Panna Marie s Jezulátkem na kostele Panny Marie Vítezné / Our Lady with Infant Jesus on Church of Our Lady Victorious (Prague) - Statues of Religious Figures on Waymarking.com

Depicted sandstone statue of Our Lady with Infant Jesus (Panna Marie s Jezulátkem) decorates niche above entrance portal of Baroque church Church of Our Lady Victorious (kostel Panny Marie Vítezné) in Lesser Town in Prague.

Church of our Lady Victorious (Chrám Panny Marie Vítezné) is a splendid structure built in the Spanish style. But what brings most pilgrims flocking is the Holy Infant of Prague or Bambini di Praga if you speak Italian. After the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620, which resulted in the victory of the imperial pro-catholic part in the Czech lands, the Emperor Ferdinand II bestowed the church upon the order of Discalced Carmelites.

Mary, also known as Saint Mary or the Virgin Mary, is identified in the Bible [Mt 1:16,18-25][Lk 1:26-56][2:1-7] as the mother of Jesus, the founder of the Christian religion. Christians hold her son Jesus to be the Christ or messiah foretold in Jewish scripture, and the God made flesh. Mary (Maryam) also has a revered position in Islam, where a whole chapter of the Qur'an is devoted to her, also describing the birth of Jesus. She is traditionally thought to have lived between c.?18 BC – c.?41 AD. Mary has been venerated since Early Christianity, and is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the Church. Christians of the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as Mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God and the Theotokos, literally "Bearer of God". There is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas; namely her status as the mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, the perpetual virginity of Mary, and the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. Many Protestants minimize Mary's role within Christianity, based on the argued brevity of biblical references.

The Child Jesus (Divine Infant, Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, Christ Child) refers to Jesus from his Nativity to age 12. At 13 he was considered to be adult, in accordance with the Jewish custom of his time. The canonical gospels say nothing of Jesus' childhood between his infancy and the Finding in the Temple at the age of twelve. From about the third or fourth century onwards, the child Jesus is frequently shown in paintings, and sculpture. Commonly these are Nativity scenes showing the birth of Jesus, with his mother, Mary, and his legal father Joseph. Depictions as a baby with his mother, known as Madonna and Child, are iconographical types in Eastern and Western traditions. Other scenes from his time as a baby, of his circumcision, presentation at the temple, the Adoration of the Three Magi, and the Flight to Egypt, are common. Scenes showing his developing years are more rare but not unknown.

[excerpted from Wiki]