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~ Center for Legitimist Documentation

The War for Christendom

Tag Archives: Authority

Legitimacy and Legality Part IV: The Situation in Austria

23 Monday Jan 2023

Posted by Matthew Scarince in Christendom

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Austria, Authority, Habsburg, Hans Karl von Zessner-Spitzenberg, Legality, Legitimacy, Politics, Restoration

Zessner_SpitzenbergLegitimitat

By Dr. Hans Karl von Zeßner-Spitzenberg

Translated by M. T. Scarince

Translator’s note: This is the final part in a series of posts translating the work of Austrian Legitimist philosopher Hans Karl Freiherr von Zeßner-Spitzenberg (1885-1938), an active member of the Kaiser-Karl-Gebetsliga and a martyr for the cause of Austrian independence from the National Socialist occupation. Read Part I, Part II, Part III. 

II. Let us now apply these principles to the situation in Austria today.

For such an application to the Austrian situation to be of any use, everything else will be self-evident when there is clarity as to whether or not a lawful, legitimate acquisition of power is found at the infancy of today’s public authorities, or a breach of law, the moral wrong of violating existing authorities and better rights of rule. After that, the question of whether we are dealing with a merely legal power, or whether this power is free from any restitution obligation due to foreign violation of rights and therefore can be called a legitimate authority, is decided. 

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Legitimacy and Legality Part III: A Brief Outline of the System 5.-9.

18 Wednesday Aug 2021

Posted by Matthew Scarince in Christendom

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Authority, christendom, Hans Karl von Zessner-Spitzenberg, Legality, Legitimacy, Politics, Power, Reparation, Restoration, Usurpation

Zessner_SpitzenbergLegitimitat

By Dr. Hans Karl von Zeßner-Spitzenberg

Translated by M. T. Scarince

Translator’s note: This is the third part in a series of posts translating the work of Austrian Legitimist philosopher Hans Karl Freiherr von Zeßner-Spitzenberg (1885-1938), an active member of the Kaiser-Karl-Gebetsliga and a martyr for the cause of Austrian independence from the National Socialist occupation. Read Part I, Part II, Part IV.

5. Legality 

Legal refers to a state power which actually exists as a state power, as legislation and guardian of the law, which operates as such and as such has de facto asserted itself in public life. It fulfills the basic moral purpose of the state, the maintenance of public order, and thus the care of the Common Good by means of the basic element of the state’s power of order (i.e. by means of the positive legal regulation of social relations); namely, when it keeps itself bound to the positive legal order given and represented by it, when it sets the predetermined legal ways and measures in place of arbitrary acts of violence. These two moments, the actual establishment of order and one’s own commitment to it, are what make a force legal state power, in contrast to arbitrary and violent rule on the one hand and to revolutionary, adventurist, street-thug or tyrant rule on the other, which do not guarantee the moral original purpose of state power: public order and the Common Good through positive statutes. 

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Legitimacy and Legality Part II: A Brief Outline of the System 1.-4.

17 Tuesday Aug 2021

Posted by Matthew Scarince in Christendom

≈ 3 Comments

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Authority, Hans Karl von Zessner-Spitzenberg, Legality, Legitimacy, Legitimism, Politics

Zessner_Spitzenberg

By Dr. Hans Karl von Zeßner-Spitzenberg

Translated by M. T. Scarince

Translator’s note: This is the second part in a series of posts translating the work of Austrian Legitimist philosopher Hans Karl Freiherr von Zeßner-Spitzenberg (1885-1938), an active member of the Kaiser-Karl-Gebetsliga and a martyr for the cause of Austrian independence from the National Socialist occupation. Read Part I, Part III, Part IV.

For the purposes of this work, the following system is briefly outlined:

1. Morality and Public Law

Public powers and public legal systems are also essentially subject to the same moral principles and stand within the framework of the same Divine world order as private rights, powers and authorities. Here also, human beings are their bearers, responsible for their institution and exercise. Here also, we are dealing with the powers of individuals or entire communities in the fulfillment of a profession, which, like every profession, must serve (after God’s glory) not only the beneficiary himself or the community which he serves, but also the good of his fellow men.

Indeed, the power-competence in this case is necessarily more strongly directed towards authoritative ordering power of the rights of others than it is elsewhere, on account of the main goal of public order; here also it is only within the framework of the Eternal order, which protects and recognizes the appropriate vested rights and inviolable jurisdiction of individuals. From the moral point of view, therefore, public law can be distinguished from private law in these matters only in its object and in its particular purpose, but not in general demands and basic attitudes.

