Virgin of the Charity of copper, patron saint of Cuba

Festivity September 08th 

History

Alonso de Ojeda and the first conquerors of Cuba tried to impose themselves on the Indians. The Indians repulsed them and the Spaniards had to flee through mountains and swamps to save their lives. Thus they arrived at the Indian village of Cueiba in the area of Jobabo. The Indians, seeing them in such a bad state, took pity on them and helped them. In gratitude, Alonso Ojeda built a small hermitage with tree branches, possibly the first one on Cuban soil. There he placed an image of Our Lady, which was his precious possession. He thus fulfilled the vow he had made to deliver the image if he got out of that situation safely. He taught the Indians to say the "Ave Maria" and that expression spread so fast among the Indians that later Cuba became known as the island of the "Ave Maria".  There is no reason to think that this was the image of the Virgin of Charity that would appear later. But the Virgin was already present in Cuba preparing the way.

A great teaching: The Virgin wanted the evangelization not to start from arrogance but from humility and gratitude. Without understanding religion very well, the Indians of that place venerated the image and maintained the hermitage with great care when Ojeda left.  This was the case when Father de las Casas arrived at the town of Cueibá. In the XVI century, cattle raising increased in Cuba. It was necessary for the Spaniards on their way to the new territories. In 1598 the exploitation of copper began in the mountains of the eastern region of the island. At 15 leagues from the mines, the Spanish government established the herd of Varajagua or Barajagua, which had a lot of cattle. For this reason, salt was necessary to prevent the corruption of the meat.

The discovery

Around the year 1612 or at the beginning of 1613, two Indian brothers and a black boy of nine or ten years old went to look for salt in the bay of Nipe. Their names were Juan de Hoyos, Rodrigo de Hoyos and Juan Moreno, known by tradition as "the three Juanes". While they were going through the salt, the apparition of the statue of the Virgin took place. 

Here is Juan Moreno's account, given in 1687, when he was eighty-five years old: ".... Having settled in French Key, which is in the middle of the Bay of Nipe, in order to go to the salt mine in good weather, one morning when the sea was calm, the said Juan and Rodrigo de Hoyos and this declarant left French Key before sunrise, embarked in a canoe for the salt mine, and away from French Key they saw a white thing on the foam of the water, which they did not distinguish what it could be, and getting closer it seemed to them like a bird and dry branches. The said Indians said "it looks like a girl", and in these speeches, having arrived, they recognized and saw the image of Our Lady the Blessed Virgin with an Infant Jesus in her arms on a small board, and on the said board some large letters which the said Rodrigo de Hoyos read, and they said: "I am the Virgin of Charity", and being her clothes of clothing, they were amazed that they were not wet. And in this, full of joy, they took only three thirds of salt and went to the Hato de Barajagua... "The administrator of the Royal term of Minas de Cobre, Don Francisco Sánchez de Moya, ordered to raise a hermitage to place the image and established Rodrigo de Hoyos as chaplain.

One night Rodrigo went to visit the Virgin and noticed that she was not there. A search was organized without success. The next morning, and to everyone's surprise, the Virgin was back at her altar, with no explanation as the door of the hermitage had remained closed all night. The event was repeated two or three more times until the people of Barajagua thought that the Virgin wanted to change her place. So she was moved in procession, with great sorrow for them, to the Templo Parroquial del Cobre. The Virgin was received with the ringing of bells and great joy in her new home, where she was placed on the main altar. Thus she became known as the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre.

In El Cobre the disappearance of the Virgin was repeated. They thought that she wanted to be on the mountains of the Sierra Maestra. This was confirmed when a little girl named Apolonia went up to the hill of the copper mines where her mother worked. The little girl was chasing butterflies and picking flowers when, on top of one of the mountains, she saw the Virgin of Charity. The news of little Apolonia caused a great stir. Some believed, others did not, but the little girl remained firm in her testimony. They took the Virgin there. 

Since the appearance of the statue, devotion to the Virgin of Charity spread with astonishing speed throughout the island despite the difficult communications. It was in El Cobre, in 1801, that the miners, encouraged by Father Alejandro Ascanio, obtained their freedom by Royal Decree on April 7. Over the years, a larger enclosure was acquired to build a new sanctuary that could accommodate the growing number of pilgrims, and the inauguration took place with the transfer of the Virgin on September 8, 1927. 

