Infant of Prague ‘Relics’ Tour Diocese

By Linda Busetti

Linda Busetti Photos 

DEVOTION TO THE INFANT of Prague brought many faithful to Our Lady of the Angelus Church, Rego Park, on Friday evening, Aug. 3, where a replica clothed in robes used in Prague was brought by Father Jerome Moras, O.C.D. After a healing Mass they took turns touching the holy robes.

Antonina Gargano was among the faithful with a devotion to the Infant of Prague who filled Our Lady of the Angelus Church, Rego Park, on the humid evening of Aug. 3.

“I came because I have faith in the Infant Jesus and someone is coming from Europe to tell us about the Infant of Prague,” Gargano said.

Father Jerome Moras, O.C.D., a Carmelite, was the visitor from Our Lady Victorious Church in Prague, the Czech Republic, where the Infant of Prague statue is housed. Father Moras brought a replica of the image dressed in a “holy robe” of white lace embroidered with tiny pearls and crowned in gold. He was welcomed by Father John Mendonca, pastor of Our Lady of the Angelus, Evangeline Montana, Susan Pugeda and others who had helped to coordinate his visit.

After a 7 p.m. healing Mass, congregants touched their own statues, rosaries and holy cards to the holy robe.
Father Moras also celebrated a healing Mass at Our Lady of Victory, Bedford-Stuyvesant, on Aug. 4, and at St. Sebastian, Woodside, on Aug. 7.

At Our Lady of the Angelus, the faithful arrived before 6 p.m. carrying red and white roses to place before the image of the Infant Jesus. They came in from the hot, heavy air of the streets to kneel and pray the Rosary while waiting. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and confessions were available for the congregation who also recited Novena prayers and the Chaplet of the Infant Jesus.

As Father Moras and others assembled at the back of the church for the procession with the Infant Jesus statue, an older woman from St. Fidelis, College Point, entered the church and approached to kiss the holy robe. She collapsed to the floor from what seemed to be overexcitement or the heat. Soon it became apparent that it was more serious.

Paramedics from FDNY Division 4, Battalion 49 were called and worked valiantly as she lay on the floor of the vestibule to get her stabilized so they could transport her to a hospital. The congregation prayed the Rosary fervently as paramedics worked.

Carlos Guevara stood as close over her as they would allow with a three-foot high crucifix from Medjugorje. A tiny Irish lady, who had been praying said, “If this is her time, the Infant will take her up to heaven.”

After the woman was carried from the church, the procession went on.

Father Moras carried the image of the Infant Jesus high for everyone to see. It was closer than they would get if they traveled to Prague.

The Infant of Prague statue is housed in the Baroque church of Our Lady Victorious on Karmelitska St. in the Mala Strana section of Prague. Visitors find the statue encased in glass and set high on a beautiful side altar not accessible to the public’s touch.

The image has a porcelain face and stands about one-and-a-half-feet tall, with the right hand raised in blessing and the left hand holding a globe.

In a room near Our Lady Victorious’ sacristy are displayed some of the 136 different outfits in which the Infant of Prague is dressed. Many are gifts from all over the world.

Since 2000, Father Moras has traveled to England, Ireland, and France and throughout Europe spreading devotion to the Infant of Prague. He is a native of Mangalore, India. After the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia, the Carmelites were invited in 1993 back to Prague to care for the shrine to the Infant Jesus. When Italian Carmelites invited his order to send someone in 1995, Father Moras was chosen. Since that time, he has witnessed the “growth of spirituality and devotion especially to the Infant Jesus” in the new Czech Republic.

The image of the Infant of Prague originated in the early 1600s. It is said that Lady Polyxena of Lobkovic gave the Spanish wax statue as a gift to the Carmelites of Our Lady Victorious in 1682.

When Saxons and Swedes attacked Prague, the statue was buried to hide it from the invaders. In 1638, Carmelite Father Cyril found the statue behind the church altar, cleaned it and placed it in the oratory. The hands of the statue had been broken and, according to tradition, through the intercession of the Blessed Mother, a man arrived at the church to repair the hands. A devotion grew after a number of miracles were reported by people who prayed to the Infant Jesus. Over the years, the church and statue survived unharmed amid wars that reached Prague.

The devotion continued to spread throughout the world especially in the Philippines where Spanish colonialists introduced the Infant Jesus resulting in that nation’s conversion to Catholicism. There the Infant became known as Santo Nino de Cebu. Father Moras will be traveling to Manila with the image this November.

Father Moras began the celebration of the Mass by encouraging the congregation to ask Jesus “for His healing.” In his homily, Father Moras called Jesus a “wonder healer.”

He spoke of a dinner at which a man collapsed of a heart attack, but was brought back to life through the power of prayer. Father Moras said of the woman who had been taken away earlier, “Definitely, I will tell you she will be healed.” He said he believed in the “miracle of spiritual healing and reconciliation.” He added, “We must have faith. We must be sorry for our sins. Let us ask the Child Jesus to heal us.”

After Mass, Father Moras prayed to Jesus, speaking as if to a dear friend, asking that He answer participants’ prayers for healings.

The faithful raised up their statues and images of the Child Jesus as Father Moras took holy water and walked through the church blessing them. He then invited them to line up for individual blessings and an opportunity to touch the holy robe on the Infant Jesus, which was displayed on a table to the left of the sanctuary.

After Father Moras prayed over each person, he or she would then kneel before the image, whisper a few words of prayer and gently touch a card or statue to the robe. By 9:30 p.m. the line still extended to the back of the church with those waiting their turn patiently.

According to Dr. Conrad Ponio, who helped to coordinate Father Moras’ visit, as of Monday, Aug. 6, family members said the woman, a cancer patient, who had collapsed was alive and still hospitalized. “It is a miracle,” Dr. Ponio said.

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