Syston Catholic Church
Church of the Divine Infant
The Divine Infant of Prague is perhaps an unusual dedication for a small rural church in England. But why such a dedication? Syston in Leicestershire is a long way from Prague and there appears no obvious connection with the Czech Republic’s capital city. The story though is a strange one. One of hard work, faith and an amazing coincidence.
It was in 1611 that German Lutherans first began to build the church of Panna Maria Vitezna, the home of the Infant of Prague statue. Nine years later the church was given to the Carmelite nuns after the Catholic Hapsburg Emperor Ferdinand II won the battle of the White Mountain.
Prazke Jezulatke – the Czech name for the statue of the Divine Infant – was donated to the sisters in 1628 by the Spanish bride of an important Prague family. Situated about half way along the nave of the church on the right hand side is an altar and above that, a glass case houses the small wax statue of the Divine Infant framed in silver and gold. And according to the liturgical season the sisters change the tiny robes to the appropriate colour.
Back in Leicestershire it was as early as 1899 that Father Hendricks first opened a Mass centre in Syston. Father Hendricks had served in several missions and wherever he went he set up a shrine to the Divine Infant of Prague. Not surprisingly, his mass centre had this name.
This though was short lived, for after only 12 months he left for Melton Mowbray, some 10 miles distant. The Mass centre did remain open but only for a further year. With hindsight it would have been interesting to have asked him why the Divine Infant had been so special. Had he perhaps been to Prague as some point as a missionary? It was to be 21 years later that Fr Keating, a Rosminian, began to say Mass one Sunday a month in Syston.
In 1939 the Rosminians from nearby Ratcliffe College began to say Mass regularly in the village Assembly Rooms. The arrangement continued until 1943 when Syston was served by the then new church of St Theresa’s at neighbouring Birstall. During the early years of the Second World War, many priests came to say Mass in the Assembly Rooms. However, Father Horgan is credited with building the churches at both Syston and Birstall and indeed many of Syston’s older parishioners contributed to the building of St Theresa’s.Father Horgan was by all accounts a skilled fundraiser and he wrote many letters to far flung parishes and convents in an attempt to obtain the money needed for both buildings.
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