PEABODY -- His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Paul Benedikt of Austria, scion of the House of Habsburg-Lothringen, says he's "just some 24-year-old guy."

His family tree, which he admits is confusing, consists of almost 1,000 years of some of Europe's most famous (and infamous) monarchs.

"There's certain people who, just because of my last name, dislike me," Archduke Paul told The Pilot. "It's just that they don't like certain things that the family has done through history. I can just tell there's a certain attitude change."

The son of Archduke Eduard of Austria and Baroness Marie Therese von Gudenus, Archduke Paul works as an intern for the Sovereign Order of Malta in New York City. He enjoys long walks, reading books about European history, and meeting new people. Some of them don't know what a Habsburg is, and sometimes he likes it that way.

"It's a long history," he said of his surname. "There were some great characters."

That's the reason why he was in the basement of St. Adelaide Parish in Peabody on Sept. 15, shaking hands and signing autographs. Among the many "characters" in his family, one stands out to the Catholic faithful: Blessed Karl I, the devout and doomed last emperor of Austria-Hungary who was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 2004. Archduke Paul and Suzanne Pearson, an impassioned advocate for Blessed Karl's canonization, visited the parish and gave a presentation about the emperor's pious life.

Archduke Paul said that Blessed Karl, also known as Blessed Charles I, was his "great, great, great granduncle," and is "one of the most important saints for our time."

"Often nowadays, when we look at politics, we tend to have a very cynical view of things," he said. "I think it's often warranted. It's difficult nowadays to really look to politics to find role models of virtuous behavior."

He called Blessed Karl "the example that proves that it's possible to have a ruler who loves God."

"Blessed Karl is the example of how faith should be lived," he said.

With his ruddy complexion and eyes as blue as his blood, Archduke Paul bore a striking resemblance to his ancestor. Various images of Blessed Karl decorated St. Adelaide's for the occasion. In all of them, he has a look of deep sadness beneath the pomp of his royal regalia. His melancholic gaze was not out of place with the other saints of St. Adelaide's, visible in crowned statues, bejeweled reliquaries, and ornate icons.

"One of the main things that I find so impressive about America is that, in so many little pockets of America, there is a great devotion to Blessed Karl," Archduke Paul said. "Which is so beautiful because, as Americans, I don't think you're necessarily by nature inclined toward something like a monarchy."

Blessed Karl was born in Austria in 1887, and served as an altar boy in his youth. When he was an eight-year-old archduke, an Ursuline stigmatist nun named Mother Vinzentia Fauland said that the boy "will have to suffer greatly and be a special target of Hell."

Blessed Karl's religious zeal was evident from an early age. He had a lifelong devotion to the Virgin Mary and decorated roadside shrines to her with flowers. He became a soldier at the age of 16 and attended Mass with great reverence throughout his military service.

"Humbly, and without revealing his identity, he would step forward to serve wherever needed," Pearson said.

In 1911, Blessed Karl married Servant of God Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma, whom Pearson described as "the love of his life." The night before their wedding, Karl told Zita, "Now we must help each other get to Heaven."

"Today, many young people venerate Karl and Zita as inspiring models for marriage and family life," Pearson said.

Austria-Hungary was plunged into World War I by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (another one of Archduke Paul's distant relatives) in 1914. When Emperor Franz Joseph I died in 1916, Blessed Karl became emperor and commander-in-chief, leading troops into battle.

"He had been in the army, he had visited the trenches, he had been in combat zones," Archduke Paul said. "So he knew exactly what it was like."

Once, when Blessed Karl found out that two of his officers had taken a "lunch break" lasting most of the day, he ordered them to be sent to the front lines.

"I think this really stems from his understanding of the reality of the war, as opposed to the way it looks for those who sit at home," Archduke Paul said. "And so that's really his service for his people and to his country."

Known as "the Eucharistic emperor," Blessed Karl would attend makeshift Masses on World War I battlefields. He prayed the rosary constantly on the front and encouraged his men to do the same. His rosary beads, a wedding gift from St. Pius X, fell apart from the emperor's excessive use.

