The miraculous Santo Niño

CEBU, Philippines - There have been many reports of supposed miracles of the Santo Niño. There’s the “dancing” Santo Niño, “crying” Santo Niño, “wandering” Santo Niño etc. Many of these recent spectacles involving the Santo Niño, however, have not been recognized by the Church authorities as miracles.

The faithful are also divided on the subject. Some say that these are ways by which the Santo Niño calls everyone’s attention that He is real. Others argue that the Santo Niño doesn’t have to make a scene that is nothing but sheer entertainment just to prove that He is God.

But divided as they may be on the issue of the supposed miracles, everyone acknowledges the divine power of the Holy Child. Stories about the miracles of Santo Niño aren’t anything new at all. Some of the miracle stories date back to ages past.

One pious legend of the wonder-working little Santo Niño is set in Spain.

In Atocha, a suburb of Madrid, many men were imprisoned because of their Christian faith. The prisoners were not fed by their jailors, so food was brought to them by their families. At one time the prison steward issued an order that no one except children 12 years old and younger would be permitted to bring food to the prisoners. Prisoners belonging to families with young children would manage to keep themselves alive, but what of the others?

The women of the town appealed to Our Lady of Atocha, their patroness, begging her to help them find a way to feed their husbands, sons, and brothers in prison. Soon after, the children coming home from the prison told a strange story.

The prisoners who had no young children to bring them food were being visited and fed by a young boy. None of the children knew who the boy was, but the little water gourd he carried was never empty, and there was always plenty of bread in his basket to feed all the hapless prisoners without children of their own to bring them their food. The strange boy came at night, slipping past the sleeping guards or smiling politely at those who were alert.

Those who had asked the Virgin of Atocha for a miracle began to suspect the identity of the little boy. As if in confirmation, the shoes on the statue of the child Jesus at the town’s Church were worn down. When they replaced the shoes with new ones, these too got worn out soon.

The townspeople were convinced it was the Santo Niño. After King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella drove the Moors from Spain in 1492, the people continued to invoke the aid of Our Lady of Atocha and her Holy Child.

When the Spaniards came to new territories in the name of their king, they brought along the devotions of their native regions. It’s no wonder that Ferdinand Magellan himself, the discoverer of the Philippines, brought an image of the Santo Niño on his expedition to the archipelago in 1521. Magellan gave the Santo Nino as  baptismal gift to the native queen of Sugbo village, upon her conversion to Christianity together with her king husband and their villagers.

The Santo Niño de Cebu, whose fiesta is celebrated today, is now housed at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, near the Magellan’s Cross where Magellan is said to have planted a wooden Cross upon setting foot on Sugbo shore. Junrey Modequillo   (FREEMAN)