CARPENTERS build nipa huts and other props that will be used in the “Kaplag” reenactment next week. JUNJIE MENDOZA/CEBU DAILY NEWS
Patiently they wait in line, at times for more than an hour, just to see the image, touch its glass case or wipe it with hankies, meditate, pray and leave flowers, money, letters, balloons and other tokens of gratitude.
Rich and poor, these people with deep faith come to Cebu City to venerate the four-century-old image of the Sto. Niño de Cebu, the country’s oldest religious icon.
On April 28, Cebuanos will celebrate the 450th anniversary of the “Kaplag,” or the finding of the Sto. Niño image inside a wooden box amid the ruins of a partially burnt hut by a Spanish soldier 44 years after it was given by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to Cebu’s Queen Juana.
The original image is presently enshrined at the marble chapel located beside the main altar of the Basilica del Sto. Niño.
“This celebration is not only for Cebu, but also for the whole Philippines and humanity,” said Fr. Harold Rentoria, OSA, the executive director of the Kaplag event.
Milestones
On the same day, the Catholic Church will mark two other milestones—the 450th anniversary of the Augustinian presence in the Philippines and the 50th anniversary of the elevation of the Sto. Niño Church into a minor basilica.
The Augustinian Fathers, the first missionaries to arrive in the Philippines and to whom the image of the Child Jesus was entrusted, are preparing for the three-fold celebration.
A three-kilometer dawn procession called “Penitential Walk with Jesus” to the Basilica del Sto. Niño in the downtown area on April 19 kicked off the nine-day preparations for the Kaplag. It started from the Redemptorist Church where the Augustinians brought the image for safekeeping during World War II after the basilica was threatened by aerial bombardment.
At least 8,000 devotees joined the walk, carrying lighted candles and replicas of the Sto. Niño.
Novena Masses
Two novena Masses began at 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on April 19 at the pilgrim center of the basilica and will be held until April 28. Among those expected to officiate the Masses on April 26 is Archbishop Piero Marini, president of the Pontifical Committee for the International Eucharistic Congress.
On April 27, the eve of the Kaplag, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle will lead the 6:30 p.m. Mass at the pilgrim center. Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma will officiate the Kaplag Mass.
The image was brought on Friday to the Archdiocesan Shrine of San Nicolas. Two days after, it will be moved to the National Shrine of St. Joseph in Mandaue City for an overnight vigil and will be brought back to the basilica through a fluvial procession from the Ouano Wharf to Pier 1 in Cebu City.
Reenactment
More than 300 students, actors and actresses will participate in a grand reenactment of the Kaplag on the afternoon of April 27 covering three sites in the city.
Scene 1 will be outside of Malacañang sa Sugbo near the pier area. It will depict the arrival of Magellan and his men in 1521.
Scene 2, about 100 meters away at the kiosk in front of City Hall at the back of the basilica, will portray the planting of Magellan’s Cross and the baptism of Queen Juana and Rajah Humabon as catholics. Magellan gave the Queen the image of the Sto. Niño as baptismal gift.
The final scene at the pilgrim center will show what happened on April 28, 1565, when Spanish soldier Juan Camus found the image in a half-scorched hut.
On the actual site of rediscovery, the Augustinians built a church-convent from where the evangelization of the Philippines started and which is now known as the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño.
‘Very big event’
“We made it a point to make this year’s grand reenactment historically correct,” said veteran stage and television director Floy Quintos. The Manila-based director is coordinating with noted Cebuano choreographer Val Sandiego in the rehearsals.
Wide LED screens are installed at the pilgrim center for people to witness the reenactment in full.
Before the Pontifical Mass on April 28, there will be a solemn procession of the image of the Sto. Niño at 3 p.m. At 7 p.m., there will be a Sinulog parade from Fuente Osmeña to the basilica.
Archbishops Palma and Socrates
Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, have issued separate pastoral statements, encouraging the faithful to take part in the Kaplag celebrations.
“I’d like to tell all Cebuanos that this is a very big event,” Father Rentoria said.