Feast of Santo Niño de Cebu

• Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/feast-of-santo-nino-de-cebu/
• Sunday, January 20, 2019

By Corazon Damo-Santiago

Montanesimo, the portrayal of Jesus as a child in regal vestments, is a pious practice in the Santero (sculpture) Culture among the nobility in 1300.

The trend was made popular by Juan de Martinez Montanes, a sculptor of Jaen, Spain, who was acknowledged as “Dios de la Mader” (God of Woodcarving).

The oldest Christian image in the Philippines is a carved wooden statue of the Child Jesus in kingly attire. It is the object of veneration every third Sunday of January in Cebu City, where thousands of voices, to the rhythm of drums, shout “Pit Señor! Viva Pit Señor!” while dancing in staccato steps in colorful attires.

‘Balaang Bata sa Sugbo’

Juan Camus, a Spanish mariner of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, found the “Balaang Bata sa Sugbo” (Holy Child of Cebu) inside a pine box amid the ruins of burned houses in a conflict between the natives and the soldiers of the expedition in 1565.

A church made of bamboo and mangrove palms was erected on the site where it was found. The statue was honored with a procession. The Basilica Menor de Cebu was built on the spot where the image was found.

The original feast day of Santo Niño de Cebu was April 28. Pope Innocent XIII (1721-1724) moved the feast day on the third Sunday of January to avoid conflict with Easter celebrations.

On April 28, 1965, the image was canonically crowned. On May 2, 1965, the Papal Bull Cubanula Religious was issued and the church where the Santo Niño was enshrined was raised to the level of Minor Basilica of Sto. Nino.

Gift to Humaway

Magellan, a Portuguese navigator, left Spain on September 20, 1519, with five ships and 250 men. His mission: sail around the world in honor of the King of Spain through a western route to the Spice Islands (Moluccas).

In 1521, he landed in Limasawa, Southern Leyte, and met Rajah Kulambu. The rajah introduced him to Rajah Humabon, the ruler of Cebu.

Magellan befriended Rajah Humabon. The ruler, his wife Humaway and about 500 men and 40 women were baptized on April 14, 1521, according to Pigafetta, the memoir writer of the expedition.

The Santo Niño was a baptismal gift to Humaway, the chief wife of Rajah Humabon, after her baptism by Fr. Pedro Valderrama. She was given the Christian name Juana, a local equivalent of Joanna, the mother of King Charles V of Castille, Spain. The Italian chronicler of the Spanish Expedition handed the Santo Niño image to Juana. A gift from Magellan, it was a “symbol of friendship and alliance between the tribe and Charles V of Spain.”

To Humabon, who was also baptized, was given an Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) bust of Christ when he appeared before Pontius Pilate.

Then Magellan proceeded to Mactan Islands, and had a fight with Lapu-Lapu, the chieftain of the tribe and his men. Magellan and his men were defeated, Magellan was killed on April 27, 1521.

Santo Niños in the world

The image of the Child Jesus is a popular portrayal among devotees of Jesus in the world. It is sometimes dressed according to the mores and customs of the people. The Infant Jesus of Prague, a favorite among devotees, is enshrined in the Discalced Church of Our Lady of Victorious on Mala Strana, Czech Republic. Like the Santo Niño of Cebu, it was brought as a precious souvenir by Maria Manriquez de Lara of Spain when she married Vratislav Pernstyn, a Czech nobleman in 1556.

The Bambino Gesu di Aracoeli (Child Jesus of Aracoeli), a 15th-century wooden statue of the Child Jesus, is enshrined in Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli (Altar in Heaven) in Rome, Italy.

The famous images of the Infant Jesus are the Mexican Niño de Atocha in Spain, the Little King of Grace in Beaune, France, and the Holy Child of Remedy in Madrid, Spain, among others.