Child Jesus

When Jesus child a representation of Jesus Christ is called, which maps it to the age of about twelve years of age ( the age of thirteen boys gain in Judaism religious maturity and are considered as adults ).

The Child Jesus is in the 3rd century in the visual arts a popular motif. Frequently show such representations, the Nativity, the Holy Family and the Christ Child with the Blessed Mother. From the Madonna and child, there are both in the Western Church and the Eastern Church a wealth of iconographic representations.

Other images show the circumcision of Jesus, the Presentation in the Temple, the Adoration of the Magi and the Flight into Egypt. In contrast, Jesus is depicted as an adolescent rarely, as the Gospels is barely a report. There are, however, some representations, which - based on apocryphal texts - with the childhood of Jesus deal.

Writings

The four Gospels in the New Testament mainly report on the birth and the last years of Jesus, the Gospel according to Luke also has his portrayal l 40 days after birth (Luke 2:22-24 EU) in the Temple of Jerusalem, and upon the visit to the temple the age of twelve (Luke 2:41-52 EU).

About the childhood of Jesus, where he has performed miracles, and his childish Despite telling apocryphal writings ( Infancy Gospel according to Thomas from the 2nd century, the Arabic Infancy Gospel from the 6th century and the Pseudo- Matthew gospel of the 8th / 9th century ).

In the Koran, can Jesus, the Son of Mary, speak immediately after his birth (Sura 19:24-33 ).

Tradition

From the Middle Ages legends were formed by the miraculous child Jesus and became part of the popular piety. Some of these legends are listed in chronological order below. With regard to the miracles are referred to the references.

• In the Legenda aurea is told that the baby Jesus Martyr Christopher baptized when he wore it over a river.
• From mystics Hermann Joseph (* 1150 ) took the baby Jesus a statue of Mary in the Cologne church of St. Maria im Kapitol an apple.
• Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) held the baby Jesus in her arms, which shone so much that his hosts suspected fire.
• The Holy Child of Atocha helped captured Spaniards during the Reconquista against the Moors. Atocha is also mentioned in the Cantigas de Santa Maria. The Holy Child of Atocha is especially revered in Mexico and syncretized in Cuban Santeria with ellegua.
• The Sarner Child Jesus is a 50 cm high wooden figure from the 14th century in the Benedictine monastery of St. Andrew in Sarnen. It has raised his right leg and placed the globe and it shows with the left hand on his heart. Because of the Sarner Child Jesus, the monastery is a popular pilgrimage site since the late medieval mysticism.
• The Holy Child Santo Bambino is a 60 cm high figure in the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome, which was carved by a Franciscan in the 15th century from the wood of an olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane.
• The Child Jesus appeared on September 24, 1445 the monastery Hermann Schäfer light at Vierzehnheiligen.
• The Wettinger Child Jesus is a wooden image and hangs above the altar in the cloister chapel in Wettingen monastery. It could have been created in 1450 for the monastery Wettingen. The image survived the monastery fire of 11 April 1507 on the Sunday after Easter in 1507, despite the highest risk in a miraculous way: By the flames several Glutlöcher originated in a particular arrangement. In the center is the heart-shaped Glutloch, which also symbolizes the heart of the Savior. The abbot Johann Mueller said an eye-witness: "I have the Phoenix of heaven and earth - seen intact on the Child - portrait - Christ the Savior. This image may publicly suspended all later generations remember the miraculous signs and they urge the same caution. " 1602, Abbot Peter Schmid expand the miraculous image of Christ to a winged altar with historical accounts.
• The Holy Child Santo Niño of Cebu from the 16th century is a doll-like figure in the shape Ferdinand Magellan gave after his arrival on the Philippine island of Cebu Hara Amihan, wife of the ruler Raja Humabon on April 14, 1521 because the royal couple and many subjects were baptized. Shortly after Magellan died on April 27 at a battle on the neighboring island of Mactan. 44 years later, Miguel López de Legazpi reconquered the island and destroyed the village of Raja Tupas, a nephew of the Raja Humabon. The wooden figure was found there despite the conflagration almost intact. At the Basilica del Santo Niño reference which was built the first church in the Philippines. The Child Jesus (Santo Niño ) was until 2002 the patron saint of Cebu, for the Sinulog festival is celebrated on the third Sunday in January.
• The Infant Jesus of Prague from the 17th century is a 47 cm high wax figure in the Church of Our Lady Victorious in Prague's Lesser Town. In 1628 she gave Polyxena of Lobkowicz after the death of her husband Adalbert von Lobkowicz the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites in Prague as part of the recatholicization. In the baroque next to the Infant Jesus of Prague Infant Jesus more places of pilgrimage created ..
• The Child Jesus ( divino niño ) supported in the 20th century, the Salesians of Rizzo in the construction of a church in Bogotá.

Art

From the Middle Ages, the attitude to prohibition of images changed. The baby Jesus is represented in a manger and as Fatschenkind. From the 14th century it is also shown with attributes that characterize it as God and Saviour: halo, crown, globe, scepter, heart, lamb, shepherd's staff, grapes, Cross, Ysopstab, lance. Since the Renaissance, the Madonna and Child, a favorite motif of Marian devotion. In recent centuries, Baby Jesus figures have been commercialized. These can be classified between religious folk art and kitsch sacred.