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A Return to a Sane World: The Manifesto of the Legitimist Alliance

03 Wednesday Jun 2020

Posted by Matthew Scarince in Christendom, HRM Archive

≈ 1 Comment

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Authority, Civilization, Ernst Jünger, Freedom, Legitimist Alliance, Legitimist Resistance

The time would come for the first stroke of the consecrated sword, piercing the darkness like a lightning flash. For this reason individuals have the duty of living in alliance with others, gathering the treasure of a new rule of law…

– Ernst Jünger, On the Marble Cliffs (1939)

In the aftermath of the great fratricidal war which tore humanity between the extremes of chaotic anarchy and base inhuman subservience, there emerged men and women of great moral clarity, heroic action, and concern for the future of a world scarred by unspeakable horrors. Offering belief in the rule of the Natural Moral Law as a light to a fragmented and benighted world, these Legitimists provided a compelling vision of the Common Good, and though their work is largely dismissed and abandoned today, it is not forgotten. This manifesto is an invitation to all men of good will to join in an alliance for the preservation of the rule of Natural Law, and the restoration of the state and society in proper relation to it, informed by our perspective sub specie Æternitatis, that we never place our hope for paradise in this world but in Eternity. In this dark and chaotic yet fateful night of modernity let us go forth ensigned by an eight-pointed star, representing the light of our eight fundamental and eternal principles, Authority, Faith, Responsibility, Restoration, Tradition, Truth, Freedom, and Nobility through which we seek the Highest Good and ultimate End of Man in political society.

The Eight Points of the Legitimist Alliance:

Authority – Man, the Image of God, is inherently gifted with Authority; the hierarchy of community reflects the hierarchy of goods to which the community is ordered. It must be exercised by the Person for the Community.
Faith – All Authority proceeds from Faith, from Trust, and from the Divine Creator. Without Faith, there is no ultimate good in Man’s existence, and thus no moral responsibility.
Responsibility – Authority and Faith imply Responsibility, the existence of Rights moral and legal which we have the duty to fulfill for the Good of the Community and for our own person.
Restoration – In this fallen world, there is no Good without decay. Thus, we as a community have a responsibility to the Restoration of Good and to fight against decay until we witness the Creation by God of a new Heaven and a new Earth.
Tradition – Man exists not as an individual, but as a Person, which contains the whole of his self, and all of his relations to other Persons. These are expressed as Tradition, of which the Family is the prime guardian and transmitter.
Truth – For the Man of Tradition and Faith, Truth exists not only as a moral reality, but as a fundamental aspect of reality which must also find its place in political life. A man’s word is sacred, even that of a politician, and to lie is a form of sacrilege.
Freedom – Political Freedom is a necessary means to the true Freedom of the Person, which is by no means anarchy, rather it is a fullness of Belonging, the Person ordered to the Authority of Reason and Faith.
Nobility – The Service of the Common Good in Political Life is not a “job” or a career, it is a Divinely ordered Vocation. This is the true meaning of Nobility, to give one’s whole life to the Common Good, and for that honor and privilege are justly given, and ought, so long as its recipients are worthy, be passed on through the family as a good and holy Tradition.

Together these principles form a common moral framework, a Civilization maintained through continual vigilance and sacrifice. Only within this Civilization can the most Divine activity of Man, contemplation and participation in Eternal Truth, be achieved. Let us stand together as allies against the obscuring darkness of nihilism and the false promises of totalitarianism, and let us stand united together as one preserving his own small flame in imitation of the morning star, awaiting in hope the coming dawn.

ET LUX IN TENEBRIS LUCET

The Legacy of Blessed Karl 100 Years Later: A Call to Act

21 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by Matthew Scarince in Christendom, HRM Archive

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Authority, Blessed Karl of Austria, Canonization, christendom, Code of Conduct, Gene Wolfe, Otto von Habsburg, Politics, St. John Paul II, World War I, World War II

From the beginning, the Emperor Charles conceived of his office as a holy service to his people. His chief concern was to follow the Christian vocation to holiness also in his political actions.

-St. John Paul II, Homily for the Beatification of Blessed Karl

In a time of war and destruction, when all the safety and comfort of society was collapsing, a noble man gave his life for his peoples. For two long years he pleaded with his enemies to find some way to bring peace to his war-torn country. He began a wave of reform which swept away the corruption and decay which the war had brought to light. But he was alone, his enemies were relentless and his allies unwilling to give up on the phantom of total victory. In the end he died alone, exiled on an island far from his homeland. Yet his son took upon himself his father’s burden, and lived to see the evils his father had struggled so fiercely against utterly destroyed.

This story sounds so much like a myth, a fairy-tale to inspire children. But this is only because fairy-tales are the closest to true history of all stories we tell. You may well ask in this age of corrupt politicians and mob mentality, is it even possible that one man could stand against the world of his time, and so courageously that his impact on it remained long after his death? My answer to you is yes, that this man lived, and that his name was Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, by the grace of God, Emperor and King. And most surprisingly of all, the time he lived in was much worse than our own.

