17 January 2010: Feast of the “Santo Niño”

Second Sunday after Epiphany or third Sunday of January (Fr James Socias, et al [eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, 1887)

Opening Prayer

“Father in heaven, may we recognize your only Son as God even in the lowliness of his nature; and adore him as our mighty Lord even in his frailty as a child. Help us to welcome his kingdom among us with sincere hearts and the eagerness of a child, and to receive the reward promised to the humble.”

Ref: Ibid

Philippine Devotion to the ‘Santo Niño’

January is the month of the ‘Santo Niño’ in the Filipino Catholic calendar. Devotion to the Holy Infant is the oldest and probably the most popular in the Philippines.

Pigafetta, Ferdinand Magellan’s chronicler, reported that a ‘Santo Niño’ statue was given to Queen Juana, wife of King Humabon of Cebu in 1521 after her baptism. In 1565, when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and his men settled in Cebu, a child’s statue, probably the same one given to Queen Juana, was found in a box among some ruins.

On 13 December 1903, the Benedictine Community in Manila organized the Confraternity of the Infant Jesus for students of the ‘Colegio de San Beda’. On 17 January 1904, the feast of the ‘Santo Niño’ at ‘San Beda’ was celebrated for the first time. Since no statue was available, a framed picture of the Holy Child was used.

A wooden image of the ‘Santo Niño de Praga’ (Holy Child of Prague) was installed in the Our Lady of Montserrat chapel in Tanduay, San Miguel district, Manila on 4 November 1904. It is said to be a copy of the image in the church of the Salesian Sisters in Barcelona, Spain.

The Archbishop of Manila, Msgr. Jeremias Harty, gave permission for establishment of the ‘Santo Niño de Praga’ Confraternity on 28 December 1904. The first procession of this Santo Niño image was held on 20 January 1905.

In 1926 the Benedictine Priory and the ‘Colegio de San Beda’ moved to Mendiola Street. Since 1975, the Feast of the ‘Santo Niño de Praga’ has been celebrated by the Benedictine Abbey every third Sunday of January.

The districts of Tondo and Pandacan in Manila celebrate this fiesta. But the center of the ‘Santo Niño’ devotion is in Cebu City where the original image has been enshrined in the San Agustin Church now the ‘Basilica de Santo Niño’.

This image got to the Augustinian Fathers presumably because Legazpi’s fleet chaplain, Fray Andres de Urdaneta, was of the Order of St Augustine.

Ref: cf “Panorama”, 14 Jan 2001, “Editorial”, p3; F S Talio, “Devotion to the Santo Niño”, p10

The Holy Infant is our God and Saviour

Many of the people who lived in Bethlehem saw Jesus like any other child. The Kings knew how to see Him as the Child who would be adored forever henceforth. Their faith gave them the unique privilege: to be the first among the gentiles to adore whom the world didn’t know yet. Their joy must have been truly great.

We must be attentive because Our Lord also shows himself in the usual events of every day. May we know how to recover this interior light which shines through the monotony of our ordinary life and find Jesus.

“And going into the dwelling, they found the Child there with his Mother, Mary, and fell down to worship him. (Mt 2:11) We also kneel down before Jesus, God hidden in humanity. We tell him once more that we do not want to turn our backs on his divine call, that we shall never separate ourselves from him, that we shall remove from our path all that may be an obstacle to our fidelity and that we sincerely wish to be docile to his inspirations.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Christ is passing by”, 35)

They adored him and knew he was the Messiah, God made Man. The Council of Trent quotes this passage of the adoration of the Kings to teach us the cult which is due to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Present in the tabernacle is the same Jesus the wise men found in Mary’s arms.

How do we adore him when he is exposed in the monstrance or hidden in the tabernacle? Do we devoutly kneel in the moments indicated in the Holy Mass?

We might fail to realize how close Our Lord is to us “because God presents himself ... under the insignificant appearance of a piece of bread; because he does not reveal himself in his glory, ... does not impose himself irresistibly; ... he slips into our life like a shadow, instead of making his power resound at the summit of all things ... How many souls are troubled by doubt because God does not show himself in the way they expected!” (cf J Leclerq, “A Year with the Liturgy”)

We must be attentive, because Our Lord also shows himself in the normal events of every day. May we know how to recover this interior light, which for us breaks through the monotony of days which are all the same; and find Jesus in our ordinary life!

“Those who have already reached the faith and those who are on the path of finding it ... participate, give thanks for the gift of faith, as did the Kings who, filled with gratitude, knelt before the Child. ... How many people there are still who have to be brought to the faith!

“How many have to be brought back to the faith they have lost! This at times is more difficult than the first conversion to the faith. The Church, however, aware of the great gift of the Incarnation of God, cannot pause, can never stop. She has to seek continually the way to Bethlehem for all men and for all times. ...” (John Paul II, “Homily”, 6 Jan 1979)

Let us ask “the Mother of God, who is our Mother, to prepare for us the way that leads to the fullness of love: ‘Cor Mariae dulcissimum, iter para tutum!’ Most sweet heart of Mary, prepare a safe way! Her sweet heart knows the surest path on which to find Christ.

“The three Kings had the star. We have Mary, ‘Stella Maris’, ‘Stella Orientis’, Star of the Sea, Star of the East.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, op cit, 38)

Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 1:328-9, 332-3

Memorial: Our Lady’s Apparition in Pontmain, France*

On the evening of this day in 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War, Mary appeared in Heaven wearing a dark blue dress with a crucifix in her hands. Below the apparition appeared the words, ‘Pray please. God will hear you soon. My Son lets Himself be touched’. That same night an order from the German headquarters called the army back, and on January 28 the French-German armistice was signed. (*Approved)

Ref: Ted and Maureen Flynn, “The Thunder of Justice”, 1993, p23

Memorial: Our Lady of Peace, at Rome. In the year 1483 the Duke of Calabria, having besieged Borne to punish Sixtus IV for having prevented his aiding the Duke of Ferrara against the Venetians. This sovereign pontiff had recourse to the Queen of heaven, bound himself by vow to build a church, under the title of Our Lady of Peace, if it should please her to deliver the city from the siege, and to restore peace to Italy. His prayer having been heard, he fulfilled his vow, by commencing a church, which was finished by Innocent VIII, his successor. (cf “Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)