Abbey-Roads2

Searching for an image of Blessed Mother Anna of St. Bartholomew, whose feast it is today, I came across this image of the Infant Jesus of Beaune, venerated by the Venerable Margueritte of the Blessed Sacrament.  What follows is a brief history.

Spiritual Childhood 

“Spiritual Childhood is a state where the spirit, in faith and silence, in respect and innocence, and in purity and simplicity, awaits and receives the commands of God, and lives from day to day in a spirit of abandonment. In this state, one neither looks toward oneself, nor behind oneself, but is united with the Holy Child Jesus, who accepts all commands from His Father.

Ven. Margaret of the Most Blessed Sacrament (1619-1648), an orphan, entered the Carmel of Beaune (France) at the age of only twelve and a half years, having been noted for virtue and for prayer from the age of seven years. Ven. Margaret found especially attractive the French Carmelite devotion to the Child Jesus, and the divine Child filled the ’small wife of his crib’ with mystical graces.

She concentrated upon the ‘moment of His holy birth’ and upon the first 12 years of His life. Mystically experiencing the joys, purity, and simplicity of that state of the Child Jesus, she reproduced that state exteriorly, as well as interiorly in herself. The practice of the religious virtues, in particular of obedience, astounded all who observed her.

Ven. Margaret did much to spread devotion to the Child Jesus among the common people. In 1636, France was attacked in the north and the east. Nothing seemed to prevent the enemy armies from arriving at Beaune and plundering and massacring all within the small city. The inhabitants were terrified, and the prioress of the Carmel also considered fleeing the danger. Sr. Margaret assured, ‘the Infant Jesus promised that the city would be saved.’ And so it was.

Popular recognition of His protection was manifested by the spread of the Chaplet, or ’small crown’ of the Infant Jesus, recommended by Sr. Margaret as it was revealed to her by our Lord: three ‘Our Father’s’ to thank God for the gift of Jesus, Mary and Joseph; and twelve ‘Hail Mary’s’ to honor the twelve years of the childhood of Jesus.

After some time, France was again in the anguish: King Louis XIII and Queen Anne of Austria, married a dozen years, did not have a child. There was thus no heir for the throne! All France called upon Heaven! Sr. Margaret had a revelation in prayer: she affirmed that the Queen was going to have a son, and accurately predicted the date of birth of the future Louis XIV. The royal family expressed their gratitude to Carmel.

The reputation of Sr. Margaret grew, and a certain Norman lord, the Baron Gaston de Renty went to Burgundy to discuss her spirituality. Gained by her to this devotion, he gave one of the best definitions of it: ‘the spirit of childhood is a state where it is necessary to live from day to day, in perfect mortification of oneself; in total abandonment to the will of the Father.’

Returning to his Norman manor, Baron Gaston de Renty sent Sr. Margaret a Christmas present, a statute of the ‘Small King of glory’ (1643). Carved out of wood, painted and articulated, this statuette can be equipped with exquisite clothing (it has a collection of it), be adorned with jewels, and crowned. To honor it with dignity, Sr. Margaret obtained from her superiors the construction of a small chapel contiguous to the church of Carmel.

Very quickly, a national pilgrimage of the Child Jesus of Beaune developed, which continued each year until the French Revolution. Hidden during the Revolution, it was returned to the Carmelite nuns, and took its place again in 1873 in the church of the Carmel, where it remains to this day. Individual or collective visits follow one after another; an abundant correspondence of prayer requests arrives regularly at Carmel, with thanks for the many graces obtained. The walls of the chapel are lined with votive offerings.

Certain forms of devotion instituted by Sr. Margaret are maintained: On the 25th of the each month, there is a public recitation of the Chaplet of the Holy Infant Jesus. And each year there is a novena, from January 25th to February 2nd, with a homily and the daily recitation of the chaplet.” - Chaplet of the Infant Jesus