In the current practice of praying the devotional texts of the Sto. Niño, we find two major usages: the Perpetual Novena which is recited every Friday of the year and the proper novena prescribed for the nine days prior to the Fiesta Señor every January. But the development of the proper novena for the nine-day preparation came first. Our older sources come from the Archivo de la Provincia Agustiniana de Filipinas, thanks to Rev. Fr. Ericson M. Borre, OSA, a historian of the Province, who currently pursues his doctoral studies in Civil History in Spain. The same goes with Fr. Genesis Labana, OSA who helped me in this research and who is now in Rome, Italy pursuing his studies in Social Communications.

The oldest copy of a novenario of Sto. Niño de Cebu from the said archives is dated back to 1788. It bears a title Novena ug Pagdayeg (sa) Santisimo Niño Jesus nga Guinasimbahan sa Ciudad sa Zugbo. However, the printed manuscript does not bear the name of its author. In the Catálogo bio-bibliográfico de los religiosos Agustinos de la Provincia del Santísimo Nombre de Jesús de las Islas Filipinas desde su fundación hasta nuestros días of an Augustinian Fray Elviro Jorde Perez in 1901, the name of Fray Francisco de la Encina, OSA surfaces as the indubitable author of the novenario. He was not however assigned in Sto. Niño convent but, subsequent from his assignments in Nueva Ecija and Pampanga, he was slated to the assignments of Argao (possibly in 1753) and Opon (in Mactan Island) in 1756 where he had showed so much zeal in the missionary work until his death in July 14, 1760. The catalogo mentions that he wrote the novenario as a raw manuscript (“MS. Preciosa obrita” – Manuscript, a precious little work) but undated. Moreover, the same catalogo accolades his great linguistic talent that, before going to Manila in the 50th mission group or barcada of 1739, he was already a well-trained missionary to the languages of Pampango, Tagalog and Cebuano-Bisaya. He also authored an Arte de lengua cebuana which saw later printings between 1804 and 1836. This explains why in his short stint in Cebu from 1753-1760, he was able to compose the novenario which was also posthumously printed in 1788, 28 years after his death.

This sheds newer light as to the real authorship of the Novena since there was a long-time consideration of the name of Fray Mateo Diez, OSA who, in his entry in the catalogo of Jorde-Perez, attributed to him as the writer of a “Novena ug pagdayeg sa Ssmo. Niño Jesus nga guisimba sa ciudad sa Sugbu” printed in 1888 in Asilo Huerfanos, Guadalupe (Makati). However, it could have been that Fray Diez had only made a translation within this edition of the novena (which must be that of Fray Encina). The catalogo mentions that the novena purportedly written by Diez had already many editions before. Many of these editions include a historical profile called “Reseña del Hallazgo del Santo Niño de Cebu” separately written by Fray Antolin Frias, OSA and translated into Cebuano by Fray Diez. Hence, the belief that Fray Diez wrote a novena to the Sto. Niño is to be corrected for he only translated a part of it. Moreover, the claim of Diez’s authorship conflicts with the archival evidence that a novena has existed with an unnamed authorship since 1788.

There can be however, another challenger for the authorship albeit weakly. A contemporary of Fray Francisco Encina, OSA was Fray Eusebio Polo, OSA who arrived in the same 50th Barcada or Mission in 1739. However, he was assigned more concentratedly in Bulacan, Manila and Ilocos from 1747 to 1753 and in 1762 while serving as a definidor, he was taken a prisoner in Goa, India by the English and eventually released and returned to Manila after making peace. He died in January 6, 1774. Under his name in Perez’ Catalogo, he wrote a Novena al Sto. Niño de Cebu but Perez reported “impresa sin nombre de autor”. With these scant references for the possibility of his authorship and the improbability since he never served in Cebu and moreover, he was taken as a prisoner and died shortly after his return to Manila, Fray Polo’s novenario could have been a derivative of Encina.

Viva Pit Senyor!

Fray Ric Anthony Reyes, OSA

LINKS to the different versions of the Novena to Santo Niño:

1. Novena ug pagdayeg sa Santisimo Niño Jesús nga guisimba sa ciudad sa Sugbo (1888)
2. Novena ug pagdayeg sa Santisimo Niño Jesus nga guisingba sa ciudad sa sugbú (1908)
3. Novena ug pagdayeg sa santísimo Niño Jesus, ñga guinasimbahan sa ciudad sa Sugbu (1858)