We don’t know. Are plans being made for a magnificent sarcophagus? Something like the huge, elaborate one he imagined for Charlie Kirk? Not that I know of. When will be the day of his death? I don’t know, but his Creator has already appointed the day and the hour.

Will his funeral be meaningful, theologically? With Christian theology? I don’t know that either.

But I have been impressed with the funeral of one great nobleman who died 25 years ago at age 99, buried in Austria. His final resting place was not elaborate, but significant. It was in the crypt of a Capuchin church, the place where his royal ancestors, monarchs of a vast, 600-year-old empire, had been entombed for centuries. The crypt was locked and guarded by Capuchin friars.

Prince Otto von Habsburg, born in 1912, would have been the next in line as king of that empire, but Hitler invaded Austria and ordered the arrest and murder of the prince, who escaped into Europe and played a leading role in world affairs for decades. He held many illustrious titles, both inherited and earned.

His funeral was traditional and Christian. When the funeral procession arrived at the locked doors of the crypt, the friars stood guard inside. One called out, “Who seeks entry?”

The Austrian herald announced the deceased man and identified him with his many titles which you can read below. A friar answered, “We don’t know him. Who seeks entry?”

The herald repeated the name and his titles. Again, a friar answered, “We don’t know him. Who seeks entry?”

This time the herald answered, “Otto, ein sterblicher, sündiger Mensch” (“Otto, a mortal, sinful man”).

The doors were unlocked and the coffin carried in by the pallbearers.
Every high and mighty ruler dies and returns to the dust as do we all, mortal, sinful human beings; some redeemed from an eternity of anguish by the love and work of Jesus Christ. Others perish.

In this life Donald Trump was honored with lofty titles and heavy responsibilities. How will he die?

• If you’re curious about the partial list tiles of Otto von Habsburg, these are the ones treated as inconsequential by the Christian monks at the man’s death. [Note the etc at the end.]:

“Otto of Austria, once Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia, Lodomeria and Illyria; Grand Duke of Tuscany and Cracow; Duke of Lorraine, of Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and Bukovina; Grand Prince of Transylvania, Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, Friuli, Ragusa and Zara; Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Görz and Gradisca; Prince of Trent and Brixen; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria; Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg etc.; Lord of Trieste, Cattaro and the Windic March; Grand Voivode of the Voivodeship of Serbia, President and Honorary President of the Paneuropean Union, Member and Father [Alterspräsident] of the European Parliament, honorary doctor of numerous universities and honorary citizen of many municipalities in Central Europe, member of venerable academies and institutes, bearer of high and highest state and church decorations, orders and honours which were conferred upon him in recognition of his decades-long struggle for the freedom of peoples, for justice and righteousness, etc., etc.”