Infant Jesus

The Baby Jesus is also known as Infant Jesus or Menino Jesus in Portuguese. This term refers to Jesus Christ from the period of his birth till the age of 12. According to Jewish Customs, 13 year olds were considered as adults.

The feasts which are celebrated from the Birth of Jesus Christ and his infancy are

The Nativity of Jesus Christ on December 25, The Feast of the Epiphany or three kings on January 6, The Feast of Santo Nino on the third Sunday of January and the Presentation in the Temple on February 2.

The oldest image of the Child Jesus in existence dates back to the wall fresco in the Catacomb of Priscilla, belonging to a Roman noblewoman martyred for sheltering the cult of early Christians during imperial persecutions. 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 foster father Joseph.

Saint Joseph, Anthony of Padua, and Saint Christopher are often depicted holding the Christ Child. The Christian mystics Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint Therese of Lisieux, along with the devotees of Divino Niño such as Mother Angelica and Father Giovanni Rizzo similarly claim to have had apparitions of Jesus Christ as a young toddler.

The Infant Jesus Statues found in Goa are depictions from the statue of the Holy Infant Jesus of Prague.

The Infant Jesus of Prague is a 16th-century wax-coated wooden statue of child Jesus holding a globus cruciger, located in the Carmelite Church of Our Lady Victorious in Malá Strana, Prague, Czech Republic. Pious legends state that the statue once belonged to Saint Teresa of Avila.

In addition, the statue has also merited Papal recognition through Pope Leo XIII who instituted the Sodality to the Infant Jesus of Prague in 1896. On 30 March 1913, Pope Saint Pius X further organised the Confraternity of the Infant Jesus of Prague. Pope Pius XI granted its first Canonical Coronation on 27 September 1924 while Pope Benedict XVI granted its second coronation to the image as well as a spare ermine fur cape during his Apostolic visit to the Czech Republic in September 2009.