Basilica del Santo Niño

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The Basilica del Santo Niño

The Basilica del Santo Niño, officially the Minor Basilica of the Holy Child and locally known as the Basílica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebú, is a basilica located in Cebu City in the Cebu province of the Philippines. Built in 1565, allegedly on the spot where an image of the Santo Niño de Cebú was found during the Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi's expedition to the archipelago, it is the oldest Roman Catholic church in the Philippines.

Situated near the basilica is the Magellan's Cross Pavilion, a stone kiosk which allegedly houses the Christian cross planted by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan when he arrived on Cebu in 1521.

History

Golden Age of Piracy

At some point in the early 18th century, the Dutch East India Company navigator Hendrik visited the basilica and met a monk who told him of Ferdinand Magellan's search for an Isu artifact on Cebu two centuries prior. This inspired Hendrik to investigate the legend further and eventually led him to discover the location of the lost Khmer city of Angkor, which was rumored to house Isu relics.

Hendrik subsequently wrote several sea logs containing clues to Angkor's location and hid one such journal within Magellan's cross, which was kept inside the Basilica del Santo Niño. Upon learning about this, the members of the Zhang Wei Union and a Visayan resistance led by Rajah both traveled to Cebu to find the cross, with the latter arriving at the basilica first. After slaughtering all the priests inside, Rajah retrieved the log from the cross and used the crescent amulet to decipher its contents, then ordered his men to set the cross on fire as a sign of defiance against the Spanish colonizers and their God.

As Rajah prepared to leave the basilica, he was confronted by the British Assassin Edward Kenway and the samurai Shimazu Saito, who had infiltrated the church amidst a fight outside between Rajah's men and the Spanish Army. Leaving his warriors to deal with the pair, Rajah exited the basilica and was surrounded by several Spanish soldiers, but used the amulet to force them to kill each other, allowing him to escape.

Modern times

In 2023, the Korean-American Noa Kim and the Japanese Templar Shimazu Sei visited the basilica and the Magellan's Cross Pavilion as part of their efforts to trace Edward Kenway's footsteps in Cebu. Noa used his Eagle Vision inside the pavilion but was unable to find anything useful, which Sei deduced was because the cross was a replica.

Gallery

• 
  The basilica's tower
• 
  Rajah finding Ferdinand Magellan's cross inside the basilica
• 
  Edward Kenway and Shimazu Saito confronting Rajah

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple