The Divine Child Jesus (Divino Niño)

Devotion to the Child Jesus is very old in the Church. Its Colombian form began with Father Juan del Rizzo, an Italian Salesian priest who arrived in Colombia in 1914. Facing a project that would not move forward, he prayed through the merits of Jesus's childhood, and from then on made this devotion his life's work.

In 1935 he was sent to Bogotá and placed an image of the Child Jesus, in a pink tunic with open arms, at the Salesian youth center in the 20 de Julio neighborhood. Crowds began to come, and the place became the Sanctuary of the Divino Niño, one of the most visited in Colombia. The image carries the words "Yo reinaré" ("I will reign").

Colombians celebrate the Divino Niño on July 20, the neighborhood's name and also Colombia's Independence Day, and with big festivities at the sanctuary at the end of August. Every Sunday thousands of families visit the sanctuary.

Many pray: "By the merits of the childhood of Jesus, nothing will be denied you", a promise associated with the Venerable Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament, a Carmelite of Beaune, France, in the seventeenth century.