Augustinian relics selfie
Viewing the monstrancities of Augustinian saints and blesseds relics placed at the Reliquary shelf of the 1735-1740 Basílica Menor del Santo Niño, in Cebú City, Philippines.
Ever since the Basílica Menor del Santo Niño was established in 1565, the church was under the jurisdiction of the Augustinian Order of the Catholic Church. This started with the Augustinian priest Andrés de Urdaneta (1508-1568), who accompanied the Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi (1502-1572).
The reliquary is designed to replicate the retablo mayor at the altar of the church, which contains icons of the Augustinian saints and blessed. In this reliquary are various relics taken from the saints and blessed, placed in reliquary containers that resemble monstrances.
On the first tier are the Spanish Beato Anselmo Polanco (1881-1939), the Holy Cross with the Blessed Virgin מרי / Myriam and Saint יוֹסֵף / Yosef, and the Mexican Beato Mateo Elías Nieves Castillo (1882-1928)
At the second tier are the Spanish Santo Ezequiél Moreno y Díaz (1848-1906), the Spanish Santo Tomás García y Martínez de Villanueva (1488-1555), the Italian San Nicola a Tolentino (1246-1305), the first pope Saint פטרוס / Peter the Apostle, the Spanish San Alonso de Orozco Mena (1500-1591), the Italian Beato Cherubim Testa di Avigliana (1451-1479), and the Italian Beato Gregorio Celli (1225-1343)
In the third tier are the Italian Beata Maria Teresa Giovanna Fasce (1881-1947), the Italian Beata Christina of the Holy Cross (Oringa Menabuoi, 1237-1310), the Italian Santa Rita de Cascia (Margherita Ferri Lotti; 1381-1457), the Algerian San Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis (Saint Augustine, 354-430 AD), the Spanish San Juan del Castrillo de Sahagún (1430-1479), the Italian Beato Simeone Fidati di Cascia (1295-1348), the Italian Beato Stefano Luigi Giuseppe Bellesini (1774-1840).
And finally at the fourth tier are the Italian Beata Cristina di l'Aquila (Mattia Ciccarelli, 1480-1543), the Italian Beata Veronica Negroni da Binasco (1445-1497), the Italian Santa Chiara da Montefalco (1268-1308), the Algerian Santa Monica (Saint Augustine’s mother, 332-387 AD), the Italian Beato Antonio di Amandola (1355-1450), the Italian Beato Anthonio della Torre di l'Aquila (1427-1494), and the German Beato Friedrich von Regensburg (1250-1329).
The Basílica Menor del Santo Niño is also k now to hold the three oldest relics that relate to Christianity in the Philippines:
The image of the Santo Niño (Christ Child), which was made in Flanders and taken to the archipelago by the Portuguese explorer Fernão de Magalhães (1480-1521), aka Ferdinand Magellan. Magalhães gave the image to Hara Humamay during her baptism; along with her husband Rajah Humabon and 800 of their subjects on 14th of April 1521. The icon was later rediscovered by a certain Juan de Camus in 1565, during the arrival of de Legazpi in Cebú.
The wooden image of the suffering Christ as the “Ecce Homo”, which is believed to be also brought to Cebú by Magalhães and given to Rajah Humabon. The Ecce Homo was later found by a certain Juan de Castilla in 1572, when he unearthed the burial grounds of Humabon. After being hidden in the San Agustín Monastery (now the San Agustín Museum) in Manila for years, the Ecce Homo was returned to the Basílica Menor del Santo Niño in 2011 and it is now on display in an altar at the right transept.
The Cross of Magalhães, which he had built during the first mass in Cebú, where Humabon and his subjects were baptized. A shard of that cross is believed to be buried under the cross that is on display in a kiosk outside the Basílica Menor del Santo Niño.
The Basílica Menor del Santo Niño also owns six relics related to the “Arma Christi” or the Passion of Jesus Christ. These relics are a shard of wood said to come from the True Cross, threads from purple robe of Jesus, a piece of the white tunic of Jesus, another shard taken from the table used in the Last Supper, a fragment of the pillar in which Jesus was whipped, and a piece of the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus was supposed to have been buried.
This picture was taken circa 2023
