Santo Nino shrine the culmination of pastor’s dream, parish’s support 

When the 500th anniversary of Christianity in the Philippines was celebrated worldwide in 2021, the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s Filipino community responded memorably, with ongoing celebrations throughout the year.

One anniversary commemoration, however, won’t culminate until this Saturday. That’s when a year-long effort to construct a shrine to honour Santo Nino de Cebu, the Holy Infant of Cebu, comes to fruition with the shrine’s blessing at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Agassiz.

Father Dennis Flores, the Filipino-born pastor of St. Anthony of Padua, saw a permanent shrine to the popular Filipino devotion as an ideal way to memorialize the 500-year anniversary in the archdiocese. 

Filipino devotion to Santo Nino de Cebu originated in 1521 when Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan gave a statue of the Christ Child to King Humabon and Queen Juana of Cebu following their baptisms. The statue, now in the Basilica del Santo Nino in Cebu City, is regarded as miraculous and is widely venerated by Filipino, who celebrate the feast of Santo Nino de Cebu on the third Sunday of January.

Father Flores’ hope was that the shrine would become a destination for pilgrims from all over Canada and the U.S. West Coast, offering them a place of prayer and an opportunity to strengthen their faith. He shared his dream with Archbishop J. Michael Miller in early 2021 and received not only the archbishop’s blessing but approval to begin fundraising for the project.

Organizers say the $400,000 fundraising campaign to build the shrine on parish property and donate it to the archdiocese was successful thanks to a dedicated team and widespread support within and outside the parish.

Deacon Greg Barcelon of the archdiocese’s Filipino Ministry got behind the effort, tying it to the ministry's celebration of the 500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines. The project was adopted by parishes across the archdiocese and even drew support from Filipinos in Portland, Ore., where a shrine to Santo Nino de Cebu resides at the Grotto pilgrimage site. 

Filipino businesses and associations got behind the project, as did the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver. The design of the shrine was a gift from a Cebu design firm which modelled it after the octagonal pavilion in Cebu City that houses Magellan’s Cross, the cross planted by Magellan on the site of the first baptisms in Cebu. 

Construction on the shrine only began this spring, with Bishop David Monroe, Bishop Emeritus of Kamloops, celebrating Mass and leading a groundbreaking ceremony on May 8. Also attending were District of Kent Mayor Sylvia Pranger and Vancouver-Kensington MLA Mabel Elmore, the first MLA with Filipino heritage elected to the B.C. Legislature. 

On July 22, Archbishop Miller wrote a decree establishing the Shrine of Santo Nino de Cebu as an archdiocesan shrine.

The archbishop will bless the shrine Aug. 20, celebrating Mass at 4 p.m. and enthroning the statue of Santo Nino, which was donated by a couple and by the Cebu Catholic Television Network and will be accompanied by a delegation from Cebu City.