Above: The stained glass window in the Vetsera chapel at Heiligenkreuz, with the kneeling angels portraying Mary and her older brother Ladislaus. Picture credit: HeinzLW.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
16. Mary's Burial (continued)
Behind the chapel's alter a large stained glass window depicts the Virgin Mary and two angels, with the faces of children, kneeling at her feet.
Helene gave the stained glass artist a photo of Mary with instructions to depict the Virgin with her daughter's face. Church authorities got wind of the plan and soon vetoed it. In the end the Virgin was depicted with more conventional features.
Helene then ordered that the two kneeling angels incorporate the portraits of her son Ladislaus, who died in the Ring Theatre fire of 1881, and Mary. A wall panel to the right of the window is inscribed in Latin:
In pious memory of
Ladislaus and Mary,
her sweetest children snatched away prematurely,
the grief-stricken mother,
redeeming a vow,
built this chapel
in the year of Our Lord 1889
Strangely, the name Vetsera did not appear on the panel or anywhere else in the chapel. This was not Helene's intention, but a letter to her from the Heiligenkreuz Abbey chamberlain explained that the inclusion of the Vetsera name on the plaque might place the Abbey "in conflict with All-Highest imperial house...."
"In other words, the Court had forbidden the public display of the Vetsera name...."