Infant Jesus of Prague

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Infant Jesus of Prague

The Infant Jesus of Prague or Infant Jesus of Prague (Pražské Jezulátko) is the world's one of the most miraculous miraculous images of Jesus . It is located in the Church of Our Lady of Victory (Kostel Panny Marie Vítězné) in the Carmelite Monastery in Prague . The statue is a 47 cm wax figure from the Renaissance and represents the baby Jesus at the age of about three years. It is the work of an unknown artist from the 16th century. The wooden statue is covered with a colored wax layer. The infant Jesus blesses with her right hand, in her left she holds the imperial orb with a cross, the symbol of world domination. His facial expression and curly hair suggest Spanish origins.

history

The side altar with the Infant Jesus of Prague

According to tradition, the statue is said to have been carved by a monk as early as the 12th century in a monastery between Seville and Córdoba . It was even considered the property of St. Teresa of Avila viewed. These theses are doubtful, however, the statue was probably not made in Spain until the middle of the 16th century. Originally the statue was owned by the Spanish noble family Manrique de Lara . When Maria Manrique de Lara married the Colonel Chancellor of Bohemia, Vratislav von Pernstein , in 1555 , she received the statue from her family as a wedding gift and the statue was brought to Bohemia. After the male line of the Lords of Pernstein died out with her grandson Vratislav Eusebius von Pernstein in 1631, his aunt Polyxena von Lobkowicz gave the statue, which had been a family treasure until then, to the Carmelite monastery on Prague's Lesser Town . Soon afterwards, numerous miracles of the Infant Jesus were recorded, including many healings. Since then it has been kept in a silver shrine on the right side altar of the Church of Mary of Victory and venerated as miraculous.

During the Thirty Years' War the monastery was looted by the Saxons and the figure of the Infant Jesus was cut off. In 1637 the Carmelite Father Nikolaus Schockwillerg (with religious name: Cyrill) arranged for the repairs and made sure that the figure was put back up. In the following years the Infant Jesus of Prague was said to have miraculous effects; in 1655 it was solemnly crowned by the then auxiliary bishop of Prague. The return of this coronation festival is celebrated every year on the first Sunday in May. Every year around a million pilgrims come to the miraculous image of the Infant Jesus of Prague.

Robes

It is an old custom to give vestments to the Infant Jesus of Prague as a votive offering and to clothe them. Currently the miraculous image has about 100 different garments from all over the world. The oldest dress, a gift from King Ferdinand III. , dates from the middle of the 17th century and is decorated with gold embroidery. The most valuable is a dress set with diamonds , pearls and garnets ; It is one of around twenty pieces of furniture that the Bohemian Queen and Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa are said to have embroidered with their own hands. The robe of the miraculous image is changed depending on the time of the church year or the type of festival .

Crown

Some golden crowns are also part of the equipment of the Infant Jesus of Prague. The first crown was made in 1654 by the castle count of Bohemia Bernhard Ignatz Borzita von Martinic . Others date from the 18th century; they were made in Prague goldsmiths' workshops. The youngest crown comes from Pope Benedict XVI. who honored the image of grace during his visit on September 26, 2009. In the Rococo, the infant Jesus was also given a wig.

Cyril's prayer

P. Cyrillus a Matre Dei is considered one of the first admirers of the gracious Infant Jesus of Prague. He made the following famous prayer:


Dear Infant Jesus of Prague, bless us, your children!

O Jesus, I flee to you, through your mother I ask you, you want to save me from this trouble, because I truly believe in you, that you, oh God, can protect me.

I trust in you, I hope that I will find your favor. I love you with all my heart, so I repent of my sins, I plead with you, O Jesus, from those who want to free me.

My resolution is to improve myself and not to grieve you anymore. Therefore I give myself completely to you, To suffer with patience for you and to serve you forever. But the neighbor, just like me, I want to love because of you.

O Infant Jesus, I ask you, You want to save me from this trouble, That one day I can enjoy yourself with Joseph and Mary and all the angels forever. Amen.

However, many prayers, songs and poems were written to honor him. Even the French symbolist Paul Claudel dedicated a poem to the gracious Infant Jesus.

Replicas

There are numerous replicas of the Infant Jesus of Prague, among others

literature

  • Jochen Ansel, Anke Lorenz, Gabriele Schrade: “Adored to the most beautiful and dearest of all”. The "Infant Jesus of Prague" from the monastery church of the Assumption in Kirchheim am Ries . In: Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg , 43rd year 2014, issue 1 (PDF) pp. 26–32
  • Josef Forbelský, Jan Royt, Mojmir Horyna: The Prague Child Jesus . Aventinum, Praha 1992, ISBN 80-85277-54-9
  • Nina Gockerell: Pilgrimages to the Child Jesus. Infant Jesus of Prague. in: Soul child. Adored, spoiled, transfigured. Edited by the Board of Trustees of the Diözesanmuseum Freising (accompanying book and catalog for the exhibition from November 25, 2012 to February 10, 2013), Diözesanmuseum Freising 2012, pp. 116–118, ISBN 978-3-930618-03-3
  • Jan Royt: The Infant Jesus of Prague in Sancta Maria de Victoria. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 1995, ISBN 3-7954-5923-0 (= Schnell art guide No. 2173).
  • Duncan JD Smith: Only in Prague: A Guide to Strange Places, Secret Spots, and Hidden Sights . 2nd Edition. Brandstätter, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-85033-135-7 , p. 29 ff.
  • Wolfgang Huber (Ed.): Church - Monastery - Empress. Maria Theresa and Sacred Austria , Klosterneuburg 2017, cat. No. S 28a, pp. 117–118.
  • Ferdinand Steinhardt: The Merciful Infant Jesus of Prague, the Holy Roman Empire and our time. Mediatrix, St. Andrä 1988.

Web links

Commons : Infant Jesus of Prague  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kurt Augustinus Huber : Iberian cult influences in the baroque of the Bohemian countries . In: Ders .: Catholic Church and Culture in Bohemia. Selected treatises . Lit, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-8258-6687-4 , pp. 387-414, here p. 398.
  2. ^ Petr Vorel: Páni z Pernštejna. Vzestup a pád rodu zubří hlavy v dějinách Čech a Moravy . ISBN 80-86182-24-X , p. 265.
  3. ↑ The Infant Jesus of Prague is back . In: Ipf and Jagst newspaper .
  4. ↑ infantjesusnigeria.org ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.infantjesusnigeria.org

Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 8.6 ″  N , 14 ° 24 ′ 12 ″  E