Child Jesus of Prague

CHILD OF PRAGUE

Following an important victory attributed to the protection of the Most Blessed Virgin, Emperor Ferdinand II, in recognition of his gratitude, had founded a convent of chames undressed in Prague. In 1628, a princess, Polixene de Lobkowitz, gave them a wax statue of the Child Jesus, 0 m high.48. From the right hand the child seemed to bless and from the other he held the globe of the earth. He had a crown on his head, a symbol of his power.

In 1631 Prague was taken by the army of Saxony. The statue had its hands broken and was left in a corner. It was there seven years later. In 1641, an oratory was built to receive it. It was solemnly inducted on 14 January 1651 and crowned in 1655 by Bishop de Corti, auxiliary bishop of Prague.

Gradually, devotion to the Child Jesus spread throughout the country (the movement out of the Carmel of Beaune, in France, was probably no stranger, above, IV,135,146).

Many of the reproductions of the statue were made. Spiritual and temporal favors were sought from the divine Child. Marvelous stories began to tell each other and the name of « Miraculous » to the statue.

The prescriptions of Joseph II first, the Great Resolution then, stopped this momentum. But it resumed in the 19th century and devotion to the Child Jesus of Prague gained most of the Catholic countries.

On the eve of the 1939 war, there were several monthly publications that propagated the cult... An archfraternity under the name of the Child Jesus of Prague was founded in Rome.... A solemn feast is celebrated in all the churches of the Conferrery on Sundays after the Circumcision. According to its statutes, the purpose of the archiconferrery is to promote devotion and love for the Child Jesus, the imitation of his virtues, and to place all its members, especially children, under the special protection of Jesus Child. (G.M. Archives)