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The Santo Niño de Cebú (Spanish: Holy Child of Cebu) is a celebrated Roman Catholic religious vested statue of the Child Jesus venerated by many Filipino Catholics who believe it to be miraculous.

Claiming to be the oldest religious image in the Philippines, the statue was originally given in 1521 as a baptismal gift by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan via Antonio Pigafetta, who physically handed it to Lady Humamay, the principal wife of Rajah Humabon, along with a statue of the Our Lady of Guidance and a surviving bust statue of Ecce Homo.

The image merited a Papal blessing on April 28, 1965, the 400th centennial anniversary, when Pope Paul VI issued a papal bull for the Canonical Coronation and Pontifical High Mass via the papal legate to the Philippines, Cardinal Amleto Giovanni Cicognani.

The Santo Niño image is replicated in many homes and business establishments, with different titles reinterpreted in various areas of the country. The image's feast is liturgically celebrated every third Sunday of January, during which devotees carry a portable Santo Niño image onto the street fiesta dancing celebrations. The image is one of the most beloved and recognizable cultural icons in the Philippines, found in both religious and secular areas.

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Description

Measuring approximately twelve inches tall, the statue is believed to be originally made in Flanders, Belgium, and is highly similar in iconography to the Infant Jesus of Prague.

The statue is clothed in its distinctive and expensive red manto, and bears regalia that include a gold crown, globus cruciger, and sceptre mostly donated from devotees in the Philippines and abroad. It is permanently housed encased in bulletproof glass at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in Cebu City. Its feast is celebrated every Third Sunday of January.

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According to Antonio Pigafetta, Italian chronicler to the Spanish expedition, Ferdinand Magellan handed Pigafetta the image to be given to the Rajah's wife right after the baptismal rite officiated by Padre Pedro Valderrama. As it was Pigafetta himself who personally presented the Santo Niño to the newly-baptised Queen Juana as a symbol of the alliance, her newly baptized husband King Carlos, Magellan presented the bust of "Ecce Homo", or the depiction of Christ before Pontius Pilate. He then presented an image of the Virgin Mary to the natives who were baptised after their rulers. Magellan died on 27 April 1521 in the Battle of Mactan, leaving the image behind. Legends say that after initial efforts by the natives to destroy it, the image was venerated as the animist creation deity Bathala. Many historians consider the facial structure of the statue made from Belgium, where Infant Jesus of Prague statues were also common.

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On 28 April 1565, Spanish mariner Juan de Camus found the statue in a pine box amidst the ruins of a burnt house. The image, carved from wood and coated with paint, stood 30 centimetres tall, and wore a loose velvet garment, a gilded neck chain and a woolen red hood. A golden sphere, a replica of the world, was in the in the left hand, and the right hand is slightly raised in benediction. Camus presented the image to Miguel López de Legazpi and the Augustinian priests; the natives refused to associate it with the gift of Magellan, claiming it had existed there since ancient times. Writer Dr. Resil Mojares wrote that the natives did so for fear that the Spaniards would demand it back. The natives’ version of the origin of the Santo Niño is in the Agipo (stump or driftwood) legend, which states that the statue was caught by a fisherman who chose to get rid of it, only to have it returned with a plentiful harvest.

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