History

Cebu’s holiest church houses a revered Flemish statuette of the Christ child (Santo Niño) that dates to Magellan’s time. The church is no stranger to hardship: established in 1565 (the first church in the Philippines), three earlier structures were destroyed by fire, before the existing baroque structure was built in 1737. Its facade and belfry were badly damaged by the 2013 earthquake but have been restored.

Perhaps the church owes its incendiary past to the perennial bonfire of candles in its courtyard, stoked by an endless procession of pilgrims and other worshippers. The object of their veneration is an image of the infant Jesus, sequestered in a chapel to the left of the altar. It dates back to Magellan’s time and is said to be miraculous (which it probably had to be to survive all those fires). Every year, the image is the centrepiece of Cebu’s largest annual event, the Sinulog Festival.

On Sundays and Fridays, the street outside the church is closed to vehicular traffic, all-day outdoor masses are held and the basilica turns into a sea of pilgrims, water sellers and replica Santo Niño salespeople.

The Basilica Minore Del Sto. Nino (The Minor Basilica of the Holy Child in English) is a minor basilica located in Cebu City, Philippines. It was founded by the Spaniards headed by Fr. Andres de Urdaneta on April 28, 1565. It was also the same day that the Legazpi-Urdaneta expedition arrived in the island of Cebu.

Basilica Minore Del Sto. Nino is the oldest Roman Catholic church established in the Philippines. It was built on the same spot where the image of the Sto. Nino de Cebu, a statue depicting the Child Jesus, was found in 1565 by Spanish explorers led by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. The image is the same statue given by Ferdinand Magellan to the wife of Rajah Humabon as a gift over forty years after Humabon’s baptism to Christianity. he was baptized on April 14, 1521. The image was found by a soldier. It was preserved in a burnt wood box after Legazpi razed the village of hostile natives. The Holy See calls the temple the “Mother and Head of all Churches in the Philippines”.

The present building of the Sto. Nino church, which was completed in 1739-1740, has housed the oldest religious image in the country ever since.

1566 – the first church believed to be built on the site where the image of the Sto. Nino was found was destroyed by fire and was said to be built by Fr. Diego de Herrera using wood and nipa.
1605 – the construction of a new church made from wood and nipa was started headed by Fr. Pedro Torres. It was finished in 1626. Unfortunately, because of the lightness of the materials used, it was again burned in 1628.
1628 – the construction of another church was started again as directed by Fr. Juan Medina. This time, they used stones and bricks instead. The structure was found to be defective because the bricks professedly “melted” upon contact with air so the construction was stopped.
February 29, 1735 – During this time, the construction was started with a combination of efforts from Father Provincial Bergano, Governor-General Fernando Valdes, Bishop Manuel Antonio Decio Y Ocampo of Cebu and Juan de Albarran Prior of the Sto. Nino. They started the foundation of the present church using stones. Aside from the efforts of the names mentioned, a lot of help came from other church leaders and parishioners. Every 3rd Sunday of January, the whole Cebu City celebrates the grandest celebration of the year. It is the Sinulog festival. It is a celebration in honor of the feast of the Senior Sto. Nino, the patron of Cebu. One of the highlights of this celebration is the street parade that lasts for 9 to 12 hours with participants coming from the different towns and cities of Cebu and even from other islands of the Philippines.

The Basílica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebú (Minor Basilica of the Holy Child of Cebú) commonly known as the Santo Niño Basilica, is a minor basilica in Cebu City in the Philippines that was founded in the 1565 by Fray Andrés de Urdaneta, O.S.A. and Fray Diego de Herrera, O.S.A.. The oldest Roman Catholic church in the country, it is built on the spot where the image of the Santo Niño de Cebú was found during the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi. The icon, a statuette of the Child Jesus, is the same one presented by Ferdinand Magellan to the chief consort of Rajah Humabon upon the royal couple’s christening on April 14, 1521. It was found by a soldier named Juan de Camuz forty years later, preserved in a wooden box, after Legazpi had razed a local village.^[1] When Pope Paul VI made the church a basilica in 1965, he declared it to be “the symbol of the birth and growth of Christianity in the Philippines.”

The present building, which was completed from 1739-1740, has been designated by the Holy See as the “Mother and Head of all Churches in the Philippines” (Mater et Caput… Omnium Ecclesiarum Insularum Philippinarum).^[ The church of the Holy Child was founded by Fray Andrés de Urdaneta, O.S.A. on April 28, 1565, the day when the image of the Holy Child was found in a partially burned hut. More than a

week passed after the rediscovery of the image of Santo Niño, on May 8, 1565, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi initiated the founding of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. On the spot of the house where the image of the Santo Niño was found, the monastery of the Holy Name of Jesus was constructed.

The first church to be built on the site where the image of the Holy Child was found was burned down on November 1, 1566. It was said to be built by Fr. Diego de Herrera using wood and nipa. Fray Pedro Torres, O.S.A. started the construction of a new church in 1605. It was finished in 1626 but was again burned in March 1628. Fray Juan Medina, O.S.A.^[5] started the construction of another church in 1628, using stone and bricks, a great innovation at that time. The construction was stopped because the structure was found to be defective.