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Note card written by Theodor Innitzer 1942, signed on reverse, mounted on black album page, rare third reich item, fine
Theodor Innitzer (25 December 1875 – 9 October 1955) was Archbishop of Vienna and a cardinal in the Latin Rite branch of the Catholic Church.
In April 1938, in honour of Hitler’s birthday, Cardinal Innitzer had ordered that all Austrian churches fly the swastika flag, ring bells, and pray for Hitler. In October 1938 thousands of Catholic youngsters followed an invitation made by Innitzer to gather in the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Vienna for prayer and meditation. In his sermon Innitzer stated, “There is just one Führer: Jesus Christ”. The following day about 100 Nazis, among them many older members of the Hitler Youth, ransacked the archbishop’s residence. In Britain, the Catholic Herald provided the following contemporary account on 14 October 1938

The invasion was a reply to a courageous sermon the Cardinal had preached in the Cathedral earlier in the evening, in which the Cardinal told his packed congregation that ” in the last few months you have lost everything!’ This sermon marked the end of Cardinal Innitzer’s attempt to establish a religious peace with the Nazis. The attempt has failed. Cardinal Innitzer is now in line with his German brothers openly urging Catholics to resist anti-Catholic measures. Nazi mobs have penetrated into the Archbishop’s Palace on St. Stephen’s Square in Vienna and have demolished part of the furniture. Other furniture, as well as files and documents were thrown through the windows and set on fire. Hostile cries like ” down with the clergy,” ” send the Cardinal into a concentration camp,” ” traitor bishop ” and so on were heard.