Stopping by St. Wenceslaus - A Visit to the National Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague Oklahoma
Stopping by St. Wenceslaus - A Visit to the National Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague, Oklahoma
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
Dear Henry,
We are still deep in the process of moving to Tulsa, and despite my repeated insistence that I “live simply,” I remain astonished by how much stuff we own. Boxes breed boxes, and at a certain point, everything begins to feel like a weight rather than a possession. Recently, I decided to take a day off from packing, pointed the car east, and drove to Prague to visit the National Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague at St. Wenceslaus Church.
Images and devotions to the infant Jesus date back almost to the beginnings of Christianity, but the specific statue known as the Infant Jesus of Prague is comparatively recent, about five hundred years old. According to tradition, a Spanish friar, inspired by an image seen in a dream, crafted the original statue from wood and wax. The figure depicts the Christ Child holding a globus cruciger, a cross-topped orb symbolizing Christ’s kingship over the world, while His other hand is raised in blessing.
The statue is often dressed in elaborate royal garments, though when unadorned, the Infant Jesus wears a simple robe. Legend holds that the statue once belonged to Teresa of Ávila, who gifted it to Doña Isabel Briçeno Arévalo. From there, it passed through generations of Czech nobility until Princess Polyxena of Lobkowicz donated it in 1629 to the Church of Our Lady of Victories and the attached Carmelite monastery in Prague.
The Carmelite monks began regular devotions to the Infant Jesus, but during the Thirty Years’ War, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden seized Prague in 1631. The monastery was ransacked, the statue damaged and discarded, and the devotion abandoned.
In 1637, a Carmelite priest, Father Cyrillus, finally returned. He discovered the statue amid rubble, its hands broken off. Moved by a dream and a renewed sense of purpose, he restored both the statue and the devotion. Since then, the Infant Jesus of Prague has been venerated continuously in Prague and throughout the Carmelite order.
That devotion eventually made its way to Oklahoma.
After portions of the Sac and Fox Reservation were opened to non-Native settlement, a small group of Czech immigrants purchased land near present-day Prague in 1891. They built a modest wooden church dedicated to St. Wenceslaus, which was later replaced in 1909, destroyed by a tornado in 1919, and rebuilt in brick shortly thereafter. By the late 1940s, however, the growing town had outgrown the building, and hopes for a new church seemed financially out of reach.
Everything changed with the arrival of a replica statue of the Infant Jesus of Prague.
In early 1947, while visiting his critically ill mother in California, Father George V. Johnson was encouraged by a Carmelite sister to begin parish devotions to the Infant Jesus. She offered one of the officially sanctioned replicas, created every four years. The statue arrived in August 1947, and within two years, the funds needed for a new church had been raised.
The current St. Wenceslaus Church was dedicated on February 22, 1949. A few months later, on August 2, 1949, Father Johnson, having received Vatican approval, established the National Shrine to the Infant Jesus of Prague.
The shrine had been on my personal list for some time, and with a free morning amid moving chaos, it felt right to go in thanksgiving for prayers answered. I was immediately taken with the grounds and gardens, immaculately cared for, from what I understand, by the current pastor, Father Long Phan. Inside, I was especially drawn to the stained glass, which appears to use a mosaic-style technique with grout rather than traditional leaded seams, giving the windows a luminous, textured quality.
I was also fortunate enough to attend Mass. Ordinarily, Mass is offered at 9 a.m., but a pilgrimage group from San Antonio had arrived, and Father Phan added an additional Mass. I slipped into a back pew, grateful for the unexpected grace of being present, and silently hoped the group’s intentions were fulfilled.
Afterward, I stopped by the gift shop and picked up a handful of small Infant of Prague statues to bring home. They were a bigger hit than I expected, I should have bought more. I was also struck by how many people I spoke to who had never heard of the shrine, despite it being an easy day trip from Northwest Arkansas.
I hope more people find their way there. It is a place of quiet devotion, layered history, and surprising beauty—and very much worth the drive.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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