<P> The exact origin of the Infant Jesus statue is not known, but historical sources point to a 19 ‐ inch (48 cm) sculpture of the Holy Child with a bird in his right hand currently located in the Cistercian monastery of Santa María de la Valbonna in Asturias, Spain which was carved around the year 1340 . Many other Infant Jesus sculptures were also carved by famous masters throughout Europe in the Middle Ages . Often found in early medieval work, the significance of the bird symbolizes either a soul or the Holy Spirit . The sculptures of the Holy Child were dressed in imperial regalia reflecting the aristocratic fashion of that period . </P> <P> One legend says that a monk in a desolated monastery somewhere between Cordoba and Sevilla had a vision of a little boy, telling him to pray . The monk had spent several hours praying and then he made a figure of the child . </P> <P> The House of Habsburg began ruling the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1526; the kingdom developed close ties with Spain . The statue first appeared in 1556, when María Manriquez de Lara y Mendoza brought the image to Bohemia upon her marriage to Czech nobleman Vratislav of Pernstyn . An old legend in the Lobkowicz family reports that María's mother, Doña Isabella, had been given the statue by Saint Teresa of Avila herself . María received the family heirloom as a wedding present . It later became the property of her daughter, Polyxena, 1st Princess Lobkowicz (1566--1642). In 1628, Princess Polyxena von Lobkowicz donated the statue to the Discalced Carmelite friars (White Friars). </P> <P> Upon presenting it, the pious Princess Polyxena is said to have uttered a prophetic statement to the religious: </P>

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