Bedan Devotion to the Santo Niño of Prague

January is the month of the ‘Santo Niño’ in the Filipino Catholic calendar. Devotion to the Holy Infant is the oldest and probably the most popular in the Philippines.

Pigafetta, Ferdinand Magellan’s chronicler, reported that a “Santo Niño” statue was given to Queen Juana, wife of King Humabon of Cebu in 1521 after her baptism. In 1565, when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and his men settled in Cebu, a child’s statue, probably the same one given to Queen Juana, was found in a box among some ruins.

On 13 December 1903, the Benedictine Community in Manila organized the Confraternity of the Infant Jesus for students of the “Colegio de San Beda”. On 17 January 1904, the feast of the “Santo Niño” at “San Beda” was celebrated for the first time. Since no statue was available, a framed picture of the Holy Child was used.

A wooden image of the “Santo Niño de Praga” (Holy Child of Prague) was installed in the Our Lady of Montserrat chapel in Tanduay, San Miguel district, Manila on 4 November 1904. It is said to be a copy of the image in the church of the Salesian Sisters in Barcelona, Spain.

The Archbishop of Manila, Msgr. Jeremias Harty, gave permission for establishment of the “Santo Niño de Praga” Confraternity on 28 December 1904. The first procession of this “Santo Niño” image was held on 20 January 1905.

In 1926 the Benedictine Priory and the ‘Colegio de San Beda’ moved to Mendiola Street. Since 1975, the Feast of the “Santo Niño de Praga” has been celebrated by the Benedictine Abbey every third Sunday of January.