457th fiesta doesn’t jibe with “501 years of Christianity”

This year, 2022, on January 16, Cebu and the Philippines will be celebrating the 457th feast of the Santo Niño. The Santo Niño is the anchor of Philippine Christianity. The image of the Holy Child was a gift of Ferdinand Magellan to a few Cebu natives he baptized in 1521. It is the same image Miguel Lopez de Legazpi discovered in a chest in a burnt hut when he came in 1565 to colonize and Christianize the Philippines.

If we are celebrating the 457th fiesta, according to the reckoning of the Augustinians, the guardians of and undisputed authority on anything Santo Niño, then it is clear that the very first fiesta was celebrated only in 1565 when Legazpi came and not in 1521 when Magellan baptized a few natives. That means the first "Christians" baptized by Magellan never celebrated a fiesta for 44 years. It took the arrival of Legazpi in 1565 to start the practice.

And this is what I have been saying all along, that it is wrong for the present-day Philippine bishops to rewrite and revise history by declaring that the Christianization of the Philippines started in 1521 with the baptism of a few natives by Magellan, hence the 5th Centennial celebrated in 2021. I do not think baptism alone makes one a Christian. One has to perform certain acts, be administered sacraments and otherwise live a Christian life to be one.

I have never been more proud of the Augustinians than now by their adamant, if quiet, insistence to stick to what is true in accordance with history by marking this year as the 457th fiesta of the Santo Niño. As real experts on the history of Christianity in this country, they count from 1565 when we first truly became Christians, not 1521 which is a conscious and willful revision of history and miscounting by present-day Philippine bishops.

I am proud of the brave Augustinians for standing up to what is true and right. I was educated early on at their Colegio del Santo Niño. I was already a living and breathing Grade 5 boy of 12 in 1965 when the 4th Centennial of the Christianization of the Philippines was celebrated. As a Boy Scout I was, along with other students, in the thick of activities.

The 4th Centennial in 1965 was as grand as it was meaningful. President Diosdado Macapagal declared several days as no-work, no-school holidays. Pope Paul VI sent as papal legate Cardinal Ildebrando Antoniutti and elevated the San Agustin Church into the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño. I did not imagine these things. They are part of history.

But if the 4th Centennial was celebrated in 1965, that is, counting from 1565, it is only historically, mathematically, and logically correct to celebrate the 5th Centennial in 2065 yet. So why did the present-day Philippine bishops rewrite and revise history by advancing the celebration to last year, 2021, on the flimsy argument that the count should start with Magellan and his few baptized "Christians" in 1521?

Well, here is what happened to the bishops' early "Christians" of 1521: After Lapu-Lapu killed Magellan, they promptly turned on the remainder of Magellan's men and murdered them. The few who survived fled. All in all, Magellan and his men stayed only for a little over a month --March 16 to April 27, 1521. Clearly not enough time to make "Christians" out of a few baptized natives who didn't even know how to make the sign of the cross.

It is with great pain that I must say this. I suspect the real reason why present-day bishops advanced the 5th Centennial to 2021 is because 2065 is simply still too far away for most of them to enjoy and benefit from. I suspect this must have displeased God so much that he brought in COVID-19 to ruin the grand plans. One bishop, tired of COVID-19 and empty churches, asked: "When will this end, O Lord?" Maybe God will answer: Ask yourself!