Patron of Children – Prayers to the Infant of Prague

The Infant of Prague is doubly dear to me. I live in a solidly Czech town and the devotion is propular amongst the Czechs and He is dear to the Carmelites because the Miraculous Statue is enshrined in a Carmelite Church in Prague. Here is His statue enshrined in my Parish Church, St Wenceslaus.

From Catholic Stand

By Masha Goepel

On the recent feast of the Infant of Prague (January 14th), I attended the funeral of a dear friend’s youngest child. Before the Mass, I visited the parish statue of the Divine Infant and prayed for the beloved dead, as well as for all the living children in our hearts and homes. It seemed an ideal feast day on which to entrust the soul of a child to the inexhaustible compassion of Christ, but it was a painful service as well, and I was grateful to have the image of the Infant King before me throughout Mass as a reminder of His tenderness and love.

When I first began to know and love the Infant of Prague, He was primarily an intercessor for financial stability. My mother gave me her old statue of the Infant with a coin taped to His back – a reminder that He was the guardian of the financial life of the family. I added my own coin to hers and He has looked out for our little family for years. But after my children were born, I began to look at the Infant as a particular guardian of them as well.

Patron of Children

The Infant of Prague is a patron of children and childhood as well as financial security and desperate situations. For a lot of people today, children and desperate situations are practically synonymous. Everything from infertility and miscarriage to childhood cancer and mental illness are all around us. Sometimes they seem to be skyrocketing. Both physically and mentally, most people agree that kids today are less healthy than their parents and grandparents were at the same age. Now, I know there are a lot of different factors to look at here, and depending on who you talk to the statistics will change, but when I hear that the children’s psychological ward at my local hospital is full for the season and the family down the street is sick for the 3rd time in three months, I can’t help but worry. My children’s generation is said to be the first in recent history to have a lower life expectancy than their parents. That is a disturbing thought.

So, naturally, I turn to the Infant of Prague. Miraculous, wonder-working Infant who loves children and says to His followers, “Unless you … become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). There are a few lovely, little prayers to the Divine Infant that are perfect for parents, grandparents, and godparents who are concerned about the children entrusted to them.

Prayers to the Infant of Prague

St. Thérèse of Lisieux had a particular devotion to the Infant of Prague. In fact, she had the Carmelite convent’s statue of the Infant under her care after her profession. St. Thérèse’s simple prayer is a simple, tender one:

Prayer of St. Thérèse Before the Statue of the
Infant of Prague

“O Eternal Father, Your only Son, the dear Child Jesus, is mine,

since You have given Him to me. I offer You the infinite
merits of His Divine Childhood, and I beg You in His Name
to open the gates of Heaven to a countless host of little ones
who will forever follow this Divine Lamb.”

Prayer to the Infant for Fathers

Christ has continued to show a particular love of children and childhood, both in His public ministry and in His tender care for children throughout the history of the Church. In particular, the Child Christ continues to lead even the most obstinate of us to the Father. There is always a loving reverence in Christ for both His Father in heaven, and his chosen, foster father on earth.

Christ knows the value of fathers in childhood. The eyes of the child are always on his father – leaning on him and learning from him. So the Infant of Prague, patron of children, is reaching out to them through fathers:

Dearest Infant King, You who became a Child to lead all men
to Your Eternal Father, smile down upon our earthly fathers.
Give them wisdom and strength to lead their families –
As St. Joseph led You and Your Immaculate Mother safely
through the trials of daily life.

Teach our fathers patience and childlike joy, O Infant Christ.
Guide them in their paternity and lead them to Your Beloved
Father in Heaven.

A Prayer for the Sick

The Infant of Prague is a continual help in desperate cases – especially in cases of sick children. His heart is always open to those who lovingly ask for His mercy. Sickness, whether physical, mental, or spiritual, is a painful burden. Let us entrust it to Christ, who loves us all with an inexhaustible love:

O Merciful Infant Jesus! I know of Your miraculous deeds for the sick. I know that You cured many diseases during Your blessed life on earth, and that so many of the venerators of Your miraculous image ascribe to You their recovery and deliverance. Though I am not worthy to receive Your healing, O Lord, only say the word and my child shall be healed.

Extend Your most holy hands, O heavenly Physician, and by Your power take away _____’s infirmity, so that his recovery may be due to You alone. If, however, Dear Jesus, You have determined otherwise, at least, I pray, restore my child’s soul to perfect health. Fill him/her with heavenly consolation and wrap him/her in Your most tender arms. Amen.