Cubans are often divided on many issues. One religious icon unites them: The Virgin of Charity of Cobre is venerated by observant Catholics and followers of Afro-Cuban Santeria traditions; by Cubans on the island, emigrants and those in exile.
A youth flies a kite outside the shrine of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre in El Cobre, Cuba, on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. Cuba’s patron saint, the Virgin of Charity, or la Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, draws thousands of devotees each year in both Cuba and Miami. Cuba’s patron saint, the Virgin of Charity, or la Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, draws thousands of devotees each year in both Cuba and Miami.
“Cachita,” as she’s affectionately called, is etched in tattoos, street murals, cartoons and other artwork on the island. She is revered in makeshift home altars, songs — and at her shrine some 500 miles east of Havana. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVII visited the basilica during their papacies. And Pope Francis said he would pray to the Virgin of Charity for Cuba during his visit to the island.
“They’re the ones who bless humanity – that’s why I believe in the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre and the great power of God,” he said.The Virgin of Charity of Cobre dates to 1612 when two Indigenous brothers, Juan and Rodrigo de Hoyos, along with Juan Moreno, an enslaved African boy, are said to have found the statue of the Virgin holding the infant Jesus in the Bay of Nipe. It was floating on a wooden board inscribed with the words, “I am the Virgin of Charity,” according to the basilica.
The cult of the Virgin of Charity became part of Cuban nationalism in late 19th century. Among the Cuban diaspora in Miami, it has taken on a strong political significance, also in rebuke to the Cuban government’sMany of the early worshippers at Our Lady of Charity fled or were expelled by the Castro government – and reached safety in Florida on rickety rafts like the one featured behind the Virgin’s statue in the Miami shrine’s mural.
People pray during an Ash Wednesday Mass at the Our Lady of Charity shrine, known as La Ermita, in Miami, Florida. The 81-year-old political refugee fled to the United States nearly 20 years ago, he said, and finds comfort in La Ermita because “it means that the Virgin is with us wherever we are.”
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