The Infant of Prague and Me: A Lesson in Devotion ...by Sr. Anna-Camille

The original Infant of Prague
I am a Catholic convert, a longtime convert--since I was 20 years old. Yet, still there are times that my Catholicism remains a mystery to me, and it is still full of surprises. It doesn’t always make it easy for me to explain to my Protestant friends and relatives.
When I came to the monastery to begin the path of religious vocation, I was unfamiliar with the Infant of Prague, both the history and devotion practices. The Priory has a statue of the infant. He sits in one of the hallway corner niches on the lower floor of the monastery where my room is. I learned what his name was and noticed that his clothes changed from time to time but wasn’t curious enough to learn anything else. When our last Founding sister, Sr. Damaris Zander, passed away in 2017, I was asked to take over the care and dressing of the Infant. I said yes, though I must admit, it was just out of respect to the sisters who had come before me and their devotion. For me, at that time it was just one more thing I had to add to my to-do list.
So first, I decided to check out the history behind the statue. The statue originated in Spain, sometime in the mid-16th century. One legend has a monk making it after Jesus appeared to him as a child and he modeled the statue after that vision. Another has St. Teresa of Avila receiving a vision, having the statue made and giving it to a friend to give to her daughter who was traveling to Prague. What is actually known for sure is that it was brought to the Prague Carmelite monastery and given as a gift by a widowed Polish noblewoman in 1628. Then miracles started happening. Over the course of the next 150 years or so, the small chapel in Prague where the statue was kept on display became a popular pilgrimage site, for the lowly as well as the high-born. When monasteries were abolished in 1780, the statue was damaged and left in the decaying chapel, ignored for almost 100 years. When the monastery was restored, there was fundraising also to restore the Infant. He still today resides in the small chapel at the Church of our Lady Victorious and Saint Anthony of Padua in the Lesser Town in Prague.
The next thing I needed to do was find out was how to dress him. He is dressed for the liturgical season the same way a priest’s vestments are determined. I found a small box of outfits, lovingly folded and in bright liturgical colors. The first time I dressed him it was Lent, so purple. His purple clothes are quite lovely. Over the years he has been given ‘accessories,” small rosaries placed around his neck and draped on his upraised hand. I had to be careful not to pull them apart as I lifted them over his very large crown.

St. Placid Priory's Infant of Prague, dressed for the Christmas season
The first time I dressed him; I felt a little silly. I saw him as a ‘doll.’ I didn’t have many practices around Catholic devotions, I said the rosary, though not regularly, but nothing else on any regular basis. At first, I was inconsistent with keeping to the schedule of changing his clothes. But over time, something began to change for me. I began saving the dressing of the infant for the evenings before the season change. It was a peaceful time. At some point I decided to pray for the children of the world during his dressing and he became their representative. And I began to talk to him (and no, he has never talked back).
I found this time becoming a kind of contemplation. I would think of the world’s children; our community; I would tell him the miracles that I thought needed to happen. I would think of the liturgical season just ending and the one about to begin. One Pentecost I dressed him in his red robes and set him in his niche. I must have found the exact perfect spot because the light hit his crown, and the rhinestone jewels lit up and his robe glowed with a vibrancy I hadn’t always noticed. Others would notice it too. That year I saw Pentecost in a new and deeper way, its fire was real to me. Ever since, I have looked forward to and rejoiced at Pentecost and I take special joy in dressing him in red.
I have become acquainted with one of the Infant of Prague’s devotions in the Philippines, the Infant of Cebu. This Infant is the St. Teresa of Avila image she saw in her vision and is a much loved and celebrated figure in Philippine culture. His celebration is part of the Epiphany holy days.

Infant of Cebu, Phillipines
And so I now have my own devotion to the Infant of Prague, and a new understanding of what a devotion is and can be. We have both the tradition of a particular devotion and the way we make it our own. And it taught me humility as well, to not to dismiss past practices so quickly and to be open to finding God in unexpected places.
Comments
Comment posted by Sr. Lucy M Wynkoop on January 31, 2025 at 2:19PM (9 days ago)
Thank you for all the history about how the practice came about and what it now means to you.
S Lucy
Comment posted by Kathy Mattern on January 31, 2025 at 1:18PM (9 days ago)
Thank you for keeping him adorned from the place of light and love of your heart;
Lord, hear her prayers for all of the children of the world. Amen.
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