NAMING OF SANTO NINO CHURCH PLANT...

Why Santo Niño or Holy Child?

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (4)Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (5)Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me,” – Matthew 18:3-4:

Although it is our solemn intent to plant a church among Asians, especially Pacific Islanders, we cannot help but put additional focus on Filipinos since our connection is mostly with our fellow countrymen. This is why we have decided to adopt Sto. Niño is our church patron due to the faithful endearing emotions the young Christ evokeS among our people.

The Sto. Niño has a very special place in the heart of Filipinos since our nation was first colonized in 1521 by the Spanish conquistadors led by Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese mercenary working for King Philip II of Spain. For Filipinos, children represent innocence, joy, and a sure place in God’s Kingdom hence their importance in our culture and psyche.

According to historical records, Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan’s chronicler, claimed that Magellan converted more than 800 Cebuano’s, including their chieftain Rajah Humabon and his wife, to Christianity shortly after arriving in Cebu, one of the small Visayan islands in what is now Central Philippines.

To wean them away from their anitos (idols) and pagan shrines, Magellan ordered the Cebuanos to destroy their idols and shrines. At the same time, he presented the wife of Humabon, who was baptized as Juana, with a 15-centimeter image of the Sto. Niño, to replace the fallen idols, Pigafetta further said. This is how Christianity started in the Philippines.

Magellan was not able to go to circumvent the world and go back to Spain because he was killed by Datu Lapu-Lapu, a rival chieftain of Humabon, on the shores of Mactan island following a skirmish arising from the datu’s refusal to be converted to Christianity.

Contemporary Philippine Historian Michael Charleston Chua in 2021 said “The devotion to the Santo Niño in the Philippines flourished spontaneously when the Spaniards led by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi promoted it in 1565. After they captured Cebu on 28 April 1565, the Spaniards discovered the image believed to be the one presented by Magellan in Cebu 44 years earlier.”

“Describing the image as “like those of Flanders,” Legazpi interpreted the discovery as divine providence. Later in their conquest, similar providential discoveries by the Spaniards were made, like in 1571, when they discovered in Manila the image of the Virgin Mary.”

Moreover, Chua said even if the veneration of “the Santo Niño developed in Europe, particularly in Prague, in the 17th century, the devotion to the Santo Niño in the Philippines is completely organic and local to Filipinos. Philippine devotion to the Santo Niño progressed from the fusion of Christianity and the indigenous belief system of our ancestors, the one thing the Spanish missionaries failed to prevent, despite their stern eradication of old unchristian practices.”

According to Anthropologist Peter J. Bräunlein, the Filipinos’ “affection” for the Santo Niño was brought about by our fondness for children and “rubbing and pinching babies.” He said that “starting with the first encounter, the foreign Santo Niño was treated as an orphaned deity. The survival of the image in the indigenous setting, free of missionary control for over 44 years, favored the unique potential of the image to be appropriated and translated into local contexts for diverse spiritual needs and purposes.”

Moreover, aside from cultural reasons, the Sto. Niño will surely strengthen our claim to the Christian faith among young Asian adults, especially Filipinos, as the Holy Child represents Christ in his youth. It will boost our claim that our faith, the faith on which Episcopal Church is built, is based on Jesus Christ our lord and his teachings lest it be forgotten that when the word became flesh, the flesh was first a child before anything else. Adopting the Sto. Niño as the Asia-Pacific islander branch of the Episcopal Church would readily facilitate the easy conversion/reception of Filipino faithful to our church.