The Church of Our Lady Victorious, shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague, a church which has been thriving again in the last twenty years with the return of the Discalced Carmelites. Father Anastasio, a former Provincial Superior and Prior, still holds the title of rector of the church. He is also a tireless promoter of a valiant missionary work in the Central African Republic, one of the poorest countries in the world
In the district of Malá Strana is the Church of Our Lady Victorious, an international centre of prayer and the destination of incessant pilgrimages, which this year commemorates the fourth centenary of its foundation. The Renaissance and early Baroque building, seems to be the work of Giovanni Maria Filippi, an Italian architect on behalf of Rudolf II. It was built by German Lutherans who on the 21st of July 1613 ordained him in the Holy Trinity.
After the Battle of White Mountain the Lutheran church was closed and in 1624 Ferdinand II gave it as a gift to the order of Discalced Carmelites, who dedicated it to St. Anthony of Padua and the Victorious Virgin Mary, an advocate of the triumph of the Catholic army. The Carmelites placed a large convent alongside the church, now the Ministry of Education. They built the current façade, the choir, the chancel and tower.
In 1784 Joseph II entrusted the church to the Knights of Malta and suppressed the Order of Carmelites who had to leave the church, only to return in 1993, under the will of Cardinal Miloslav Vlk.
The year 2013 thus brings a second anniversary with it, twenty years after the return of the Carmelites in the Golden City. From the Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague to Arenzano it was an Italian, Father Anastasio Roggero, who guided their return. “I was incredulous at the thought of having to look after the Church in which the devotion which has marked all my life was born,” recalls the religious figure who this year also celebrated fifty years of his priestly ordination. Today, there are five brothers committed to celebrating the functions, welcoming the devoted followers and taking care of the maintenance of the church, but P. Anastasio is the only Italian. As he says, after decades of communism and religious persecution, the sanctuary was in terrible state of decay, and it took years to restore it and make it flourish. Religious services were not offered, the altars and benches were unusable. Miraculously however, the incredible image of the Child Jesus has always remained on its altar.
The place’s reputation depends on the Infant Jesus of Prague (or Pražské Jezulátko) itself, a statuette of wood coated with colored wax at 47 cm tall. Blond hair under a golden crown, a beautiful face, his right hand giving a blessing, his left hand holding a golden globe on which the cross stands out. The statue is kept in a silver cabinet on the rich altar of the right wall. It is exciting to see how strong the faith of the devoted followers is, as demonstrated by numerous ex votos of the sides of the most revered statue in the world, a devotion that transcends the boundaries of Christianity and embraces other religions. The Child is believed to be miraculous, which is why every year more than a million pilgrims flock from Italy, Spain and especially Latin America and India to pray before the sacred image, as Father Anastasio informs, who celebrates Mass in various languages .
The story of the Infant Jesus is an ancient one. Legend has it that in the late eleventh century, Jesus showed himself to a Spanish friar who moulded a statuette with his features. This arrived in Bohemia in the mid-sixteenth century with Maria Manrique de Lara y Mendoza, as a mother’s gift for the marriage with the Czech noble Vratislav of Pernštejn. The statuette was inherited by his daughter Polyxena of Lobkowicz who having no children, gifted it to the order of the Carmelites in 1628, a few years after their establishment in the church. They began to spead rumours about the miracles of the statuette, until they become a worldwide cult. At the time the Thirty Years War was raging, and it was said that the Child protected Prague from the ransacking of the Saxons and plague epidemics. However, even the Child was spared, having been thrown between the ruins with broken arms, before being found in 1638 by a monk who heard his words: “Give me back my hands and I will grant you peace.” Once repaired, he again became the object of worship for miraculous healings that earned him the epithet of “miracle.” In 1655 the bishop of Prague solemnly placed a golden crown on his head, an event that is remembered today in the annual celebration of the coronation of the Infant of Prague, on the first Sunday of May.
It is traditional to dress up the small effigy with magnificent garments that fit with the liturgical calendar. Among the most ancient and precious that we are given are from Emperor Ferdinand II or the item hand-embroidered by Maria Theresa of Austria in person. A wardrobe selection, which has over one hundred garments,can be visited in the museum at the back of the church.
Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 chose the Church of the Infant Jesus as the first stage of his apostolic visit to the Czech Republic, and gave the crown with its own coat of arms which currently covers the head of the sacred image.
Father Anastasio, who travels to various parts of the world, also to promote the devotion to the Infant Jesus of Prague, sent several copies of the statue to various countries, while facilitating the establishment of new places of worship in the most distant lands such as India and Africa, but also countries in the Far East such as Vietnam, Korea and Nyamar. In the Philippines, the devotion to the Infant Jesus of Prague goes back earlier than in Prague.
The Carmelites also deserve the merit of combining the contemplative life with the practice of apostolate works, especially missionaries. In 1971 the Discalced Carmelites of the Province of Liguria, founded a mission in the Central African Republic, one of the ten poorest countries in the world. Father Anastasio has been the counselor since 1975. Given his humble beginnings, no one would have imagined that despite the differences in language and culture, the tropical climate, disease and lack of infrastructure, in forty years five missionary centres would be born, active in towns and villages. Religious sisters and lay people of the Czech Republic were also cooperating. P. Anastasio, a religious Ligurian, as procurator of the mission, is in charge of the missionary and is editor of the magazine Friendship Missionary, printed in seven languages and sent to 115 countries around the globe. His office deals with the maintenance material and the collection of funds for the life of the mission. He follows the development of the agricultural centre Carmel in Bangui founded by him in 1995, where he goes four times a year. Its operations centre is Arenzano but ” begs for help in Prague” jokes father Anastasio.
Since 2006, he has been able to count on the valuable support of the charity Siriri, which was born in Prague to help the mission. The founders are men who work in Africa in person: Carmelites, entrepreneurs and the surgeon Marcel Drlík.His book A Prague doctor in the heart of Africa, was the best-seller in Luxor bookstore in Prague in 2002. He also helped to realize the dream of Father Anastasio, by creating a bridge between the Czech Republic and the Central African Republic, from the heart of Europe to the heart of Africa.
The relations with the authorities are good and the Catholic Church, even by the Protestants, is considered to be the church of development. Currently the situation is critical in the country. In March, the Séléka (alliance in the local language) rebels took the government in a coup. Crime, violence and desecration of Christian places of worship have been on the agenda. There are fears for the life of brother Aurelio, “the man who bent the rifles of the rebels,” as they call him in Bozoum. “Father Aurelio with his charisma, was able to keep the mission alive and the activities of the school and in the rest of the country have ceased,” says Father Anastasio.
In addition to spreading the faith, the missionaries are trying to provide medical care and education. They have built hospitals, infirmaries, a centre for malnourished children, a technical school, primary schools and kindergartens and over a hundred wells. Even the agricultural activity remains close to their hearts as it teaches the locals self-reliance. A few kilometres from Bangui large plantations of oil palms, fruit trees and alloy combustion employ 150 young people and seek to assist in the mission. Father Anastasio tells how he experiences his “baths of Africa”:, while listening to the daily requests for help and “I follow until the day of departure, the work to Carmel (see Google Earth: Bangui Carmel), remaining close to the workers and always surrounded by children who “follow me wherever I am.”
Despite the mission periods it is common to find Father Anastasio at the Prague sanctuary, and to hear the story of the Child Jesus directly from him as well as the activities in Africa. It is enough to move into the sacristy to see photos of the mission and the wooden statues that occupy the corridor.
by Sabrina Salomoni