DEVOTION

By LINDA M. LINONIS

religion@vindy.com

The vision of Maybelle Gardner, founder of the Infant Jesus of Prague Guild, has continued for 65 years in the Diocese of Youngstown.

Now deceased, the member of St. Dominic Church in Youngstown founded the diocesan guild June 25, 1947.

It celebrated its 65th anniversary Wednesday with a Mass and rosary at Infant Jesus of Prague Church, 7754 South Ave. Ext., Boardman.

“It’s tradition to have the anniversary Mass at the home church of the president,” said the current officer-holder, Beth Stanko.

At the Mass, each guild presented a rose at the statue of the Infant Jesus.

A celebratory luncheon took place at the Holiday Inn in Boardman.

Stanko said the guild is “faith based” and promotes devotion to the infant Jesus. “It helps members grow in their faith,” Stanko said.

Guild members meet the third Wednesday of the month to pray the rosary and attend Mass as a group. Sessions rotate among member churches, which are mostly in Mahoning County. The guild also takes educational trips. Spiritual adviser is the Rev. Michael Swierz.

Stanko said a special prayer intention is for seminarians.

Annually, the guilds attend a Day of Recollection at St. Columba Cathedral in Youngstown.

Guilds in the diocesan organization are from these churches: Immaculate Conception in Ravenna; Infant Jesus of Prague in Boardman; St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph the Provider and St. Lucy, all in Campbell; St. Joseph in Austintown; St. Matthias, Sacred Heart, St. Stanislaus, St. Christine, Sts. Cyril and Methodius and St. Dominic, all in Youngstown; Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Niles; St. Patrick in Hubbard; Holy Family in Poland; and Holy Trinity in Struthers.

Pope Leo XIII instituted the Sodality to the Infant Jesus of Prague in 1896, and Pope Pius X established the Confraternity of the Infant Jesus of Prague in 1913. Pope Benedict XVI donated a golden crown to the statue during his apostolic visit to the Czech Republic in 2009.

The origin of the Infant Jesus of Prague statue is not known. The most frequently cited story relates that the statue belonged to St. Teresa of Avia, founder of the Discalced Carmelites. She gave the statue to a friend, whose daughter was traveling to Prague. The Duchess Maria Manrique de Lara went to Bohemia, in what is now Czech Republic, to marry a nobleman in 1556, and she received the statue from her mother as a wedding gift. When her daughter, Polyxena of Lobkowicz, was widowed, she gave the statue to the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites attached to the church of Our Lady of Victory in 1628.

The Carmelites placed the statue in a chapel. The Thirty Years’ War was raging through Europe. Later, Father Cyril discovered the abandoned statue with its hands broken off. Father Cyril relayed that Infant Jesus said to him: “Have mercy on me, and I will have mercy on you. Give me hands, and I will give you peace. The more you honour me, the more I will bless you.”

Father Cyril had new hands made for the Infant Jesus, and the child Jesus blessed Prague.