BASILICA MINOR DEL SANTO NINO
The church was built by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi and Fr. Andres Urdaneta
on the site where the image of Santo Nino was found in 1565. The church
was however destroyed by fire on November 1, 1568 and was subsequently
rebuilt in 1602 under the administration of Juan Albaran and was
rehabilitated in 1740.
On May 1965, the church was conferred the title of Basilica Minor del
Santo Nino by Cardinal Antonuitte, Papal Legate during the Fourth
Centennial celebration of the Christianization of Cebu.
In 1521 Ferdinand Magellan gave the Santo Nino Image to Queen Juana as
a baptismal gift. Some 40years later in 1565 Miguel Lopez arrived in
Cebu and on finding the native extremely hostile he an his army
besieged the settlement and set fire to it.
It was in one of these burnt out homes that a soldier Juan Camus found
the image of the Santo Nino unscathed. From that point the Cebuanos
have venerated the image as their Patron Saint.
The image is kept in the Parish Convent and a replica adorned with gold and precious stones and enshrined behind glass is housed in a side alter inside the Basilica Minor Del Santo Nino.
Pit Senor Sto. Nino!
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