This is a replica of the Santo del Niño, a Flemish-made doll of the infant Jesus given by Magellan to Rajah Humabon’s wife after a mass baptismal in what is the present day Cebu City.
Forty-four years to the day after Magellan was killed in the Battle of Mactan across the water from Cebu Harbor, a Spanish mariner/conquistador found this in an abandoned home (The villagers had fled to the hills when the Spanish ships arrived.) near the site of the Magellan Cross.
The Basilica of the Santo del Niño was built beside the Magellan Cross site to house this religious relic where people line up to this day, filing by the glass encased doll, saying their prayers and crossing themselves.