"Karl not only believed in God and all his teachings, but the eternal kingdom of God sometimes seemed more real to him than life on Earth," Pearson said.

Blessed Karl provided for his subjects during the war. He used the imperial horses and carriages to transport coal for the people of Vienna and established social programs for widows, orphans, and wounded veterans. He and Zita would visit field hospitals and poor neighborhoods to learn about the struggles of the people. He acquired the nickname "Karl the Sudden" for appearing at random to shake hands with citizens and have conversations with them. What they told him influenced how he governed Austria-Hungary, a multicultural empire comprising many ethnic and religious groups.

"He understood that, as the emperor, he was the father of that large family," Archduke Paul said. "He understood that a ruler is not there to enrich himself and have a pleasant life."

Blessed Karl consistently thanked God for his life, considering himself a divinely favored man even after he had lost the war, his empire, and his property. (This is why Archduke Paul does not have any hereditary political power, nor do any of the living Habsburgs.) On New Year's Eve 1918, after a year of disasters for him and his family, he still demanded that the Te Deum, a traditional hymn of thanksgiving, be sung.

"If we receive with thankfulness all the good things from God," the emperor said, "how much more should we receive even the most painful things with thankfulness?"

After exile in Switzerland and failed attempts to retake the throne in Hungary ("he forgave all those who betrayed him during those trips," Pearson explained), Blessed Karl was put into British custody. He was to be sent to Ascension Island, one of the most remote places on Earth. At first, he was distraught that he would never see his children again, but later smiled and said that if God had willed him to be there, there was no reason to be afraid.

Ultimately, his destination was the Portuguese island of Madeira. Priests from around the island came to watch the former emperor pray.

"He had the feeling of being abandoned, forgotten by everyone," Pearson said. "Yet it was here that his prayer life could really flower. He spent hours in rapt adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. As soon as Mass began, he went into ecstasy, unreachable by the material world."

Blessed Karl eventually came to believe that God wanted him to sacrifice his life. He could not imagine leaving his wife and young children, but as he had many times before, he resigned himself to his fate.

"Clearly, God accepted his sacrifice," Pearson said, "for soon after that, his last illness began."

"He offered his life to God heroically, obediently and trustingly, and nothing could make him retract his offer," she added.

Blessed Karl died in pain and poverty in 1922. He spent his final moments staring at the crucifix on his wall, saying that if not for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, his existence would have been unendurable. His final words were, "Yes, yes, my Jesus. As you wish, Jesus."

His face was wracked with agony and delirium, but upon his death, he had "the most serene and radiant joy," Pearson said, "as if he already could see into Heaven."

Advocates for Blessed Karl have presented the Holy See with "a series of miracles" purportedly due to Blessed Karl's intercession. If one of them is deemed to be genuine, then Karl will be declared a saint. Pearson told everyone to pray for this outcome and that one of the miracles submitted to the Holy See is "very promising."

She also said that "a number of babies" who were on the verge of death were healed after their parents prayed for Blessed Karl's intercession.

"Blessed Karl, believe me, he's working a lot of miracles," she said.

Archduke Paul said that besides God, the most important thing in Karl's life was family -- both his wife and children and his Habsburg ancestry.

"There's ancestors that stood for certain things," he said. "There's ancestors that did certain things and suffered and sacrificed for their country and their people."

Archduke Paul has that same sense of responsibility for his heritage. He is considering becoming a diplomat but is currently trying to promote his family's legacy, especially that of Blessed Karl.

"People understand that I'm not a great emperor," he told The Pilot. "But what I think a lot of people love about me being at events like this is just the fact that I'm a representative of the family. In that sense, me being here stands for the family."

After the presentation, the assembly venerated a first-class relic of Blessed Karl from Europe. Father Raymond Van De Moortell of St. Adelaide's walked with a resplendent golden reliquary, presenting it to the faithful, who knelt and kissed it. Refreshments were then served downstairs, with plastic utensils the color of gold.