The Divino Niño, also known as Divino Niño de Bogotá or Divine Child Jesus, is a 20th-century religious wooden statue of the

child Jesus The Christ Child, also known as Divine Infant, Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, the Divine Child, Child Jesus, the Holy Child, Santo Niño, and to some as Señor Noemi refers to Jesus Christ from his nativity to age 12. The four canonical gospels, a ...

originating from Bogota, Colombia. A cross originally in the back was removed upon purchase by Father Giovanni Rizzo. The 17-centimeter high statue with arms stretched out wide and wearing a traditional pink robe or

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has an inscription "''Yo reinaré''" ("I will reign") at its base. It is one of the most popular religious images in Colombia, especially among Roman Catholics and it is claimed to have miraculous powers of fertility and healing.

History

The statue's image and religious devotion began with a

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priest named Father Giovanni Rizzo (Anglicized: John Rizzo), from

Arenzano Arenzano (local lij, Rensën) is a coastal town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, Liguria, northern Italy, facing the Ligurian Sea. , it has a population of 11,445. This varies during the holiday seasons due to tourist flow. There ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. His bishop once assigned him to an impoverished town or ''barrio'' in Bogotá, Colombia. In 1914, Rizzo and his

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priestly companions were building a new church in Barranquilla, Colombia. With limited financial resources, Rizzo is believed to have had a mystical vision of the

in a standing posture while beckoning out his arms. The boy in the vision spoke "Take me with you, I want to accompany you."

The statue

In 1942, after years of finishing church construction, Rizzo discovered a child Jesus statue in a nearby shop called ''El Vaticano''. In the shop was the statue by an anonymous Italian sculptor who fashioned a likeness of the child Jesus with a cross in the back, as in Rizzo's vision. Rizzo ordered the cross to be removed from his back and that the owner inscribe the words ''Yo reinaré'' (English: I will reign) at the base of the statue, which he brought to his new parish,"History of Divino Nino", The House of Divino Nino
/ref> where he began to preach about the favors the Christ Child does for those who have faith and who help the poor.

Apparition to Mother Angelica

Foundress of Eternal World Television Network,

Mother Angelica Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation (born Rita Antoinette Rizzo; April 20, 1923 – March 27, 2016), also known as Mother Angelica, was an American Roman Catholic nun of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration. She was best known for the t ...

has a strong devotion to the

. Various religious reports claim that in 1995, she travelled in Colombia to expand their evangelizing work of her then-new network in the

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in th ...

. In Colombia, Angelica met Padre Juan Pablo Rodriguez, who introduced her and her companion sisters to the shrine of the Divino Niño. Angelica recalled that upon praying before the image, the statue came alive and spoke to her, commanding her to build a temple where he will bless her benefactors. In a later biography by

Raymond Arroyo Raymond Arroyo (born September 20, 1970) is an American author, journalist, and producer. He is the news director and lead anchor of EWTN News, the news division of the Eternal Word Television Network. He is creator and host of the news program ...

, Angelica recalls that she has brief conversations with the child Jesus and has also seen him in the hallway of her convent. Mother Angelica brought this devotion back with her to

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, where she and her companion sisters propagate the devotion. A variant of their child Jesus image portrays him holding a burning heart, rather than with the traditional outstretched arms found in Bogotá. Angelica also attributes her many network and television successes to this pious religious devotion. On her visit to Colombia noted that she shared the same last name as the founder of the devotion,

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Father John Rizzo. Mother Angelica's birth name was Rita Antoinette Rizzo."El Divino Niño in Columbia", EWTN
/ref>

History

The statue

Apparition to Mother Angelica

References

See also