The Sto. Nino at the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) chapel on his Jan. 4, 2019 visit to the hospital. | CDN FILE PHOTO
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Roman Catholic church in Cebu will proceed with an online celebration of the 455th Anniversary of Kaplag for the image of Snr. Sto. Niño as the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) here is extended to May 15.
Organizers of the yearly religious event stated in a press release issued on April 23, 2020, that activities in line with the celebration will be aired through broadcast television, radio, and social media.
“Although devotees could not physically attend these activities due to the ongoing enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), they can view and take part online through the Facebook pages of Santo Niño at 500 and Basilica Minore del Santo Niño simultaneously,” the statement said.
Kaplag in Cebuano means finding. The annual event marks the miraculous finding of the image of Snr. Sto. Niño, believed to be a gift bestowed to Queen Juana from Portugues explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
It is now enshrined at the Basilica.
History says that four centuries ago, Augustinian missionaries led by Fray Andres Urdaneta, and several Spanish soldiers who belong to the armada of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, discovered the unscathed image of the Holy Child inside the burnt ruins of a house where the Basilica now stands.
Kaplag-related activities will run from April 25 to April 28. Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma is expected to preside the Commemorative Mass on April 28 at 8 a.m.
“An online concert entitled Kaplag: Kahayag Diha sa Kangitngit (Finding Light in the Midst of Darkness-Crisis) will be streamed on the same date at 8 p.m,” it added.
All activities will be streamed live. See the list below of Kaplag’s daily schedule.
- 8 am masses,
- 10 am veneration of the Original Image of Sto. Niño de Cebu,
- 12 nn prayer to Stem the Scourge of the Pandemic,
- 8 pm veneration of the Original Image of Sto. Niño de Cebu with Perpetual Novena,
- 9 pm Holy Rosary; and
- 4 pm Radyo Niño. /rcg