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TheChrist Child—also known asBaby Jesus,Infant Jesus,Child Jesus,Divine Child,Divine Infant and theHoly Child—refers toJesus Christ during his early years. The term refers to a period ofJesus' life, described in thecanonical Gospels, encompassing hisnativity inBethlehem, thevisit of the Magi, and hispresentation at the Temple in Jerusalem. It also includes his childhood, culminating in the event where his parentsfind him in the Temple at age 12, after which the Gospelsremain silent about his life until the start of hisministry.
Liturgical feasts relating to Christ's infancy and childhood include:
From about the third or fourth century onwards, the child Jesus is frequently shown in paintings, and sculpture. Commonly these arenativity scenes showing the birth of Jesus, with his motherMary, and her husbandJoseph.
Depictions as a baby with the Virgin Mary, known asMadonna and Child, areiconographical types inEastern andWestern traditions. Other scenes from his time as a baby, of hiscircumcision, presentation at the temple, theadoration of the Magi, and theflight into Egypt, are common.[1] Scenes showing his developing years are more rare but not unknown.
Saint Joseph,Anthony of Padua, andSaint Christopher are often depicted holding the Christ Child. TheChristian mystics Ss.Teresa of Ávila,Thérèse of Lisieux, along with the devotees of theDivino Niño such asMother Angelica and Giovanni Rizzo claim to have had apparitions of the Infant Jesus.
The Christ Child was a popular subject in European wood sculpture beginning in the 14th century.[2]
The Christ Child was well known in Spain under the titlemontañesino after thesantero sculptorJuan Martínez Montañés began the trend. These icons of the Christ Child were often posed in thecontrapposto style in which the positioning of the knees reflected in the opposite direction,[3] similar to ancient depictions of theRoman Emperor.
The images were quite popular among nobility of Spain and Portugal. Colonial images of the Christ child also began to wearvestments, a pious practice developed by thesantero culture in later colonial years, carrying the depiction of holding theglobus cruciger, a bird symbolizing a soul or theHoly Spirit, or various paraphernalia related to its locality or region.
The symbolism of the Christ Child in art reached its apex during theRenaissance: theHoly Family was a central theme in the works ofLeonardo da Vinci and many other masters.[4]
The canonical gospels do not include very many details on young Jesus – there are the two nativity accounts in Matthew and Luke, and the account of Luke of a 12-year old Jesus at the Temple, but they are not very long. Audiences have hungered for more detail. As a result,infancy gospels circulated with more stories of the young Jesus, often showing Jesus full of power and wisdom even at an early age, and providing details of the nature of his family members. The two most prominent infancy gospels were theGospel of James and theInfancy Gospel of Thomas. Neither are part of theNew Testament canon, thus relegating them to a status asBiblical apocrypha, but these were popular and widely circulated stories taken seriously by many writers and audiences. These stories, as well as others, were often arranged and mixed together in new forms or with new stories added. For example, theGospel of Pseudo-Matthew was very popular in the Latin-speaking Western Church in the Middle Ages, and combined the above two infancy accounts; another is theArmenian Infancy Gospel. Pseudo-Matthew helped popularize the idea of an ox and donkey being present at the nativity, as well as Joseph being rather older than Mary, and was used as a source of stories for depicting theLife of Mary, a popular medieval artistic theme. Other infancy gospels exist as well, such as theHistory of Joseph the Carpenter and theArabic Infancy Gospel.[5]
One story from these infancy gospels that became commonly known and spread far was that of the young Jesus making sparrows out of clay with his young playmates. After an adult accuses him of breaking the Sabbath (prefiguring acanonical pericope where Jesus does this), he animates the clay sparrows to life and they fly off, mischievously removing the evidence of him having been working.[6]
Several historically significant images of the Christ Child have beencanonically crowned, namely theBambino Gesu of Arenzano and theSanto Bambino of Aracoeli (both inItaly), theInfant Jesus of Prague (Czech Republic), and theSanto Niño de Cebú (Philippines).
In the 17th century, French Carmelites promoted veneration of the "Little King of Beaune".[7] In the late 19th century, a devotion to the "Holy Child of Remedy" developed inMadrid.[8]
Tàladh Chrìosda ("Christ Child Lullaby") is a Scottish carol from Moidart, Scotland. TheCatholic priest Ranald Rankin, wrote the lyrics forMidnight Massc. 1855. He originally wrote 29 verses inScottish Gaelic, but the popular English translation is limited to five. The melody,Cumha Mhic Arois ("Lament for Mac Àrois"), is from theHebrides and was sung as a protective charm for the fisherman away at sea. The rhythm mirrors the rhythm of the surf. It is sung in the Hebrides at Midnight Mass onChristmas Eve.
On 1636, aDiscalced Carmelite nun, VenerableMargaret of the Blessed Sacrament, founded the Association of the Child Jesus inBeaune, France, in honour of the divine infancy. Later, theBishop of Autun canonically established the Confraternity of the Holy Infancy. On 1639 a chapel was built in the Carmel of Beaune, dedicated to the Infant Jesus.[9]Gaston Jean Baptiste de Renty donated a statue which came to be referred to the "Little King of Grace".[1] He then introducedJean-Jacques Olier, founder of theSulpicians, to Sister Margaret.[10] Olier then established the devotion to the Holy Infant atSaint-Sulpice, Paris.François Fénelon, who was then a priest at Saint-Sulpice, composed litanies of the Infant Jesus.Pope Alexander VII approved the Confraternity in January 1661;Pius IX made it an archconfraternity in 1855.[11]
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