“From time immemorial this spot has been set aside to commemorate the erection of a cross in Cebu by the expedition of Magellan. When King Humabon of Cebu and his Queen, son and daughters, together with some 800 of their subjects were baptized by Father Pedro Valderrama. This hallowed site was improved in 1735 by Rev. Juan Albarran, Prior of San Agustin and in 1834 by Rt. Rev. Santos Gomez Marañon, Bishop of Cebu. The image of the Santo Niño found by the expedition of Legaspi in a house near the present site of the Cathedral of Cebu is venerated by the faithful in the nearby Church of San Agustin.”
This sign is at the site of the Magellan Cross, where Magellan staked out the 1st franchise of the Catholic Church in the Philippines in April, 1521. The Philippines is the only predominately Christian country in Asia and it all began right here. Reportedly, fragments of the original cross erected by Magellan and crew is somehow encased in the current standing cross.
