On this day, The Last Grandmaster of Teutonic Order from Habsburg Dynasty, Archduke Eugen Ferdinand Pius Bernhard Felix Maria von Habsburg Lothringen, dying on December 30, 1954, in the Teutonic Order house at Meran, surrounded by the brothers of the Order.
Eugen showed a pious nature early in life and in 1887, at the age of 23, he made his vows as a professed knight of the ancient Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order. The vows entailed poverty, chastity and obedience. At the same time as investiture, Eugen was selected coadjutor of his uncle Archduke Wilhelm Franz Karl von Habsburg Lothringen, who was then Hoch- und Deutschmeister of the Order.
Upon Wilhelm’s death in 1894, Eugen was installed as Hoch- und Deutschmeister and proved one of the most capable men to lead the centuries-old Order of Catholic chivalry and charity. He founded new hospitals, increased the efficiency of the Marianer (lay sisters’) nursing services and improved their training and streamlined and expanded the Order’s archives in Vienna.
By 1911, the Teutonic Order numbered 20 professed knights bound to celibacy while enjoying a benefice of the order, and 30 knights of honor not bound to celibacy who were required to furnish monetary offerings. The revenues of the Order were devoted to religious works, and it had administration of 50 parishes, 17 schools, and nine hospitals and supported two congregations of priests and four of sisters. It performed ambulance service in time of war and paid the cost of the ambulance, for which Marianers were ambulance bearers.
Following the war, Eugen devoted more time to the work of the Teutonic Order, charitable relief work for the war-stricken population of Austria and other works of mercy. He lived for a while in Lucerene and later in a modest hotel in Basel.
When the new government of Austria attempted to seize the considerable assets of the Teutonic Order as property of the Habsburg family in 1923, Eugen nobly voluntarily resigned his position as the Hoch- und Deutschmeister and, thereby, the Order retained its possessions. Eugen was the last hereditary grand master of the Order and it became a solely religious order of priests, brothers and sisters. The chivalric aspect of the Order was revived in 2000 under a separate Hochmeister.
In 1934, Eugen moved into the Order’s home at Gumpoldskirchen near Vienna. He no longer believed in the possibility of the Habsburgs being returned to power, yet participated at monarchist and veterans’ functions and placed himself again at the service of the Habsburg family.
Following the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany in 1938 the Teutonic Order was dissolved and its possessions confiscated. Eugen held the admiration of both the Axis and Allied powers. Likely with the intervention of Hermann Göring and other senior Nazi military figures, he survived the Second World War in a rented house at Hietzing. In 1945, Eugen returned to the Tyrol and received through the French occupying forces a small rented villa at Igls.
Eugen showed a pious nature early in life and in 1887, at the age of 23, he made his vows as a professed knight of the ancient Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order. The vows entailed poverty, chastity and obedience. At the same time as investiture, Eugen was selected coadjutor of his uncle Archduke Wilhelm Franz Karl von Habsburg Lothringen, who was then Hoch- und Deutschmeister of the Order.
Upon Wilhelm’s death in 1894, Eugen was installed as Hoch- und Deutschmeister and proved one of the most capable men to lead the centuries-old Order of Catholic chivalry and charity. He founded new hospitals, increased the efficiency of the Marianer (lay sisters’) nursing services and improved their training and streamlined and expanded the Order’s archives in Vienna.
By 1911, the Teutonic Order numbered 20 professed knights bound to celibacy while enjoying a benefice of the order, and 30 knights of honor not bound to celibacy who were required to furnish monetary offerings. The revenues of the Order were devoted to religious works, and it had administration of 50 parishes, 17 schools, and nine hospitals and supported two congregations of priests and four of sisters. It performed ambulance service in time of war and paid the cost of the ambulance, for which Marianers were ambulance bearers.
Following the war, Eugen devoted more time to the work of the Teutonic Order, charitable relief work for the war-stricken population of Austria and other works of mercy. He lived for a while in Lucerene and later in a modest hotel in Basel.
When the new government of Austria attempted to seize the considerable assets of the Teutonic Order as property of the Habsburg family in 1923, Eugen nobly voluntarily resigned his position as the Hoch- und Deutschmeister and, thereby, the Order retained its possessions. Eugen was the last hereditary grand master of the Order and it became a solely religious order of priests, brothers and sisters. The chivalric aspect of the Order was revived in 2000 under a separate Hochmeister.
In 1934, Eugen moved into the Order’s home at Gumpoldskirchen near Vienna. He no longer believed in the possibility of the Habsburgs being returned to power, yet participated at monarchist and veterans’ functions and placed himself again at the service of the Habsburg family.
Following the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany in 1938 the Teutonic Order was dissolved and its possessions confiscated. Eugen held the admiration of both the Axis and Allied powers. Likely with the intervention of Hermann Göring and other senior Nazi military figures, he survived the Second World War in a rented house at Hietzing. In 1945, Eugen returned to the Tyrol and received through the French occupying forces a small rented villa at Igls.
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