Basilica Minor del Santo Niño of Cebu

January 15, 2013 · Posted in Philippine Religious Sites

It is a 16th century church and the oldest Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines. Located in the heart of downtown Cebu which was constructed by the Spaniards in year 1566 on the exact place where the image of the Santo Nino left behind by Portuguese and Spanish explorers during 1521.

The Holy Child church was first discovered by an Augustinian priest named Andres Urdaneta, the one summoned to lead the expedition which he left Mexico for the Philippines and arrived in Cebu on April 27, 1565.

Basilica Minor del Santo Niño original structure was made out of earth, hard wood, and nipa until it was destroyed by fire. Then, the church was rebuilt in 1602 and in 1735, the late Cebu Governor Fernando Valdes y Tamon ordered that it be constructed out of hard stone that the materials were quarried from Capiz and Panay on wooden boats, exactly the same spot where the wooden one had stood and the molave wood came from the mountains of Talisay and Pitalo and was transported in bancas hired in Argao and Carcar respectively. Work on the church was completed no later than 1739.

The image of Santo Niño can be found in the Santo Niño Chapel of the Basilica. The miraculous image has been venerated by the Cebuanos and became the patron of Cebu adorned with gold and precious stones. His feast is celebrated every third Sunday of January known as The Sinulog Festival, the biggest and grandest of all Philippines festival that takes place in the streets of Cebu.

Mass Schedule:

Monday-Thursday

6:00 am – Cebuano 8:00 pm – English
7:00 am – Cebuano 5:30 pm – English

Friday

5:00 am – Cebuano 10:00 am – Cebuano
6:00 am – Cebuano 11:00 am – Cebuano
7:00 am – English 12:00 am – English
8:00 am – English Benediction / Novena on other Fridays
9:00 am – English Mass – Novena on First Fridays

3:00 pm – Cebuano 7:30 pm – English
4:30 pm – Cebuano Mass / Novena on First Fridays
5:30 pm – English Mass – Novena on First Fridays
6:30 pm – English

Sunday

5:30 am – Cebuano 10:00 am – Cebuano 4:00 pm – Cebuano
7:00 am – Cebuano 11:30 am – English 5:30 pm – English
8:30 am – English 2:30 pm – Cebuano 7:00 pm – English