In 1521, Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, gave the icon to Queen Juana of Cebu, who was moved to tears when she saw the smiling image of the Holy Child. It is said this was the reason why she asked to be baptized immediately. After Magellan was slain by Mactan chieftain, Lapu-Lapu, not much was heard about the image except that the Cebuano natives worshipped Him as a rain god and danced the sinulog which to this very day is the most festive local mardi gras with pomp and pageantry, rendering homage to the beat of drums and shouts of Hail, Lord.
Forty years later, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi conquered the land for the Spanish crown. The Cebuano natives, anticipating the arrival of the conquistador burned their homes and fled to the hills. In one of the razed houses, a Spanish soldier retrieved the image of the Sto. Niño in a large wooden chest.
Later, Legaspi named Cebu as the "City of the Most Holy Name of Jesus" in honor of the religious icon. The Sto. Niño was enshrined in a church later converted into a basilica.
The coming of the Sto. Niño can be considered as a key event in the Christianization of the Philippines. Missionaries would instruct the native in the faith. Devotion to the Sto. Nino would take on a more meaningful aspect in the light of what they would learn of the body childhood of Jesus Christ, Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary through the Spirit and dwelt among us. The holy childhood of Jesus tugs at the heart of Filipino devotees the way the lovable face of the Sto. Niño image had moved Queen Juana. Not without some reason, devotion to the Sto. Niño has intensified from generation to generation. This is the attraction we see inherent in the characteristics of a child – innocence and eternal sinlessness, purity, its simplicity, humble littleness and trusting confidence. We are also inclined to love more the child’s powerlessness and dependence, propensity for obedience and surrender; to love the helpless child more than the mighty power of the proud who walk in our midst with that air of arrogance and self-sufficient independence.
The whole mystery of loving devotion of Filipinos to Sto. Niño, is the wonder of a child’s power with God because of its powerlessness. This explains maybe why great favors are obtained through this devotion to the Holy Child by poor and rich alike, by the sick and suffering, by families and communities, by society as a whole as manifested by every image of the Sto. Niño in churches, homes and even in hovels, in offices, banks, vending places even in sidewalks, in buses and jeepneys in public places. The Sto. Niño has become identified with people from every walk of life. He has become in Filipino life the protection and caring God gives His people.
With the prophet, let us then exult the Sto. Niño: "A child is born to us ... on His shoulders dominion rests" (Is 9:5). May devotion to the Sto. Niño still deepen our realization which teaches who is the greatest in the Kingdom, that "unless we turn and become like children, we will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven ... Whoever humbles himself like this child is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt 18:3-5). – Feast of the Sto. Niño, Matthew 18:1-5.10.