The convent of the Sto. Niño de Cebu was founded on April 28, 1565 , the very day the Legazpi-Urdaneta Expedition arrived in the island. On May 8 of the same year, when Legaspi and his men planned the urbanization of the city, they allotted a place for the church and the convent of San Agustin, where the Santo Niño image had been found.

In 1599, the convent was made a house of studies of grammar. It also served as a rest house for missionaries working in the province and as a retirement home for the aged and the sick, usually attended to by a lay brother.

The stones used in the construction of the church were quarried from Capiz and Panay by an army of bancas. The molave wood came from the mountains of Talisay and was transported in bancas.

Despite the seemingly impossible task, Fr. Albarran was not discouraged. He used white stones to make the lime, with one banca transporting some 400 pieces of stones. There was also another obstacle: the lack of chief craftsmen and officers which forced Fr. Albarran to acquire some knowledge of architecture.

The church was finished not later than 1739. According to an author named Vela, “the church has all the characteristics of a solid construction to withstand all the earthquakes…….” And true enough, the church withstood all earthquakes.

The original features of the church have been retained except for the windows added by Fr. Diez in 1889. In 1965, both church and convent underwent a bigger restoration on the occasion of the fourth centennial of the Christianization of the country. The face lifting was made with utmost respect for the historical character of the old structure.

Cardinal Hildebrando Antoniutti, Papal Legate to the Philippines , conferred upon the church the title of Basilica minore , a special privilege granted to the Augustinian Order by the Pope Paul VI. On the other hand, the former President Ferdinand Marcos declared the Sto. Niño Basilica a national shrine because of its historical significance.

Source:

Basilica del Santo Niño de Cebu