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After Church and Empire: Temporal Prelates and Spiritual Rulers

15 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by Matthew Scarince in Christendom

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Authority, Before Church and State, Church and Empire, Cooperation of Church and State, History, Holy Empire, Holy Roman Emperor, Integral Christendom, Prince-Archbishop, Sacretemporal, The Josias Podcast

In an interview with Andrew Willard Jones, author of Before Church and State, in the most recent episode of The Josias Podcast, the subject of Spiritual Rulers wielding temporal authority and Temporal Rulers with spiritual authority was briefly discussed.  Now while the scope of the book itself is mainly focused on reign of St. Louis IX in 13th century France, exploring across the Vosges, looking at the relations of the Church and Empire broadly from the establishment of the Church’s involvement in the Imperium of Charlemagne to the continued position of the Princely-[Arch]Bishops in the Austrian Empire, will help resolve some of the issues brought up by the podcast’s discussion.

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Is the De Facto Power Always Legitimate Authority?

24 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by Matthew Scarince in Christendom

≈ 3 Comments

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Authority, Essay, Hans Karl von Zessner-Spitzenberg, History, Legitimacy, Pope Leo XIII, Ralliement, rebellion, The Josias Podcast

To despise legitimate authority, in whomsoever vested, is unlawful, as a rebellion against the divine will, and whoever resists that, rushes willfully to destruction.

-Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei

As I was listening to the latest episode of the excellent Josias Podcast, two sentences stood out to me, one referring to revolutions as “intrinsically immoral”, the other stating that “we are obliged to accept the De Facto Power by Catholic Doctrine.” To take the second statement first as it naturally leads to the other, are Catholics always obliged to accept the De Facto Power as legitimate? Is this really the doctrine that was established by Pope Leo XIII?

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On Pope Leo XIII and the Legitimacy of Authorities

25 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by Matthew Scarince in Christendom, HRM Archive

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Authority, Hans Karl von Zessner-Spitzenberg, Legality, Legitimacy, Legitimist, Pope Leo XIII, Ralliement, Restoration, Restorationist

“Did not Pope Leo XIII declare, in an Encyclical to French Catholics, that a new authority might, for the sake of the Common Good, receive the right to rule, when the rightful authorities have been removed and are no longer available, and a chaos has arisen so that the maintenance of order requires that new powers be established?

This is to be answered, new legitimacy comes from such emergency power only when the old Authorities and their rightfully appointed successors are not only removed from power, but no longer actually exist. In that case the path lies open, indeed it creates a new necessity, for the establishment of a new legitimate authority.  So long as the rightful Authorities are merely hindered and incapacitated, the emergency order is only permitted as an emergency order, that is to say as a curator or guardian, for so long as the rightful Authority is repressed and its Restoration hindered. However it must not set itself in opposition to this. It is therefore merely legal.”

-Dr. Hans Karl von Zeßner-Spitzenberg, Legitimität und Legalität

(The full text of Dr. H.K. von Zeßner-Spitzenberg’s Legitimität und Legalität is in the process of being translated and will be published in full on The War for Christendom)

Reflections on Nobility, the People, and Vocation

12 Friday May 2017

Posted by Matthew Scarince in Christendom

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Authority, Chivalry, christendom, Civilization, Courage, Honor, Nobility, Sacred Ages, Virtue, Vocation

One nobility belongs to all the faithful, one dignity, one splendour of race, since all are born of the same Spirit and of the same sacrament of faith, and are sons of God and coheirs of the same inheritance; the rich and the powerful have no other Christ besides Him Who is followed by the poor; they are initiated in no other sacraments, and have no higher expectation of the Celestial Kingdom; all are brethren and members of the Body of Christ, of His flesh and of His bones.

The Catechism of Trent, as quoted by Kenelm Henry Digby in The Broad-Stone of Honour

The true Catholic principle regarding the life of man, is of course Vocation; the fulfillment of the unique purpose and mission in accordance with God’s will. It is intrinsically bound up with the final end of Man, the call to holiness and virtue. It is this principle which must be the foundation of any Catholic Nobility. However, since it is true that not only does all of Mankind share in an inherent nobility (disgraced but not debased by the Fall), but also that all of the Faithful share in a Nobility of Royal Priesthood, wherein does the concept of a separate hierarchical Nobility find its justification?

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Reflections on Imperium

08 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by Matthew Scarince in Christendom

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Authority, Charlemagne, Holy Roman Empire, Imperium, Karl of Austria, Otto Von Hapsburg, Power, Sacred Ages

Kronung_Heinrich_II

The Imperial Dignity is not in the spoken name itself, but consists and culminates in glorious piety.

-Emperor Louis II, Letter to Basil King of Greece

What is the nature of the Imperium? The Imperium, the Authority to command and administer justice universally, is not mere power, as is so often assumed by those of a certain political conviction. It is a truly unique among temporal authorities in the sense that only one living man may receive it, yet also in that it is essentially non-territorial. The Imperator is the firstborn (in the temporal order) of the Diákonοί kai Leitourgοί Theoú, the Servants and Ministeriales of God. Continue reading →

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