The Santo Niño de Tondo is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

title of the

Child Jesus The Christ Child—also known as Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, Child Jesus, Divine Child, Divine Infant and the Holy Child—refers to Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ during his early years. The term refers to a period of life of Jesus, Jesus' l ...

associated with a religious image of the Christ Child. The image was brought to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

during the expedition of

Miguel López de Legazpi Miguel López de Legazpi (12 June 1502 – 20 August 1572), also known as ''Adelantado, El Adelantado'' and ''El Viejo'' (The Elder), was a Spanish conquistador who financed and led an expedition to conquer the Philippines, Philippine islan ...

in 1572, and is the second-oldest image of the Child Jesus in the Philippines after the

Santo Niño de Cebú The Señor Santo Niño de Cebú is a Catholic title of the Child Jesus associated with a religious image of the Christ Child widely venerated as miraculous by Roman Catholicism in the Philippines, Filipino Catholics. It is the oldest Christian ...

. The image is enshrined in the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santo Niño de Tondo.

History

Origin

This statue of the Child Jesus was originally brought to Manila from

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...

in the early 1570s. This was likely during the expedition of

. The shrine of the Holy Child was recognized as a Provincial Chapter by the Spanish Augustinian friars of

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

on May 3, 1572, with Alonzo Alvarado, OSA becoming its official

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

and director.

Theft and recovery

The image of Santo Niño de Tondo was taken from its shrine above the high altar on July 14, 1972. Fr. Lorenzo Egos, the then-assistant parish priest, claimed the robbers had fled the church after the doors were locked at 8 p.m. that day. Coincidentally, after the image was stolen, the country was struck by one of the worst weather-related disasters in Philippine history, Typhoon Gloring. A majority of the Filipino faithful believed the disaster was caused by the theft of the image. Sometime after the theft, authorities arrested the four men who stole the image, which was found dismembered. The main torso was discarded in a nearby drainage canal, while the head, hands, and feet were found in the possession of other robbers. All parts of the image were nonetheless recovered. Then-

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ferdinand Marcos, Sr ordered the urgent reconstruction of the desecrated image, which was entrusted to renowned sculptor and ''

santero Santero (feminine form santera, Spanish for "saint-maker") may refer to: * An artisan who creates ' and other Spanish-style religious artwork * A priest in the Santería Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, ...

'' Máximo Vicente.

Today

The Santo Niño de Tondo is the second-oldest venerated image of the Child Jesus in the country, next to the

Santo Niño de Cebu Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwad ...

. On February 5, 2019, the church was elevated to the rank of Archdiocesan Shrine, with the

Archdiocese of Manila In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

recognising its spiritual, historical, and cultural importance, and the devotion to the Santo Niño de Tondo within and outside the archdiocese. Filipinos consider the image miraculous, with replicas found in Filipino homes, households, and business establishments. Devotees often accord the image the title ''Harì ng Tondo'' (“King of Tondo”).

Feast

The feast day of Santo Niño in Tondo is celebrated every the third Sunday of January. The fiesta in Tondo has the biggest participation in Manila, not only because Tondo is the most populous district in the city and poorest, but likely due to many anecdotes of miracles connected to the Santo Niño of Tondo. According to the Philippine Historical Commission, the people of Tondo celebrated the feast day with a fluvial procession that “attracted thousands of visitors.” Tondo’s terrain once consisted of waterways and tributaries connected to

Manila Bay Manila Bay (; ) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the Manila, capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Philippines and ...

, a probable reason why the present stone church of Tondo was built several meters above sea level to prevent waters from inundating the church. Nick Joaquín writes, “historically, the devotion to Santo Niño (in general) outranks all others because the first church in the Philippines was built to enshrine an image of the Santo Niño.” In his 1979 book ''Almanac for Manileños,'' Joaquín detailed previous celebrations of the fiesta: The fiesta of the Santo Niño de Tondo has since been called the “Labayaw Festival”, a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the Tagalog words ''lakbáy'' (“journey”) and ''sayáw'' (“dance”). It was coined with the meaning of “a joyful journey with the Lord.”

References