13/07/2020
SANTO NINO DE PANDACAN
History
In the early 1600, the miraculous black image of Sto Niño was found by little children playing in the field near a carabao wallow surrounded by Pandan plants. The place was then called Pandanan which means "pandan plantation". The Spaniards mispronounced the name thus changing it to Pandacan The spot is near the present Sto. Niño shrine at the right side of the Parish Church.
Since Pandacan at that time was still part of the parish of Sampaloc, the elders of Pandacan had the image enshrined at Sampaloc Church. After some time, however, the image inexplicably disappeared from Sampaloc only to be found in the same place where it had been first seen in Pandacan. When it was brought back to Sampaloc church, it disappeared the second time only to be found on the very same spot where it was originally discovered.
Believing that the miraculous image wanted a home in Pandacan, the elders of the barrio, together with the Franciscan Priests of Sampaloc, decided to build a Visita to enshrine the image. The Visita was constructed on the very spot where the Holy image was found.
The Miraculous Spring
The story about the well came about, when the first visita was being constructed. In the exact location they’ve discovered a living spring to which the well of Sto. Niño de Pandacan was created. Indeed the water is miraculous; that in May 9, 1837 a woman with the name Dña Josefa Andrade was miraculously healed from her sickness after taking a bath from the water from the well.
Miracles
In 1896, the Spanish authorities learned that Pandacan was the meeting place of the revolutionaries. Pandacan was decreed to be ruled under the “Juez de Cuchillo,” meaning the town would be bombed. When the cannons were brought in Nagtahan and aimed at the church, a small child was seen on top of the cannon. The commander, dreadfully struck, suspended the almost certain annihilation of the parishioners.
In 1911, Fr. Silvino Manalo placed the Santo Niño at the church tower’s window facing the maddening fire approaching Pandacan. The wind changed its course and Pandacan was saved from a great conflagration.
On December 18, 1941, the late parish priest Rev. Fr. Teodoro Francisco, fearing the possible explosion of Pandacan due to the oil tanks and depot ignited by the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USSAFE) before retreating to Bataan, tried to secure the image of Santo Niño but it could not be removed from its pedestal. The feared explosion did not happen and Pandacan was once again spared.
