Santo Nino de Cebu

 

The Santo Nino is an icon of Our Lord that is preserved in the shrine of the Basilica of the Santo Nino in Cebu City, Philippines. Santo Nino means ''Holy Child'' in Spanish. It was through my mother and grandmother's devotion to Santo Nino why I became a traditionalist/sedevacantist.

Days after Ferdinand Magellan left Leyte, he arrived in the island of Cebu on April 7, 1521 to Christianize the natives. On April 14, 1521, the chaplain, secular priest Fr. Pedro de Valderrama officiated the first mass in Cebu and the first baptism in the entire Philippines. He baptized the king, Rajah Humabon as Carlos, after Charles I and V of Spain and Holy Roman Empire, and his Queen Hara Humamay as Juana in honor of his mother Joanna of Castile. An image of the Holy Child was gifted to Juana and a bust of our suffering Lord was gifted to Carlos. A cross was later set up on the spot where the first baptism was held.

                                                   Magellan's Cross

On April 27, 1521, Magellan was killed during the Battle of Mactan under Lapu Lapu. 44 years later, the Spanish troops led by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Fray Andres de Urdaneta landed in Cebu on April 28, 1565. One of the soldiers, Juan Camus went to a destroyed hut and discovered the long lost image of Santo Nino inside a wooden box.

                                              The finding of the Santo Nino by Camus

A shrine to the Santo Nino was later erected on the spot where the image was found. In its early days, the churches were destroyed until a new church was finally built in 1629. But in 1729, the church was demolished to make way for a new church. The present church was built under Fray Juan de Albarran from 1735 until 1740.

                                             The church as it looked before Vatican II

From the late 1700s to late 1800s, the church undergone major renovations. In 1889, the first novena to Santo Nino was started by Fr. Mateo Diez, OSA.

                                              The Pre-Vatican II interior of Santo Nino

During the Second World War, a bomb fell inside the church, but the image was left dangling from one of the chandeliers. The image was brought to the Redemptorist Church by the Augustinian friars for safekeeping until April 20, 1945. The image was painted black in the late 1800s but was restored in its original color during its safekeeping in the Redemptorists. 

                                            Fr. Thomas McHugh, CSSR

                                            and Fr. Leandro Moran, OSA with the image

In 1965, the Santo Nino church was renovated in time for the 4th Centennial of the Christianization of the Philippines. On April 28, 1965, the original image was crowned for its 400th anniversary.

                                           The coronation of the Santo Nino

The Santo Nino has two feasts, the liturgical feast on the third Sunday of January and that on April 28, the anniversary of its founding.

Santo Nino de Cebu, pray for us.