Small-Town Catholic Girl Marries Real-Life Prince

Single ladies and gents, don’t lose heart. God has a plan for you, a love story that He has had in mind before you were ever born. Before your parents and grandparents and great-grandparents were born. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you” (Jeremiah 1:5).

At the royal wedding last Saturday, on the Feast of the Blessed Mother’s Nativity, at St. Mary Mother of God in Washington, D.C., the priest quoted this passage from Jeremiah in his homily. It was a beautiful Tridentine Mass. European royals gathered with ordinary Americans to celebrate the wedding of His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Imre of Austria to Kathleen Walker of Ohio.

There were princes and princesses, archdukes and duchesses, and even one direct descendant of Napoleon. (Plenty of attractive young royalty for singles to swoon over!)

But that’s not even the best part. The best is the love story, a story that was written by God. But Katie, 26, and Imre, also 26, did their part: They prayed and sought God’s will for their lives.

Imre had been praying to his great-grandfather, Blessed Karl, Emperor of Austria. Katie had long had a devotion to Blessed Zita, Karl’s wife. She had been praying for her future spouse. After graduating from college, she moved to Washington D.C., where she was active in the pro-life movement and worked for Catholic Charities. (She worked for my husband there; hence my invitation to this elite affair.) One evening a couple of years ago, she attended a talk that was being given on the subject of Blessed Karl. The speaker was his then 24-year-old great-grandson Imre.

The rest, as they say, is history.

On the eve of their wedding, Blessed Karl told Zita, “Now we must help each other get to heaven.” And that is exactly what they did.

That is our task in life. Imre and Katie’s story should inspire us and give us renewed hope to persevere in prayer and confidence. As CatholicMatch blogger Jessica Zimanske wrote, “let God write your love story.” Pray for your future spouse. Trust that God knows what He is about, as Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman said.

Remember that your spouse is the one God had in mind from all eternity, without whom you might not get to heaven! He or she is the very helping hand we need to arrive at the gate of heaven…and it might not hurt to ask the intercession of Blessed Karl and Zita!