The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-28
HOLDS ROYAL HEARTS.
Vital Organs of SOvereigns Are Seal
ed I'm Silver Urns.
William E. Curtis in Chicago Record
Herald,

--' ONA 40 Az OAASdSO INeCOTu-
Herald.
Vienna.-Down in a gloomy little
crypt in the Church of the Augustine
friars, the sacristan, if you will give
him a kronen, will let you look through
a grating in the door, and see the for
ty-seven cans upon shelf that encir
cles the whitewashed wall. They look
ike an assortment of timed meats or
vegetables, but contain the hearts of
the members of the imperial house of
Austria,
For centuries, when an emperor or
an empress, or any of the royal family
dies. 1t has been the custom to cut the
heart out of the body seal it UP in 4
little silver urn and deposit it in this
church, which contains also a beauti-
rul monument to the archduchess, Ma
ria Christina, daughter of Maria The
resa-and the most beautiful sepulcher
1 have ever seen. 1t was carved by
Canovas- and represents the face of a
pyramid with an open door, through
which procession of life-size marble
ngures Is passing into the tomb-the
poor, the lame, the halt and the blind
bearing laurels and offerings of af-
fection and gratitude, while the angel
OF the resurrection leans upon the
back Of a lion and watches them
1t Is an ugly old church and was
built way back in 1888, but it is IA
nous for being the court chapel and
having one of the finest choirs in the
world. An appointment to this choir is
the highest prize offered by the I'm
perial Conservatory of Music and, al
though the salaries are not large. COM
pared with those paid by fashionable
churches in the United States, the ap-
pointment is for life and commands a
pension when the singer has outsung
herself
The little crypt or closet in which
the hearts are kept is semi circular in
shape, with radius of about six feet.
and looks as if it might originally have
been built for a shrine. The shelf is
merely a ledge of wall, which was
whitewashed once, but is badly discol-
ored by dampness. There is a. little
window near the ceiling about a foot
square, protected by heavy iron graf
ings. and it is cold and cheerless and
forbidding. You wonder why so rich
an empire as Austria should allow
the hearts of it's rulers to be kept in
such shabby place. The doors open
from a little chapel as dark as dun
geon. The altar is dingy. the gilt has
peeled off the woodwork, and in places
it sadly needs repair. The sacristan
told us that the Emperor sometimes
came there to pray. and there is more
danger of his catching cold than of
having his attention distracted by
adornments. The walls are covered
with moisture, and dust has gathered
wherever the surface is uneven. The
tiles upon the floor are loose and rat
tie as you walk over them, and in one
place boards have been laid down to
cover those that are broken. Over IN
corner, thrown carelessly upon a
chair, are "habiliments of woe" a
bundle of cheap black cotton cloth,
made up into festoons and rosettes,
and pasteboard shields and crosses
with deep black borders, which the
sacristan said were used to drape the
walls of the church when some rich
man or member of the royal family
ordered a requiem mass. It would be
difficult to find a more Inappropriate
or unsuitable place for the purpose for
which it is used.
In an urn somewhat larger than the
rest. standing at the apex of the semi
circle, is the great heart of Maria
Theresa All its passion and ambition
must have evaporated by this time,
and it is undoubtedly reduced to dust.
The heart of her husband the Duke of
Tuscany, Is in a smaller urn beside II,
which is appropriate. because she was
much the more noble and famous of
the two. Around at the right end Of
the row in a new urn, but fashioned
like the rest, without the slightest bit
of ornament unburnished and easily
mis- staken for tin, is the heart of the
late Empress Elizabeth, who was as
sassinated at Geneva in the most bru-
tai manner two years ago, and by its
side is the urn of Rudolph, her way
ward son, who loved woman more
than his honor and his life. On the
opposite end of the shelf, so far that
IL is almost out of the line of vision,
is the urn of Marie Louis, the wife Of
Napoleon the Great, and that beside
II contains the heart OK her son.
LAiglon.
One is strongly tempted to stand
there and moralize; there is a text for
a sermon In every one of these urns,
but the air is too cold and damp, and
you inquire of the sexton why they
don't rub up the urns with a little sill
yer polish once in while, and pass
out into the grateful sunshine.
In big cellar under the monastery
OF the Capuchln monks. In the busiest
part of the business section OF Vienna,
within three minutes walk OF the
United States consulate and the fash
ionable shopping district, lie the bones
OF the imperial family as far back az
Matthias. who relgned in the fifteenth
century. IL is much more cheerful
place than that in which their hearts
are kept. Everything is neat and
clean, The whitewash on the walls is
new. the air II sweet and plenty ~
light filters IN through row Of win
lows that runs around under the cor.
nice n ia about the most cheerful
vault 1 ever visited. and was originally