Most lovable Lord Jesus, who didst
become a little Child for us and willed to be
born in a stable to deliver us from the darkness
of sin, to draw us to Thee and to inflame us
with Thy holy love, we adore thee as our
Creator and Redeemer, we bow down before
Thee and desire Thee to be our King and
Sovereign Lord, and we offer Thee, as a tribute,
all the affections of our poor hearts. Dear
Jesus, our Lord and our God, vouchsafe to
accept this offering, and that it may be less
unworthy of Thee, pardon our sins, enlighten
and inflame us with that holy fire which Thou
didst bring upon earth to kindle in our hearts.
May our souls thus become an altar on which
to offer to Thee the sacrifice of our mortifications
and may we ever seek Thy greater glory here
below so that one day we may come to enjoy Thy
infinite beauty in Heaven. Amen.
(say your petitions)
The celebrated statue of the Divine Infant was carved in Jerusalem from the olive trees of Gethsemani in the 15th century by a member of the Franciscan Order who brought it to Rome and placed it in the Church of the Friars Minor of Ara Coeli on the Capitol for public veneration. Here it is now known, visited and honored by the whole Catholic world on account of the innumerable favors which the Divine Infant bestows on those who venerate it. It was solemnly crowned by the Vatican Chapter on May 2, 1897.