Church of Our Lady Victorious

The Church of Our Lady Victorious (Kostel Panny Marie Vítězné) in Malá Strana, the "Lesser Quarter" of Prague is a church governed and administered by the Discalced Carmelites, and home of the famous Child-Jesus statue called the Infant Jesus of Prague.

A chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity was built on this site in 1584, following Rudolph II´s Letter of Majesty a larger church for German Protestants. With the Battle of White Mountain, 8 November 1620, the Counter-Reformation signalled the re-Catholicism of Prague. The church was given to the direction of the Carmelites in September 1624. The triumphalist altarpiece of Our Lady of Victory was sent from Rome by Pope Gregory XV. The Carmelites were ordered to hand over the church to Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, 3 June 1784.

On 26 September 2009 Pope Benedict XVI declared the church and the Infant Jesus the first station on the Apostolic Road in the Czech Republic. The Pontiff also donated a gold crown, decorated with eight shells, pearls, and garnet gemstones to the Infant Jesus of Prague, which the statue dons today.


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    Sydney Carroll, U.S. screenwriter, and Robert Rossen. Eddie Felson (Paul Newman)

    Eddie Felson: Church of the Good Hustler.
    Charlie: Looks more like a morgue to me. Those tables are the slabs they lay the stiffs on.
    Eddie Felson: I’ll be alive when I get out, Charlie.
    Sydney Carroll, U.S. screenwriter, and Robert Rossen. Eddie Felson (Paul Newman)

    Lord Lovel he stood at his castle gate
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    Unknown. Lord Lovel (l. 1–4)

    Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)