A popular devotion of the Filipino people, bound up with the beginning of Christianity in the islands: the image of the Holy Child accompanied the first preaching of the Gospel there, and on 1 January 1571 the village kingdom of Sugbu was renamed Villa del Santo Niño, placing the first city of the Philippines under the Child Jesus' patronage. Paul VI recalled that history in his radio message for the fourth centenary of the evangelisation of the Philippines, and Pope Francis preached on the Santo Niño at Rizal Park in Manila in 2015. The devotion is celebrated in the Philippines and among Filipinos everywhere with the feast of the Santo Niño in January.

Keep an image of the Holy Child in a place of honour in the home, with a candle and flowers, and pray before it as a family — morning and evening prayers said in front of it are enough. Make the novena to the Santo Niño in the nine days before the feast in January, and take part in the parish Mass and procession where one is held. The devotion is meant to school the household in the childhood of Christ: read the infancy narratives of Luke and Matthew together during the novena, and ask for the simplicity and obedience of the Child rather than only for favours.

christological