No public Masses for Sto. Niño feast

Devotees of the Child Jesus are invited to join the fiesta Masses online on Sunday, Jan. 16, in observance of the Feast of the Santo Niño.

Following the surge in coronavirus cases in the country, traditional festivities held every third Sunday of January in honor of the Child Jesus had been cancelled.

The Archdiocesan Shrine of Santo Niño de Tondo and Santo Niño de Pandacan Parish both in Manila have announced the postponement of all public Eucharistic celebrations on Jan. 16, and have advised devotees to join the fiesta Masses online through their respective Facebook pages.

The Pandacan Church will live to stream its fiesta Masses at 6:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m., 3:30 p.m., 5 p.m., and at 6 p.m. via their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/stoninoparishpandacan/.

Fiesta masses at the Tondo Church will be aired live by the hour from 5 a.m. until 11 a.m., and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. through their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/stoninodetondoparish/.

The Tondo Church will also air three Holy Masses on Saturday, Jan. 15 at 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m., and 7 p.m. as a prelude to the feast. His Eminence Manila Archbishop Jose F. Cardinal Advincula will preside over the 5:30 p.m. mass.

Devotees of the Child Jesus are encouraged to continue to pray for the end of the worsening pandemic and to celebrate the feast of the Santo Niño safely.

The devotion to Santo Niño de Tondo started in 1572, almost a year after Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founded Spanish Manila, while the veneration to Santo Niño de Pandacan began in the early 1600s.