“Nothing in my hands I bring”

Written by Lindsay, HBC member

Musing on the funeral ritual which took place in Vienna on 16^th July 2011 following the death of Dr Otto von Hapsburg, this verse from Augustus M. Toplady’s great hymn “Rock of Ages” came to mind:

“Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace:
Foul, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.”

Otto of Austria, former Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, who died on 4^th  July, was taken to his last resting place in Vienna’s Kaisergruft on 16^th July. Dr Otto von Hapsburg (aged 98), known as “The Father of the House” in the European Parliament, was an accomplished debater and fluent in seven European languages. He was also the head of the historic Hapsburg dynasty, being the son of the last Austro-Hungarian Emperor who was exiled in 1919. The funeral ritual took place as follows.

“Who desires entry?” Three times Father Gottfried, curator of the Imperial Burial Crypt in Vienna, asked this question as the Master of Ceremonies knocked on the door of the “Kaisergruft”, following an old Habsburg tradition.

Following tradition all his titles were mentioned in reply to the first enquiry: “Who desires entry?”

“Otto of Austria, once the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, Royal Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia, Lodomeria and Illyria, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Cracow, Duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Steyr, Carinthia, Carniola and Bukovina, Grand Prince of Transylvania, Margrave of Moravia, Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, Friuli, Ragusa and Zara, Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca, Prince of Trent and Brixen, Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria, Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg, etc., Lord of Trieste, of Cattaro and on the Windisch Mark Großwojwode the Voivodship of Serbia etc., etc.”

The curator answered “We don’t know him”.

The second time round, Otto von Habsburg’s non-royal credentials were mentioned in reply to the question: “Who desires entry?”

“Dr. Otto von Habsburg, President and Honorary President of the Pan-European Union, member of the European Parliament, bearer of many honorary doctorates, honorary citizenships, and high state and ecclesiastical distinctions etc., etc.”

The curator answered “We don’t know him”.

Finally at the third request – “Who desires entry?” – the answer given was simple and straightforward: “Otto, a mortal and sinful man.”  Only then were the doors opened.

As an amateur historian I know that the Hapsburgs (rulers of the vast eleven-nation Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918) were notorious in many ways for many things, but the ancient ritual spoken at all their funerals and described above surely goes to the heart of the Gospel. Whatever our status or achievements in this life, when we come to death we are all but sinful human beings, with nothing to claim but Christ’s atoning death for us on the Cross.

“Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace:
Foul, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.”