Which Sto. Niño icon for Luneta mass?
Will the Sto. Niño de Cebu go to Luneta?
Philippine bishops have asked to borrow an image of the child Jesus to be used during Pope Francis’ concluding Mass at the Luneta park on Jan. 18.
There are several versions of the Holy Child made of various materials ranging from wood to resin, marble to ivory, carved in different interpretations.
Fr. Jonas Mejares, O.S.A., rector of t he Basilica del Sto. Niño, said he’s willing to lend a replica of the Sto. Niño de Cebu, wearing a crown and distinctive red and gold regalia, if he’s asked.
The formal request was was sent to the San Agustin Church in Intramuros which, like the Augustinian Province of Sto. Niño de Cebu, belongs to the Order of St. Augustine (O.S.A).
“Although we belong to the same religious community, I have not received any formal request yet to send our image of the Sto. Niño de Cebu to Manila for the papal visit,” Mejares told reporters yesterday.
“We have four to five replicas of the Sto. Niño de Cebu and we can send one to Manila.”
He said he was very happy when the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines urged those who will be attending the papal Mass in Manila to bring with them images of the child Jesus.
“It’s as if Pope Francis has visited Cebu already,” he said.
The original four-century-old mage of the Sto. Niño de Cebu made of wood is too delicate to be brought out of the basilica.
“The original image is only brought out of the chapel once a year. And that is when he wears his new vestments a few days before the fiesta,” he said.
The original icon was given by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to Cebu’s Queen Juana as baptismal gift in 1521.
After 44 years, tradition holds that Juan Camus, a soldier of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, found the image again, unscathed, in a burned hut in Cebu City.
Since then, the image has been entrusted to the Augustian missionaries. The original image of the Sto. Niño de Cebu—the oldest Christian icon in the Phillippines—is presently enshrined at the side chapel of the basilica.
“We can only lend them a replica of the original Sto. Niño. Jan. 18 is His fiesta so he must stay here so people can venerate image,” Mejares said.
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