Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Cebu (Agenzia Fides) - "The 500th anniversary of Christianity in the Philippines is an opportunity to relive the grace of baptism that makes us witnesses of Christ and missionaries on a personal and community level. We have all received the missionary mandate to announce and testify the faith and love of Christ in the country and in the world", Archbishop Jose S. Palma of Cebu told Fides. In this context, he recalled that the Church is celebrating 2021 as the "Year of the Missio ad Gentes", part of a nine-year preparatory cycle (from 2013 to 2021), assigning a particular theme to each year, to deepen the central themes of faith, in view of the Jubilee. 2021, is the "Year of Missio Ad Gentes".
To mark the opening of the anniversary celebrations, the Holy Doors were opened in over a hundred churches on Easter Monday and the first baptism celebrated in Cebu in the central Philippines was commemorated. Father Bonnin A. Olivar, priest of the Archdiocese of Cebu, told Fides: "As the country celebrates 500 years of faith, we are all called to rediscover our baptism and the missionary mandate to live the Gospel without fear, to live in faithfulness and strength of faith".
On April 14, the solemn Mass commemorating the first baptism was held in Cebu, presided over by Archbishop Charles J. Brown, Apostolic Nuncio in the Philippines. The Nuncio urged the Catholics of the country to "live their baptismal commitment with courage, zeal and faithfulness" and "to share the message of the Gospel in words and deeds". "Let us today reconsider our baptismal call, so as to be witnesses of the light of Christ not only here in the Philippines, but all over the world", he emphasized.
Mass took place in the Plaza Sugbo in Cebu City on April, 14, which is located next to the historic Basilica Minor of the Santo Niño in Cebu. Before the Mass, some artists performed a historical reenactment of the first baptism in the Philippines, recalling the first meeting between the indigenous Sugbuanon and the Spanish colonists, led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinando Magellano. On April 14, 1521, the raja of Cebu, Datu Humabon, Queen Juana and 800 of their followers were baptized by Fr. Pedro de Valderrama. The baptism took place a week after the arrival of the Spanish expedition. In memory of the occasion, Magellan gave Queen Juana an image of the Child Jesus as a gift, while a large cross was erected to mark the place of baptism, the historical symbol of the city now known as "Magellano's Cross".
On the same day, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) formally declared the Santo Niño church in Cebu a "minor Basilica", while the convent and pavilion of the Magellano Cross were also declared "National Cultural Treasures".
"Today, 500 years later, the same Catholic faith is brought all over the world by Filipinos, not as colonizers, but in many cases as workers abroad, about 10 million", said Archbishop Brown, acknowledging in this reverse movement "the universality of the Catholic faith". "The Catholic faith cannot be identified with a single culture. Rather, it is God's truth that can be embraced by any culture and that will change this culture in the course of time in such a way that this culture - as here in the Philippines - gives the Catholic faith its special expression", explained the Nuncio.
As part of the celebration, seven children from different parishes on the island were baptized, while the Archdiocese of Cebu celebrated the baptism of 100 adults in the days before. According to the Philippine Church, the Philippines still have a significant number of baptisms annually. The Philippines ranks third in the world for the number of baptized according to the Church's latest statistical yearbook for 2019, published in March. The Philippines recorded more than 1.6 million boy and girl baptisms in one year, while data for baptisms over the age of seven appear on a separate statistic. In total, the Philippines has 89 million baptized Catholics out of a population of 110 million. (SD-PA) (Agenzia Fides, 21/4/2021)
