St. Bernard has a huge and lively Filipino Community. The Filipino Prayer Group meets every 1st Wednesday of every month! All are welcome to attend at 6:30 pm.
St. Bernard is also the home of “El Santo Niño de Cebú” which has been venerated by Filipino Catholics worldwide. In 2013, after a 25-year wait, the Filipino community of South Florida welcomed the arrival of the image of El Santo Niño, brought from Cebú City, Philippines, to its new home!
Hundreds gathered at our parish on December 8, 2013, to take part in the blessing and enshrinement of the image of the Holy Child at its first permanent shrine inside a church in South Florida. St. Bernard is very blessed to welcome El Santo Niño de Cebu!
Photographer: JONATHAN MARTINEZ | FC
The enthronement took place during a trilingual Mass (English, Tagalog, and Cebuano) celebrated by Father Carlos Vega.
“For 25 years, St. Bernard has celebrated the Sinulog but never had its own Santo Niño and now are the first ones in South Florida to have this shrine inside the church so the people can come and ask him for his intercession,” said Father Vega, during his homily. “We are grateful to the Filipino community for this gift to our parish.” as quoted from the ADOM article written By Jonathan Martinez. (For the FULL ARTICLE click here.)
The image originated in 1521 as a baptismal gift from Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to Queen Juana in the village of Cebú. The statue was lost for several decades until 1585 when a sailor found the image inside a small pine box, preserved in almost perfect condition. It had on a little shirt and a cap; two of the fingers on its right hand were raised in a gesture of blessing while the left hand held a globe symbolizing the world.
The image was then entrusted to the Augustinian Fathers and later a church was built at the same location where it was found, currently known as the Minor Basilica of Santo Niño. Many miracles have been attributed to the image, including during World War II when a bomb fell inside the church but the image was found unscathed.
St. Bernard will serve as the permanent home for “El Santo Niño de Cebú” and welcomes anyone to visit him at the indoor shrine.
