Basilica Minore del Santo Niño

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Home of the Santo Niño image that Magellan gave to the chief consort of Rajah Humabon at their baptism in 1521, and the focus of the Sinulog every January. Augustinian friars founded the church in 1565 and it is the oldest in the country. It is said to stand where a soldier named Juan de Camuz found the image again, 40 years after Magellan left it. The present building of hewn stone was finished in 1740, and Pope Paul VI made it a minor basilica on 1 April 1965.

The Sinulog falls on the third Sunday of January. It is a dance prayer of pre-Hispanic origin: the dancer steps twice forward and once back to the drums, while devotees shout "Viva Pit Señor!"

Where

Osmeña Boulevard

Town

Cebu City

Written by an editor · 21 Sep 2026 · source: Wikipedia, Basilica del Santo Niño