IT IS Fiesta Senyor time in Cebu City, and all the flurry of activities is centered on the holy image of the Santo Niño given centuries ago to Queen Juana by Ferdinand Magellan. The major activities, the masses and novenas used to take place inside the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño. But according to Rev. Fr. Jonas Mejares, rector of the basilica, the masses and novenas for the fiesta were moved to the Santo Niño Pilgrim Center in the 1990s.
The Pilgrim Center building houses the Augustinian Province of Sto. Niño de Cebu, established in 1983. Its front facade, facing the basilica, was converted into an altar where holy mass was first celebrated in September 1990. The Pilgrim Center grounds, and its bleachers to its sides, can seat around five thousand, said Fr. Mejares, but about seven thousand can be “squeezed” into that space.
He added that when the Pilgrim Center was built, the Augustinian priests of that time foresaw that the crowds attending the novenas for the feast day of the Sto. Niño, would soon need the bigger space the Pilgrim Center provides.
These days, even that space is not really enough. For the fiesta, they have placed sound monitors outside the church grounds for those who want to follow the novena but have no more room inside. And those who want to receive communion can also do so, with four communion stations also placed outside the church premises.
It is also providential that the Pilgrim Center is there, remarked Fr. Mejares, in the light of the 2013 earthquake which damaged the basilica and toppled its bell tower. The basilica had to be kept off limits, and all the holy masses held in the basilica were transferred to the Pilgrim Center, until Dec. 24, 2014, when the basilica finally opened its doors to churchgoers. He said morning masses are now held within the basilica from Monday to Thursday, and on Saturday. Friday and Sunday masses will still be at the Pilgrim Center.
The open air of the Pilgrim Center may not be as conducive to prayer as the insulated premises of the basilica, but there’s no stopping the devotees of the Sto. Niño from showing their love to the Holy Child. Collectively, they wrap themselves in prayerful concentration and devotion sometimes in sun and sometimes in rain. Always, always, the love and devotion is there for the Santo Niño.
Viva Pit Señor!