FROM Dec. 14 to Jan. 4, 2009 the Santisimo Parish inside the campus of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in España, Manila, shall open its hallway for the exhibit, titled ?Niño Jesus.?

Santisimo Rosario parish priest and ?Niño Jesus? project chair Fr. James Alamillo, O.P., with assistant parish priest Fr. Lucio Gutierrez, O.P., said he offers the exhibit as a gift and as an act of faith expressing ?all our deep affections to the Divine Child.?

Sto. Niño, as the icon of the Infant Jesus is fondly called by devotees, will be presented as a baby born in a manger of a Belen setting, or as a Child-King in gold-embroidered vestments majestically wearing the emblems of his heavenly office and as a young boy holding the symbols of his attributes.

In the visualization and execution of ?Niño Jesus,? ecclesiastical exhibit designer Rei Nicolas takes inspiration from the Sto. Niño exhibit that was mounted at the National Library more than 40 years ago. Only select images of the Holy Child were featured in that exhibit on the occasion of the Fourth Centennial of the Christianization of the Philippines.

Origins of the cult

The dawn of the Conquista when Ferdinand Magellan arrived on Philippine shores in 1521, marked the beginning of a cult that to this very day has never lost its fire. It was during the baptismal rites of Rajah Humabon of the island of Sugbu and his wife, that a wooden image of the Child Jesus was presented, and thereafter asked for by the newly-baptized queen to be added to her other local images. That image which was carved at the Spanish territory of Flanders, is none other than the revered Sto. Niño de Cebu. That same image would resurface in historical accounts when the Adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived on the same island after more than 40 years, on April 28, 1565. As the village was set afire, the sailor Juan Camus found the image, unscathed, inside one of the huts.

From then on, the cult of the Sto. Niño spread across the islands like wildfire, ablaze with the passions of the Catholic faith, as it wove through the web of pageantry and rituals that pagan Filipinos had for hundreds of years even before the conquest. The Divine Child must have made His presence felt, to rise above intricate and varied modes of worship by different indigenous tribes inhabiting as many islands. Or was there a connection in the fundamental meaning of a Supreme Deity? To this day, from lloilo to Cebu, and Ibajay to Kalibo, rites in honor of the Sto. Niño is a mix of paganistic rituals, pageantry and revelry on one hand, and the traditional conduct of processions of the Catholic Church on the other.

Titles and attire

The oldest images of the Sto. Niño in the Philippines were, in most cases, dressed and named as symbols of power. The 16th and 17th centuries were, after all, the Siglo de Oro of Spain. In an age where the Spanish monarch ruled over vast territories, the indio, whether in distant Mexico or in Las Islas Filipinas at the far end of the globe, could only visualize this might through the images that were dressed according to the dictates of his royal court. As such, images were named ?El Niño Rey,? the ?Capitan General de Filipinas? of the Recollects at San Sebastian Church, ?El Capitan? and ?El Teniente? of Tacloban, the ?Conquistador,? ?Almirante? and the ?General.? The Sto. Niño de Malolos and de Tondo are dressed as boy-kings wearing royal crowns, draped with gold-embroidered vestments, holding the baton of authority and the orb signifying His dominion.

Ironically, that Golden Age was also the Age of Reformation where different movements swept across Europe in protest to the excesses and corruption of the Catholic Church at that time. The fight had to be carried out in all fronts?from the intellectual to the emotional fields. The converts must constantly be reminded of the saving grace derived from the sufferings and death of our Lord. Hence, the Sto. Niño de Pasion is one of the oldest titles given to the Sto. Niño. It is a most endearing representation where our Lord, as a young boy, reflects on the agony that will come upon Him.

Many of the titles of the Sto. Niño were determined from the locality of veneration. Countless favors are granted and miraculous cures attributed whenever the Sto. Niño is invoked to be the patron of a town or province. As such we have the Sto. Niño de Ternate in Cavite, Sto. Niño de Pandacan in Manila, or the Sto. Niño de Sabtang in Batanes. Titles derived from the attributes of the Divine Child gave rise to the many different artistic renditions of facial expressions and pose. As meek and mild, the Sto. Niño de Amor points to His heart as the only treasure the devotee should seek in his lifetime. With outstretched hands, the Bambino Amabilis directs the attention of the devotee to our Heavenly Father. Titles were also taken from the venerated images of Our Lady carrying the Child Jesus. Like the Sto. Niño de la Paloma, Del Rosario and Del Buen Suceso. To the Sto. Niño de Karpintero we invoke guidance for our daily work.

Open-ended

The exhibit ?Niño Jesus? aims to represent the rich traditions that have evolved in our country today. It shall be an open-ended summation as the Sto. Niño continuous to ?reinvent Himself,? as Dez Bautista puts it.

From Malolos where the pre-war traditions of the Sto. Niño revived and which has been reinstitutionalized for more than 30 years now, it is an understatement to say that the Sto. Niño has survived in time. More so, the Sto. Niño has flourished in time, defying rock bands and the magnets of the computer age. He is the Flanders? image 500 years ago, He is the image in our jeepneys and department stores, He is our Sto. Niño ?kahapon, ngayon at bukas.?

The rector of the University of Santo Tomas, Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, O.P., shall bless the exhibit after which children of the parish will re-enact the Nativity as the main attraction for the opening rites. Christmas carols will be rendered by the Juan Luna Elementary School children?s choir and parlor games for the indigent children of the parish conducted at the parish garden.

The public is invited to view the family heirloom images and rare collections of Tom Joven, Jerome de Jesus, Nolie Hans, Steve de Leon, Manny Castro, Rey de la Cruz, Boobee Escobar, Nonoi Fuentes, Fr. Isidro Abano, O.P., Deng Tengco and Noel Abquilan among many others.

For more information, please contact the project coordinator, James Patrick Jaring at 731-3062.