On April 28, 1565, Juan Camus, a sailor in Legaspi's fleet, found in a modest house of the then village of Cebu the Image of Sto. Nino which at the time all agreed had been brought from Europe.

Deeply impressed by this finding and aware of its significance, Legaspi ordered and conducted an official inquiry. The document drawn on May 16 of the same year and still extant in the archives of the Sto. Nino Covent of Cebu, tells us from the testimony of eyewitnesses that the image was found inside a small fine box, preserved in almost perfect condition; it has a little shirt and a cap; two of its right hand's fingers were raised in a gesture of blessing, while the left hand held a globe symbolizing the world.

In solemn procession the Image was carried to the provisional church the Augustinian fathers were using at the time. Later another church was built on the exact location where the Image had been found. This is the site of the Sto. Nino Church where the Augustinians have cared for the Image and the Filipino people have venerated it through the centuries.

An earlier authenticated entry in the Journal of Pigaffeta, clerk in the Magellan expedition, explains the origin of Sto. Nino. On the day Queen Juana was baptized by Fr. Pedro Valderrama, chaplain of that expedition, Pigaffeta himself presented her the Image.

During the last war a bomb fell inside the church, but the image was found unscrathed. At present St. Nino Church has been renovated in the interior and given the rank of Basilica, to make it a still more fitting shrine for the beloved Sto. Nino, Comforter of the first missionaries and divine Protector of the Philippines.

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