By Linda Busetti
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 3/21/02)
What is surprising is that Our Lady Victorious is home to the world famous Infant of Prague statue. Perhaps tourists are deterred by work on the torn up cobblestone street out front or the lack of street signs marking the way in the Mala Strana section of the city.
Our Lady Victorious was founded as a Lutheran church in 1611. Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria’s Catholic forces defeated Protestant King Frederick V of Bohemia’s army in the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620. According to legend, the Catholic army was blessed before the battle with a small picture of the adoration of the Baby Jesus in Bethlehem. Afterward, the church was transformed into Prague’s first Baroque-style Catholic church.
Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II gave the church to the Discalced Carmelite Fathers in 1624. Damage done to the church during the Thirty Years War was repaired through the efforts of Father Cyril, described as a great zealot devoted to the Infant Jesus.
In 1628, Polyxena of Lobkowicz, the daughter of a Spanish duchess, donated a small wax figure of the Infant Jesus to the Carmelites. When the Saxons plundered Prague in 1631, the statue was discarded in the trash. It was rescued and its broken arms repaired.
The statue was originally placed in the chapel of the Holy Rood. Numerous miracles were attributed to prayer to the Infant of Prague. As a result, many pilgrims were drawn to the church. In 1741, the figurine was placed on the St. Joachim and St. Anne side altar where it was more accessible. Since then, the figure has been housed in an ornate gold and glass case. Over the years many people have claimed that their prayers before the Infant of Prague were miraculously answered.
Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II ordered the Carmelites out of Our Lady Victorious in 1784 and remanded the care of the church to the Knights of Malta. It wasn’t until 1993 that the new Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk invited the Discalced Carmelite Fathers back to the Church of Our Lady Victorious.
The side altar, where the statue of the Infant of Prague rests, is currently under renovation with scaffolding covering either side, but leaving a clear view of the glass case that houses the statue.
It is thought that the 47cm. high wax sculpture has a wooden core. Each day Carmelite nuns dress the Infant Jesus in one of a collection of 73 donated outfits. The custom of dressing miraculous statues goes back to the Baroque era.
To protect the wax surface, the statue is set in a silver casing up to the waist. A simple shirt is put on the figure, followed by a white linen vestment called a "rochetta," and a silk shirt with frills at the hands and throat. Then one of the dresses is put on and covered by a mantle. The figure’s right hand extends upward in blessing and the left holds a globe. A crown is set upon the head.
According to the church Web site (http://karmel.at/prag-jesu), miracles are still attributed to novenas to the Infant of Prague. A two-year-old Brazilian girl suffered from disconnected hips and could only walk with specialized equipment. On the sixth day of her parents’ novena to the Infant of Prague, she took her first steps without assistance, confounding her doctors. Her family traveled to Prague in 1995 to express thanksgiving at the Church of Our Lady Victorious.
A small museum is located a few steps up from the church bookstore. Outfits worn by the figurine are on display along with photographs of the Carmelites dressing the statue. The church can be contacted by e-mail at pragjesu@login.cz.
Copyright ©2002 Arlington Catholic Herald. All rights reserved.
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