The Santo Niño de Cebu devotion in the scheme of global evangelization
Filipino overseas workers who grew up around families devoted to the Santo Niño de Cebu have brought their faith to many places all over the world becoming messengers of hope and peace.
This year’s 459th celebration of the oldest and grandest celebration in honor of the Santo Niño in Cebu is significant because the congregation that keeps the spirit of Saint Augustine in the Philippines marks its 40th year as a Filipino province known as the Province of the Santo Niño de Cebu - Philippines.
Since December 25, 1983, the Province of Santo Niño de Cebu -Philippines no longer functions as a vicariate of the Order of St. Augustine OSA based in Spain.
The 40 year-old Augustinian province is composed of 136 Filipino priests with headquarters in the Basilica del Santo Niño in Cebu City. Decades ago, the Fiesta Senor celebration was basically a religious activity but after it was tied to a cultural celebration of the city in 1980, it evolved into what is now a grand religious and massive cultural event called Sinulog that draws millions of devotees, local and foreign tourists, all eager to watch and experience the so-called mother of all religious celebrations in the Philippines.
FIESTA SENYOR GOES BEYOND PH BORDERS
The Fiesta Senyor and Sinulog festivities have gone beyond Philippine borders to many parts of the world where Filipino workers especially Cebuanos and people from central Philippines have settled or are temporarily working. For them, the Sto. Niño de Cebu devotion is part of their identity and goes with them to places where they find work and a new home.
According to Fr. Tito Soquiño, OSA, the role of the Augustinian Order in the scheme of global evangelization is to bring the Santo Nino de Cebu devotion beyond the borders of the Philippines. He was interviewed three days ahead of his visit to Singapore to attend the 10th anniversary of the
Sinulog celebration in the Lion City.
The Sinulog celebration in Singapore, according to Fr. Soquiño, started when a Portuguese businessman visited Cebu and bought a Sto. Niño icon from the Basilica. He then gave it to his Cebuanos friends in Singapore who later organized a weekly meet up to pray the novena in honor of the Holy Child.
It didn’t take long for the group to organize a religious program capping it with a mass in the Mother of Perpetual Succor parish in Siglap Hill. The feast of the Santo Niño was celebrated last Sunday
(January 28, 2024) with Father Provincial Andres Rivera, OSA officiating. A pilgrim image of the Holy Child was flown from Cebu to grace the occasion. A fiesta-like activity that replicates the Sinulog festival in Cebu usually follows.
Meanwhile, Filipinos notably Cebuanos in New York started their annual Sinulog 23 years ago through the efforts of Mr. Jovenal “Jovi” Figura, a devotee from Cebu City.
In an online interview, Flor Ferolina Lungayan, a former journalist in Cebu City now based in New York City said the 9-day novena prayers in honor of the Santo Niño originally started in the house of Jovi. As the devotees grew in number, they decided to do it in the St. Patrick parish church in Long Island City, New York.
After Jovi passed on in 2004, his wife Merlyn continued the tradition by organizing a group of fellow devotees and called
themselves “Friends of Jovi” in memory of her husband who started it all. The novena prayer in the St. Patrick church starts at 5PM on the same date the novena in Cebu reels off.
A mini Sinulog dance ritual is offered during the 12 o’clock mass. Merlyn is being assisted by fellow devotees Romy and Esther Rancho and Mariam Empalmado. Children of devotees participate as choir members.
Lungayan said the devotion is rooted in the Filipino culture and it helps them cope with the challenges of working and living in a multi-cultural society.
Online reports say many Sinulog festivities are being celebrated by Filipino communities in other American states, across North America, and United Kingdom.
EUROPEAN SINULOG
Meanwhile, the Cofradia del Santo Nino de Cebu Prague Chapter
was installed last January 14, 2024 with a Eucharistic celebration in the St. Thomas Church, an Augustinian church in Prague, Czech Republic.
The solemn ceremony was officiated by Rev. Fr. Nestor B. Bandalan, Jr., OSA, Vice-Rector of the Basilica del Santo Nino de Cebu. He was assisted by Rev. Fr. Imman Noel Abellana, OSA, the spiritual director of the Cofradia del Santo Niño de Cebu-Prague Chapter. This news item appeared in the Basilica del Santo Nino website last January 15, 2024.
In April last year Filipinos living and working in different parts of Europe gathered in Milan, Italy to take part in the feast of the Santo Niño. Thousands of devotees from France, Ireland, Switzerland, Venice and other parts of Europe traveled all the way to Milan to join the foot procession around the streets of Milan. It ended up in the Milan Cathedral aka Duomo for a Eucharistic celebration presided by Cebu Archbishop Jose S. Palma. Afterwards, the pilgrims in their Sinulog finery danced in the foreground of the Duomo.
According to the FB page of European Fiesta Senyor 2023 Milano Kaplag and Sinulog Festival, other high ranking Filipino clerics who joined the celebration included Archbishop Bernardino Auza, the
Apostolic Nuncio to Spain and Bishop Dennis Villarojo of the Diocese of Malolos. The devotion has also found its way across Australia, from its capital territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, to Western Australia and Tasmania.
Currently, more than 400,000 Filipino Australians or Australians with Filipino ancestry live in the largest country in Oceania.
SINULOG IN RUSSIA
That the Santo Nino devotion has gone global was indicated by a picture of Filipino devotees in Russia holding a simple celebration in honor of the feast of the Holy Child. There are approximately 10,000 Filipinos living and working in Russia according to online sources.
A photo of Filipino devotees garbed in bright Filipiniana outfits and headdresses was shared in social media by Philippine Ambassador to Moscow, His Excellency Igor Bailen. He said that last Sunday, a service was offered at the Church of St. Louis of the French in the Lubyanka neighborhood. Built in 1791, the church is one of the three operating Catholic churches in Moscow.
In his Facebook post, Ambassador Bailen said he was blessed to have been invited by the Filipino community in Moscow to be part of the Sinulog. He capped his social media update with, “Pit Senyor!”