The Miraculous Image of Sto.Niño de Cebu
A BANCA ride in the 2001 fluvial procession of the
Sto. Niño set the Seville family on a one-year journey to embracing the Catholic
faith.
Rasty Seville, 62, and his wife Lilibeth, 52 ,
said they were Protestants when they attended their first Sto. Niño fluvial
procession in 2001.
A friend invited them to join them in a banca ride
with 20 people on board in barangay Pasil, Cebu City.
Out of curiousity, they went along. The overloaded
banca wasn't even registered for the fluvial procession.
Still, Rasty said it encouraged him to hire a
bigger boat the following year.
Cebu Daily News found the Seville family, all
dressed in red, set to join last Saturday's fluvial procession at the Ouano
wharf in Mandaue City, their 11th trip.
Rasty's wife, Lilibeth , recalls how she ended up
owning her first Sto. Niño figurine.
In a visit to a Catholic store in a mall, the
store keeper called her attention to a Sto. Niño image similar to the one at the
Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino.
The tenant whispered to her that the Sto. Niño
wanted her to buy the icon.
Lilibeth said she hesitated because as
Protestants, they didn’t approve of what they viewed as the worship of images.
The storekeeper said she would regret not getting
it. Lillibeth left the store, bothered by the statement.
She met her husband Rasty who went to a bank and
withdrew P3,000 to buy a table fountain.
Lilibeth told him about the encounter in the store
and described the Sto Niño icon displayed near the glass window.
They instead returned to the store and bought the
icon for P2,800.
Lilibeth admitted that she felt awkward holding
the image of the Hold Child for the first time.
She said the Sto. Niño appeared to her in dreams
calling her "Mommy Beth.”
"I asked him, why of all people did you choose me?
I was surprised when he answered. He told me in my dreams that he chose me
because I have a pure heart," she told CDN..
A year later the couple decided to convert to the
Catholic faith.
Lilibeth said their new faith has bonded their
family closer together.
The Sto. Niño has become a part of their family
and is considered their "baby.”
A sanctuary in their home is dedicated for the
Sto. Niño where they offer flowers and fruits every Thursday and Sunday.
The icon, dressed in red velvet pants and upper
clothes, has become the family’s 'guide', whom they credit for many
blessings.
Lilibeth said their daughter Sunshine passed the
nursing board exam as well as her interview for a job in the United States.
Their Gisangag Express and construction business
are doing well while their son Kris Jordan won the Sinulog Idol tilt.
Now residing in a two-storey house in barangay
Cansojong in Talisay City, southern Cebu, the Seville couple and their children
joined the 2013 Sto. Niño fluvial procession. The showed up in red shirts and
dresses.
They rented a bigger boat this time and brought
their “Baby Niño” for the fluvial procession, their 11th time in a row. /Carmel
Loise Matus, Correspondent
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