\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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At the age of 11 (1903), Zita became a resident in the Visitandine monastery of Zangberg in Bavaria.<\/p>

She stayed there until 1908. She said:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The sisters were really very caring.\u00a0 Yet they would apply their educational principles with great severity, rigor even, but always in a spirit of justice and balance. Had I been given a free choice as to where my daughters ought to be educated, I would have sent them to Zangberg.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In 1909, the Servant of God stayed for several months at Sainte-C\u00e9cile de Ryde<\/a> where the Abbess of Sainte-C\u00e9cile de Solesmes had been forced to reside following France\u2019s laws prohibiting religious congregations.\u00a0 She continued her studies: history of the Church, Latin, organ, etc. perfected herself in Gregorian chant.<\/p>

It was during this stay that the founder and first abbess of Sainte-C\u00e9cile, Mother C\u00e9cile Bruy\u00e8re died. Zita attended this event, which she loved to recall as it made a great impression on her.<\/p>

Some years later, when her fianc\u00e9, the Archduke Charles, was sent by the Emperor Francis Joseph to represent him at the coronation of George V in June 1911 (8 days after his engagement with Zita), he did not miss the monastery to visit his future sister-in-law, Mother Marie-B\u00e9n\u00e9dicte of Bourbon Parma.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The Servant of God Zita took her oath as an oblate at the Saint-Pierre de Solesmes Abbey<\/a> on 24 May 1926, as her daughter Adelaide had done a few years later.<\/p>

Mother Maria-Antonia de Bourbon Parma, sister of the Servant of God, was prior of the Abbey of<\/a> Saint Michel de Kergonan \u00a0and Zita made several stays there.<\/a><\/p>

While in exile in Quebec, the Servant of God visited several times the Abbey of Sainte-Marie des Deux-Montagnes \u00a0near Oka.\u00a0 One of the sisters remembers that Zita would greet the sisters who worked in the kitchen, she said:<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Sisters, when I visit religious communities, I always ask to start with the kitchens because if you were not there, prayer would not be possible.\u00a0 You have a very important task.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Mention should also be made of the great Marian shrines, and in particular that of Mariazell<\/a> in Austria, which the imperial couple visited for the first time after their marriage on 21 October 1911.\u00a0 In September 1982, after returning to Austria after 63 years of exile, Zita had the great joy of visiting these places again and praying there.<\/p>

The Servant of God always remained close to the spiritual family \u201cL’\u0152uvre\/ Das Werk\u201d<\/a>, established as a Consecrated Life Family by pontifical law, founded by Mother Julia Verhaeghe in 1938.<\/p>

The House of Habsburg has been linked to the Monastery of Muri <\/a>for over 1,000 years.\u00a0 In 1971 a tomb was built in the chapel of Notre-Dame de Lorette.\u00a0 It contains the remains of several family members.\u00a0 The heart of the Servant of God and that of her husband, Blessed Charles, rest in a reliquary behind the altar of this chapel.<\/p>

The Servant of God was buried in the<\/em> Capuchin Crypt in Vienna (Gruftkapelle)<\/sup>1 on the 1st<\/sup> of April 1989.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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