People in Cebu will now have the chance to have an up-close-and-personal encounter with the historic wooden bust of the suffering Jesus Christ given as baptismal gift by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to Cebu’s Rajah Humabon.
The original image of the Ecce Homo was enthroned in a niche located at the right side of the centuries-old Basilica del Sto. Nino in downtown Cebu City last Saturday afternoon.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma blessed the image which is enshrined in glass adorned with a variety of flowers.
On top of the altar is a painting of the discovery of the Ecce Homo in a human remain believed to be that of Rajah Humabon on Aug. 20, 1572.
Present during the ceremony were priests from the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA) who supervise the basilica.
In August last year, the Ecce Homo was brought back to Cebu City from the San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila which has custody of the image for 46 years.
Rev. Fr. Tito Soquiño, OSA, executive director of the Santo Niño de Cebu Augustinian Social Development Foundation Inc., said they are hoping to propagate the devotion to the Ecce Homo after it was transferred to its new altar.
“The Ecce Homo isn’t known to people. We constructed its shrine so hopefully people will venerate the image,” Soquiño told Cebu Daily News.
He said the Ecce Homo would remind the faithful about the passion of Jesus Christ in order to save people from eternal damnation.
“The image is connected to the sufferings of Jesus; that sufferings have a redeeming value,” he said.
Soquiño said the Ecce Homo is one of the religious icons which has a significant historal value.
The ivory sculpture of the Ecce Homo was believed to be the one given by Magellan to Cebu’s Rajah Humabon in the 16th century.
The image was found on the chest of a Rajah Carli’s.
According to a 1921 writing of Fray Manuel D. Aguado, OSA, the burial belongs to Humabon.
Humabon was baptized Carlos to which Carli sounds close.
Augustinian friars brought the Ecce Homo to San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila during the Fourth Centennial Celebration of the Christianization of the Philippines in 1965.
Since then, only a replica of the image was found in Cebu.
The Cebu Archdiocese through Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal worked for the return of the valuable image to Cebu.
Ecce Homo is Latin for “Behold the man,” Pontius Pilate’s words when he presented Jesus to the crowd after having him scourged.
The face and head of the original Ecce Homo is made of ivory.
Its body, however, had to be changed to wood after it was destroyed.
Rev. Fr. Eusebio Berdon, OSA, Prior Provincial of the Santo Niño de Cebu Province, said the image is “very delicate.”
When its body was restored, Berdon said they had to use wood from Spain and sought the assistance of an expert museum curator.
The Ecce Homo was placed in a glass urn in the main altar of the basilica since it was brought back to Cebu City on August 20, 2011.
Rev. Fr. Rodolfo Bugna, OSA, rector of the Basilica del Sto. Nino, declared
Aug. 20 as the feast day of the Ecce Homo.
In history accounts, the Ecce Homo was presented to Cebu’s chieftain King Humabon who was known as “Carlos” after his baptism.
The ivory bust was found in Cebu on Aug. 20, 1572, the same day that Miguel Lopez de Legaspi died in Manila. It was found on the chest of a rajah believed to be Humabon.
Augustinians brought the image to the San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila in 1965.
Soquino said the Ecce Homo is “the least known” icon brought by Magellan in 1521.
Magellan gave the image of the Sto. Niño to Cebu’s Queen Juana during her baptism.
He gave the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Cebuano natives who were baptized into the Catholic faith.
Magellan presented the Ecce Homo to Cebu’s chieftain, King Humabon. /Ador Vincent S. Mayol, Reporter