Feast of Sto Niño in Bacoor, Cavite

Text and photos by Fe Angela Verzosa

Every year, on the third Sunday of January, we bathe our Santo Niño images in perfume and dress them in pompous, regal attire, and parade them on the street for the procession.What is it about the Sto. Niño image that we, the Catholic faithful, revere so much?

The statue of the Christ Child can be traced to an image of the Infant of Prague (Czech Republic) which was a gift to a Spanish woman when she wedded a Czech nobleman in the 17th century. It was handed down to the Carmelite sisters there. The statue was associated with miraculous healings and protection of the Church during wars. Novenas to the Infant Jesus of Prague are used for petitioning for help in financial matters, health, family, schools, etc.

History tells us that when the great Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines, he gave a statue of the Infant of Prague to Rajah Humabon’s wife after she converted to Christianity, taking the name Juana when she was baptized in 1521. Years later, the statue was recovered by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi who ordered that the image be enshrined in a church to be named “Holy Name of Jesus.” That’s how the country’s most famous icon, that of the Sto. Niño de Cebu, was enshrined in the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in Cebu City.

Here in Molino, we celebrate our fiesta in honor of the same Sto. Niño. Our Parish Church was named after the image.

Editor’s Note: The parade took place on 18 January 2014.