Rudolf von Österreich

Rudolf Johann Joseph Rainer von Habsburg-Lothringen was born on January 8, 1788, in Florence, the youngest child of Grand Duke Peter Leopold of Habsburg-Lothringen, who later ruled as Emperor Leopold II. He initially embarked on an ecclesiastical career, but for a time returned to the lay state before eventually rising to high church offices. A defining relationship in his life was his friendship with Ludwig van Beethoven. In 1803 or 1804, Rudolf began taking piano lessons from the composer. A relationship of great mutual esteem and close friendship developed between teacher and student. Rudolf became one of Beethoven’s most important supporters and patrons. He himself was considered an excellent pianist and was also a competent composer. Beethoven dedicated numerous works to him, including several piano concertos, the Piano Sonata op. 81a, “Les Adieux,” the so-called “Archduke Trio,” op. 97, and above all the “Missa solemnis.” The “Missa solemnis” was originally intended for Rudolf’s ceremonial installation as archbishop of Olomouc on March 24, 1819. Beethoven initially planned to use the work as part of the liturgy. However, the composition grew to such an extent that it could no longer be performed at the installation Mass. It was not completed until 1823, more than four years after the ceremony, when Beethoven was finally able to present it to his friend. Their correspondence is now preserved in Vienna by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Rudolf’s ecclesiastical career officially began on March 19, 1805. On that day, he received confirmation, the insignia of the clerical state, and the minor orders. On June 24 of the same year, he was elected coadjutor to the archbishop of Olomouc and became a member of the cathedral chapter there. The incumbent archbishop, Cardinal Maria-Thaddeus von Trauttmansdorff Wiensberg, did not die until six years later. Rudolf then initially decided to return to the lay state. In 1819, he resumed his ecclesiastical duties. The canons of Olomouc appointed him archbishop. That same year, Pope Pius VII elevated him to the rank of cardinal at the consistory of June 4 and granted him the title of San Pietro in Montorio. The cardinal’s hat was presented to him on September 28 by the papal nuncio in Vienna. Shortly beforehand, on August 22, Rudolf had received the subdiaconate, followed by the diaconate on August 24. Until the appointment of Cardinal Benedetto Colonna Barberini di Sciarra, he was regarded as the youngest Italian cardinal. Rudolf was ordained a priest on August 29, 1819. He received episcopal consecration on September 26 in Vienna from the archbishop of Vienna, Sigismund Anton von Hohenwart. The co-consecrators were Andreas Alois Ankwicz, archbishop of Lviv, and Alois Joseph Krakowsky von Kolowrat, bishop of Hradec Králové. On March 9, 1820, Rudolf made his ceremonial entry into his diocese. Although, as a cardinal with the right to vote, he was entitled to participate in papal elections, he was absent from the conclaves that elected Leo XII, Pius VIII, and Gregory XVI. Rudolf died in Baden on July 24, 1831, at the age of 43. His heart was buried in the Olomouc Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Wenceslaus. His body was laid to rest in the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna, where other members of the Habsburg dynasty, and later of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, are also buried. As a bishop, he consecrated Grzegorz Tomasz Ziegler in 1822 as a successor in the apostolic office.