During the Thirty-Years’ War the Saxons invaded Prague and pillaged both the church and the monastery. They broke off the Infant Jesus’ hands and threw it behind the altar among the debris, where it stayed, forgotten, for several years.
During the Pentecost holidays in 1637 Father Cyril of Our Lord’s Mother, a man of prayer, considered by many to be a saint, came to Prague from Munich and lived here until his death in 1675. Father Cyril had known Prague before very well and he was especially devoted to the little statue of the Infant Jesus. He had entered the destroyed church and after a prolonged search found the abandoned and broken statuette. After great efforts and much hardship – at that time the monastery was entirely without money – he had the Infant Jesus’ hands repaired with the help of a local royal official. The “Little Prague Baby” again became an object of worship of believers and many extraordinary events were attributed to it, including the protection of Prague during the Swedish siege. More and more supplicants from all social strata came to seek help and comfort from the “Carmelite” Infant Jesus, and reports about his sudden and unusual help multiplied. The Infant Jesus got many votive gifts, both valuable and simple ones, but always donated out of love and gratitude. In 1655 the consecrating Bishop of Prague put the precious crown on the Infant’s head as a sign emphasizing the royal and divine dignity of God who has become a child. The anniversary of this coronation has been celebrated ever since with a festive mass on the Ascension holiday which is the culmination of the Easter mystery considered by the New Testament to be the real coronation in the glory and the fulfilment of God’s Incarnation.
In 1784 under Joseph II the convent was abolished and the church entrusted to the care, of the Order of St. John. In June 1993, after the fall of communism, the new Prague Archbishop, today’s Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, asked the Descalced Carmelites to come back to the Church of Our Lady victorious to revive the reverence for the Infant Jesus again, to take care of the innumerable groups of pilgrims and tourists visiting the church every year and to keep helping them spiritually. Therefore two Italian Fathers, Descalced Carmelites, have come from the Infant Jesus’ sanctuary in Arenzano (Genoa, Italy) to help, with respect to the local problems, by means of gentle reception and listening with the pastoral care in Prague’s church, and to lead the spiritual formation of their young Czech brothers.
From the artistic point of view the Infant Jesus of Prague is a wax statuette approximately 45 cm tall; it represents a three-year-old child in a long white robe, with only the bare feet visible. The hair created with an utmost care forms a splendid frame to the graceful face admired for its perfection and beauty.
The Infant Jesus’ valuable clothes of all colours are changed by Carmelite Sisters of the Infant Jesus according to the periods of the religious year and to various important state and international occasions. The wardrobe contains over seventy dresses made of old fabric, adorned with pearls or Bohemian garnets, with gold and silver or with embroidered religious or national ornaments of the respective countries. The oldest preserved dress comes from a period around 1700; it is richly decorated by emroidery from gold and silver threads. A velvet dress with gold embroidery was made and given to the Infant by Empress Maria Theresa herself. Apart from numerous other dresses there is also a modern one (from white silon) with embroidery of Bohemian national ornaments, donated by American Czechs, a red dress from Vietnamese Catholics, dresses from Austria, Italy, Brazil, and the Philippines. An interesting dress was sent at the end of the 19th century by Chinese Carmelite nuns from a convent near Shanghai. The embroidered Chinese letter signs on the hem are a prayer for the Chinese country and people. A red dress with an ermine cape from 1899 is highly popular. Underneath the dress the Infant wears a simple long shirt protecting its wax body from abrasion by the dresses.
Today the statuette of the Infant Jesus of Prague is situated on the marble altar on the right in a crystal box in the middle of the church. The altar was done in 1776 by Franti§ek Lauermann, a Prague stonecutter. The decorations and sculptures of Our Lady and St. Joseph are the work of Petr Prachner, member of a large sculptors’ family.
The Infant Jesus of Prague is adored by believers not only in Europe, but also in India, in the philippines, in Australia, and especially in Latin American countries. A testimony to this veneration are the many sanctuaries all over the world further spreading the fame of this little statue and the reverence for the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, our Lord and God.