Sto. Niño de Bago Bantay - Bago Bantay's Catalyst of Change

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Santo Niño de Bago Bantay
In confines of Quezon City, one of the most visited, and somehow controversial, shrine in this city draws local devotion and pilgrims for decades, this is the Diocesan Shrine of Santo Niño de Bago Bantay. This miraculous and cute image of the Child Jesus would became a catalyst of social change when Bago Bantay faced much moral struggles and became a witness to the change and development of the area.

Sto. Niño de Bago Bantay
The image

The image of Santo Niño de Bago Bantay presents the Holy Child in its traditional attributes, wears a princely garb of a velvet cape covering his princely attire, holds the scepter and the globus cruciger - symbols of power and dominion, wears an ornate crown, wears a pair of boots and standing in an ornate base. The face of the Child is round and chubby with his charming smile adds charm to this image.

The beginnings

The story of the devotion to Sto. Niño de Bago Bantay is intertwined in the beginnings of Bago Bantay itself. Bago-Bantay started as a small barrio in the 1930s, but the population ballooned significantly, after thousands of displaced families moved from the City of Manila, after it was damaged by the bombing of World War II from the late 1950s and early 1960s. These new migrants brought more problems to the community, as criminal gangs started carving their territories through the streets of Bago-Bantay. The situation got worse when gambling, prostitution, drugs, street fights, rape and murder were soon common events in the area led by different notorious gangs. Although the local authorities tried their best to remedy the situation, nothing much was achieved until the arrival of Fr. Miguel P. Nuguid as the parish priest in 1967.

The Diocesan Shrine of Sto. Niño de Bago
Bantay, Quezon City
Upon his arrival, Fr. Nuguid recognized the problems of the area and started enacting programs for changing the community. First, he went house-to-house speaking with the leaders and members of the local gangs to lay down their people and participate in community and parish affairs. Then he worked with the retired public school teacher, Mrs. Romana Delos Angeles, and the Catholic Women’s League, to establish the Santo Niño Parochial School (opened in 1968). And finally, he campaigned for the construction of a new church, which would house the growing population dedicated to the Child Jesus. As soon as the devotion to the Child Jesus was introduced to the people of Bgo Bantay, a significant change began in the community which increased the morale of the baranggay - thanks to the efforts of Fr, Nuguid's perseverance and with the guidance of the Child Jesus.

In the 1970's, the plan surfaced for construction of a permanent church of the Sto. Niño. In 1976, the Sto. Niño Church became the seat of the newly created vicariate made up them of seven parishes. This was an important historical event in the life of the parish.

On March 26, 1978, the devotees of the Sto. Niño witnessed the laying and blessing of the cornerstone of the permanent church where the Silver Sto. Niño would be enshrined. On January 14, 1973 the church was consecrated and dedicated to the Holy Infant Jesus.

Sto. Niño de Bago Bantay
The devotion

The devotion to Santo Niño de Bago Bantay continues to flourish up to this day. Numerous miracles were reported attributed to the Santo Niño de Bago Bantay that his shrine became one of the most visited in Quezon City. The feast of the Holy Child of Bago Bantay is celebrated every Third Sunday of January, a special liturgical feast assigned by the Holy See to the Philippines.

Probably the greatest miracle that can be attributed to the Santo Niño de Bago Bantay is the fact a once socially problematic community in Quezon City changed for the better. Through the help of our Lord, He gradually changed the hearts of the people of Bago Bantay and became his loyal children.  In the story of the Santo Niño de Bago Bantay, it teaches us that we put our troubles, whether its personal or community wide troubles, let's lay it to the feet of Our Lord and let Him worked wonders.

References:

"Project 8, Quezon City: Sto. Nino Parish Shrine, creating peace in Bago-Bantay", Retrieved from https://lakansining.wordpress.com/2018/03/21/project-8-quezon-city-sto-nino-parish-shrine-creating-peace-in-bago-bantay/ on September 5, 2019.
"Santo Niño Parish Shrine", Retrieved from https://dioceseofcubao.ph/parishes/santo-ni%C3%B1o-parish-shrine on September 5, 2019.

Special Credits to the owner of the photographs utilized in this blogpost.
+AM+DG+

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