Cebu may have its much older Santo Niño (in fact, it is the oldest religious artifact in the country) that Ferdinand Magellan brought in 1521 and gave as a gift to local ruler Rajah Humabon and his wife upon their conversion to Christianity.
The Santo Niño de Cebu symbolizes the arrival of Christianity in the Philippines and the enduring faith of the Filipino people. It also tells the story of colonization by and oppression of a foreign power.
Davao’s Santo Niño story is more recent and symbolizes the Davaoeño spirit of determination and courage.
It was 1966. A Davaoeña housewife and mother wanted to go on a pilgrimage to see the miraculous Infant Jesus of Prague in the capital city of then Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). She had just started a special project of building a shrine in honor of the Infant Jesus of Prague on their hilltop property in Matina, Davao City. And she wanted a replica of that famous Infant Jesus made in and coming from no other place but Prague.
Her real-life journey was a fantastic tale of miracles and more exciting than any fictional thriller.
First of all, Filipinos were forbidden to travel to any communist state at that time. The Philippines did not have an embassy or consulate in Prague then. But that did not discourage the Davaoeña on her special mission. She flew to London where her 16-year-old son was studying and they spent several days finding ways to sneak into Prague. They found a man who was able to arrange their visas and flight to Prague via Air India on board a noisy Russian-made plane. Miracle number one.
When they managed to land in Prague, they were held and interrogated for hours. Exhausted, the mother eventually confessed that she was going on a pilgrimage to the Infant Jesus of Prague, against the advice of the Czech priest in London who warned her that any religious activity was banned under communist rule. After revealing the true nature of her visit, the authorities stamped their passports and gave them one-day visas but directed them to stay only in a government hotel for close monitoring. Miracle number two
Once in their hotel, they asked for directions to the Church of Our Lady of Victory, where the Infant Jesus of Prague can be found. Nobody knew where it was or if they did, they were too scared to tell. They gave their bellhop a Philippine-made cigarette case and some piña handkerchiefs and not only did the bellhop tell them where the church was, but he also arranged for a taxi to take them there. Miracle number three and a testament to the power of Pinoy pasalubong!
It was already past the 6:00 PM curfew and they saw two American nuns who were part of an educational tour. The Davaoeña pilgrim begged the sisters to accompany them to the Infant Jesus of Prague beyond the curfew. It’s miracle number four that they were not caught and arrested along the way.
The Davaoeña pilgrim had never prayed so hard in her entire life than that night in front of the Infant Jesus of Prague at the Church of Our Lady of Victory. Then to her surprise, there was an unscheduled mass held while they were still in the church. It was attended by 15 old people presided over by a deaf priest and assisted by a mute server. Miracle number five.
The following morning, they went back to the church to take photos of the statue. Even without light from the church or from a camera flash, the photos turned out fine. Miracle number six.
They tried dropping by the place where statues of the Infant Jesus were made on their way to the airport, but there were two policemen guarding the doors.
When they reached the airport, the son realized that his briefcase that contained his passport was missing. The son had no choice but to leave his mother at the airport to go back to the hotel to look for his briefcase and passport. He found it under a tree near the hotel, a spot where they had never been to. He believes it’s the Infant Jesus playing tricks on him. Miracle number seven.
While waiting, the mother befriended a Czech woman working at the airport who could get a replica of the Infant Jesus of Prague made for them. She was persuaded through the power of Pinoy pasalubong again. Miracle number eight.
Mother and son made it to the gate when it was already closing and the police wouldn’t let them board anymore. They pleaded and cried but the police wouldn’t budge. They already ran out of pasalubong so the mother took out a photo of her with all of her 12 children and showed it to the police officer. To her surprise, the police officer smiled and asked, “All yours? Twelve children?” The proud mother nodded and said they were all waiting for her to return home.
So the officer sent someone to the runway to ask the plane to wait for them. On their way up they saw two American women who were asked to go down so the mother and son could take their seats on the plane. Miracle number nine.
The Davaoeña pilgrim prayed really hard not to get caught by Philippine immigration and see her passport stamped with communist Prague. The officer missed it and let her through without incident. Miracle number ten.
In December 1967, the son went back to Prague to finally get the replica of the Infant Jesus for his mother’s shrine in Davao. When he got to the store that made it, the Czech police arrested him and he was subjected to a series of interrogations. But he was eventually allowed to leave with the statue. Yes, miracle number eleven.
On January 15, 1968, 57 years ago, the replica statue of the miraculous Infant Jesus of Prague was enthroned in a shrine on a hill in Matina built by Mrs. Catalina Garcia Santos, wife of then Davao City chief of police, Luis T. Santos, who later became the city mayor of Davao from 1972 to 1981. It was brought here at great risk to the life of then-17-year-old Briccio Santos, Catalina’s son.
The arrival of the Infant Jesus of Prague was a huge event that made quite an impact, not only to Davaoeños but to all Filipinos of Catholic faith during that time. Its arrival in December 1967 was met by representatives of the Papal Nuncio. Then it went around Manila in a motorcade where it was brought to nine churches, including the Redemptorist Church in Baclaran, where devotees flocked to see and pray before the Infant Jesus smuggled out of the Iron Curtain.
So when you visit the Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague here in Davao City, think of the epic and miraculous journey it took for our own Santo Niño to get here and remember that nothing is impossible with faith.
