Santo Niño icon vested in gold and red costume
The Santo Niño icon will be vested in a combined gold and red costume during the nine-day novena on the Feast of the Santo Niño de Cebu leading up to the Sinulog festival on January 20.
The new vestments will also be beaded with crystals and red velvet. Church officials, however, did not bare the maker of the vestments.
It has been a tradition that the vestments of the Holy Child will be changed in every Sinulog festivity. The clothes worn during the past year are placed on the replica that is shown on the altar.
Although the original image will be kept inside the Basilica, it will be shown only during the day before the festivity. The original image is smaller than that of the replica, which is being placed on the altar of the Basilica.
Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal would usually bring the original image of the Holy Child to the caroza on the day before the feast. The image is one that Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan had brought to
In the service of Charles V of
He persuaded Rajah Humabon and his wife Hara Amihan to pledge their allegiance with
Magellan gave Juana the image of the Santo Niño as a symbol of the alliance. However, Magellan was killed during the Battle of Mactan later that month, and the alliance became more or less moot.
On February 1565,
The Santo Niño was found relatively unscathed in a burnt-out dwelling. This event was quickly acknowledged as miraculous, and a church was later constructed on the site of the discovery.
Today, the Basilica del Santo Niño is an important historical and religious landmark in
- Latest
- Trending
