Sto. Nino chapel visited by Pope John Paul II in his visit to Cebu in 1981. (CDN PHOTO/ MARIAN Z. CODILLA)
Under a flyover in one of the busiest intersections in Cebu City stands a jerry-built Sto. Niño chapel that nearby residents have been trying to save.
A 62-year old widow, Prosie Azurin vividly remembered that moment he saw Blessed John Paul II stop and knelt before their rickety chapel from inside his pope mobile while on his way to the former Lahug airport, which has since become IT Park.
“He came from (former Juan Luna Avenue) the airport and was on his way to the old Lahug airport where thousands of people were waiting for him. But his vehicle stopped right in front of our chapel and he bent on one knee, paused as if he said a prayer to the Sto. Niño while inside his vehicle. We believe it was the first Sto. Niño image he saw when he arrived,” Azurin said.
Azurin was serving bread from a newly opened bakeshop to cadets who served as a human barricade when then Pope John Paul II made his first and last visit in Cebu in February 1981.
She said there was a commotion while she distributed bread to the cadets and saw the pope mobile stop in front of the house of businessman Julian Vercede at the corner of San Jose Dela Montaña and Gov. M. Cuenco Avenue.
Azurin said the pope mobile moved closer to the chapel and stopped, so she went to the area. Gov. Cuenco Avenue then was too narrow, she said.
“Our chapel was very small then. It didn’t have a door and its walls were made of plywood. The image of the Sto. Nino was right there,” Azurin said pointing to the old altar.
The visit was documented by a photograph owned by Belen Arela, whose husband was the chapel president at that time. The wobbly chapel was built in the early 40s when the Vercede family transferred their home.
The black wooden image of the Sto.Niño that the pope saw is owned by three unmarried sisters who live in a hinterland barangay in Consolacion town.
It is only brought to the chapel during their fiesta celebration in January and returned to the owners afterwards.
Azurin said the pope’s stopover before their chapel may have saved the chapel from demolition since 1974. She said the settlers in barangay Lahug were asked to move out.
“We sometimes feel his (Pope John Paul II) presence here. During our fiesta we often smell that sweet unrecognizable scent but we don’t make a big thing out of it because they might say we are superstitious or some sort but I really feel his presence,” Azurin said.
Azurin is now the chapel president and is amazed by the community’s faith despite living in a neighborhood populated by nightly distractions.
The chapel is tucked within the shanty structures along the busy intersection of Salinas Drive and Gov. Cuenco Avenue and is now dwarfed by the flyover and tall buildings around it.
Every time they hold novena masses, Azurin said they ask the officials to close that small road under the flyover so they can accommodate the number of people attending the Mass.
“At that moment when I saw him, I felt very happy. It was a different kind of happiness. It’s a different kind of feeling. It’s the most beautiful kind of happiness I have ever experienced in my life,” said neighborhood beautician Carmen Villamor who also the pope from afar at the old airport.
The late pope’s stopover may not have been well recorded but that left an indelible mark in their hearts of the community.