Hundreds of Catholics gathered for a devotion dear to Filipinos on Sunday, Aug. 18 at St. Augustine Church in Philadelphia to celebrate the summer Sinulog Festival in honor of Señor Santo Niño de Cebú, the Holy Child Jesus, venerated since the 16th century as miraculous by the Filipino community. St. Augustine’s is the national shrine for devotion to the Santo Niño in North America, and the church is a locus of worship for many Filipino-Americans in the Philadelphia area.
Leading the celebration was Archbishop Bernardito C. Auza, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations. Following a morning Mass celebrated by the archbishop and priests including Augustinian clergy who staff St. Augustine’s, the faithful began a liturgical procession with music through the streets of Old City ending with a celebration back at the church, located at 243 North Lawrence Street. (Photos by Sarah Webb)
St. Augustine Church is packed with worshipers form the Sunday morning Mass.
Clergy process into the church.
Maria Gloria Ramos organized a bus for those traveling from North New Jersey.
Miguel Sebastian from St. Andrew Church in Vorhees, N.J., clutches a statue of the Santo Nino.
Archbishop Bernardito Auza incenses the statue of the Santo Nino, adorned with flowers.
Archbishop Auza receives the offertory gifts at Mass.
Juliet Sibug of St. Sebastian Parish in Queens, N.Y.
The procession after Mass winds through the streets of Old City.
People carry their statues of the Santo Nino in the procession.
Men carry the statue of the Santo Nino on their shoulders out of the church and into the streets for the procession.
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