IT’S still a long way off – two years to go before 2021 – but the event we will celebrate is of such importance that we must start even now to plan for its celebration.
The coming event is the 500th anniversary of the coming of Christianity to these islands – initially with Portuguese explorer Fenando Magallanes, in the service of King Charles V of Spain, who sighted Samar on March 16, 1521, and landed the next day on Limasawa, Southern Leyte.
Magellan met the local ruler Rajah Humabon and his chief consort Hara Humamay to whom he presented three gifts – a cross, an image of the Virgin Mary, and a Santo Niño – as part of their baptism. A month later, however, on April 27, 1521, Magellan fell in battle with Lapu Lapu when he attacked Mactan island.
The next Spanish expedition led by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrived on February 13, 1565, and, finding resistance, burned down the coastal town of Cebu. In the ruins of the homes that were destroyed, Spanish marine Juan Camus found the Sto. Niño brought by Magellan in 1521.
The Magellan Cross is in Cebu City today. As for the Sto. Niño, a church was built on the spot where it was found, to become the oldest parish in the Philippines. It was later elevated to a Minor Basilica on its 400th anniversary. And it was from there that the Sto. Niño festival spread throughout the Philippines, including the festival in Tondo, Manila, only last Sunday.
Today over 90 percent of the Filipino people are Christians and over 80 percent are Catholics who look back to those events of 1521 as the beginning of their faith in this country. Archbishop Jose Palma of the Archdiocese of Cebu said Pope Francis has been invited to lead the celebration in 2021.
In preparation for this half-century celebration, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has designated this year as the Year of the Youth with the theme “Filipino Youth in Mission: Beloved, Gifted, Empowered.“ Activities will be planned in the coming months for the celebration in 2021.
Many activities will be held in Cebu, site of the historic events of 1521, but it will be a national celebration, for the faith that came to those southern islands ultimately spread to most of the rest of the country so that today the Philippines is known as the only Christian country in Asia.
