CZECH REPUBLIC Church of Our Lady Victorious – Prague Infant Jesus

This was actually the first Baroque church in Prague, built in 1611-2 for the German Lutherans. Originally, the church was called the Church of the Holy Trinity. With the Battle of White Mountain (1620), the Catholic Reformation signalled the re-Catholicisation of Prague. The church was given to the direction of the Carmelites – Roman Catholic religious order – in 1624. In 1628 it was presented with a Spanish wax effigy representing the Infant Jesus. It is said that the Infant Jesus of Prague (also known as il Bambino di Praga) has miraculous curing powers. Moreover, it was the protector of the city against plague and the destruction in the Thirty Years’ War. Nowadays, the church is governed and administered by the Discalced Carmelites. The order also holds an exposition of its worldwide missionary work.

In the Middle Ages many sculptures of Infant Jesus were carved by famous masters throughout Europe. Prague’s Infant Jesus, wearing a royal dress and jewels, reflects the aristocratic fashion of the period. He holds a bird in his right hand. In early medieval works, the bird symbolises either the soul or the Holy Spirit. Legend has it that a monk in a ruined monastery in Spain had a vision of a little boy telling him to pray. Consequently he prayed and then made a figure of the child. The Kingdom of Bohemia developed closed ties with Spain after the Habsburgs began ruling it (1526). Maria Manriquez de Lara y Mendoza brought the image to Bohemia upon her marriage to Czech nobleman Vratislav of Pernstyn (1556). An old legend reports that Saint Teresa of Avila herself had given Maria’s mother the statue. Maria received it as a wedding present and later it became the possession of her daughter Polyxena. Princess Polyxena donated the statue to the Discalced Carmelite friars (White Friars).