During the war of independence, the troops entrusted themselves to the Virgin of Charity. It is not that the Virgin can be seen as an ally in the war. Rather she, as a mother, suffers and cares for all, seeks peace among her children, finally when hearts will not allow her to do otherwise, she seeks to temper hatreds and foster reconciliation and forgiveness. After the war of independence, the veterans asked the Pope to declare the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, patron saint of Cuba. In a document signed on May 10, 1916 by the Cardinal Bishop of Hostia, His Holiness Benedict XV granted the request, declaring the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre as the main patroness of the Republic of Cuba and fixing her feast day on September 8.

In 1977, Pope Paul VI elevated the National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre to the dignity of Basilica. During the months of preparation for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba, ten pilgrim images of the Virgin of Charity toured the various dioceses of the country with great response from the people. The Virgin of Charity was crowned by H.H. John Paul II as Queen and Patroness of Cuba on Saturday, January 24, 1998, during the Holy Mass he celebrated during his apostolic visit to Santiago de Cuba.

The Virgin of Charity in exile.

The Cubans exiled in Miami because of communism, having suffered enormously for the separation or deaths in their families, for the loss of their homeland and everything they had, were preparing for the first celebration of the Feast of the Virgin of Charity in exile. That is why they wished to have a suitable image of the Virgin. Providentially, on the same September 8, 1961, while thousands were already gathered in the Miami Stadium to celebrate the Mass, the image of the Virgin of Charity arrived at the Miami airport from Cuba. It was the image of the Parish of Guanabo in the Archdiocese of Havana.  It had been taken asylum in the Italian embassy and passed by the Chargé d'Affaires of Panama to her embassy at the request of the Cubans. That deeply moving celebration, presided over by the Archbishop of Miami, became a tradition that continues to this day.

After the first celebration, Our Lady began a tour of the camps for Cuban exiled children who were without their parents. The Archdiocese of Miami took in and cared for fourteen thousand children in those early years of exile. Cubans organized to build a Wayside Shrine to Our Lady of Charity in exile. The first stone of the provisional chapel was laid on May 20, 1967 and Holy Mass was celebrated. On May 21, 1968 Archbishop Carrol of Miami ordered the founding of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Charity to gather devotees to honor the Virgin and with her to evangelize. In the same year began the pilgrimages of the 126 municipalities of Cuba that have continued in an organized manner since then.

On December 2, 1971, the Chapel of the Virgin of Charity was dedicated. Cardinal Kroll, Archbishop of Philadelphia, then president of the United States Conference of Bishops, presided, with the presence of Archbishop Carroll of Miami and Bishops Boza Masvidal (exiled from Cuba) and Gracida. 

In September 1987, when the Holy Father John Paul II visited Miami, the image of Our Lady of Charity was moved to Archbishop McCarthy's residence to preside over the Holy Father's private chapel. The Pope, in his homily, made mention of Our Lady of Charity. Miami has citizens from all Hispanic countries. Since the 80's, in addition to the Cuban municipalities, also pilgrimages to the wayside shrine of the Virgin of Charity are organized in an organized way, all the brother countries of the Hispanic community during the month of October.  

Archbishop McCarthy, on May 14, 1994, solemnly consecrated the altar of the Wayside Shrine which underneath visibly keeps the first stone. This stone contains soil from the different provinces of Cuba that was melted with water that arrived in a raft in which the fifteen crew members who were trying to escape from Cuba perished. The Hermitage was enlarged and a beautiful chapel of the Blessed Sacrament was added and blessed by the Archbishop of Miami, Juan C. Favalora on May 21, feast of the Ascension of the Lord. During the Holy Mass that the Archbishop celebrated that day at the Hermitage, he elevated the confraternity to the Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Charity. The devotees of Our Lady have succeeded in spreading not only the devotion to Our Lady of Charity, but also in making the Hermitage a center of evangelization of worldwide irradiation. Our Lady's main instrument for the work of the Hermitage has been from the beginning Monsignor Agustin Roman, today Auxiliary Bishop of Miami, always helped by the Sisters of Charity who minister at the Hermitage and the Archconfraternity.

The truths that Our Lady of Charity teaches us:

1 God is above everything and everyone. Our Lady has her hands full: With her right hand she holds the Cross, the only way of salvation, to be embraced by all her children. With her left hand she holds her Son, the Child God. Thus she teaches us the importance of imitating her, who was faithful, accompanying Jesus from the beginning of his life until the Cross.

2 She (Mary) is our mother and protector. In times of storm, Our Lady comes to save those three Johns, her children, Our Lady wants to save us today from the storms that rage in our hearts. She accompanied the Apostles when they gathered in fear at Pentecost. Our Lady takes us into her maternal heart, sanctuary of the Holy Spirit where she forges us into other Christs. The Mother protects us, teaches us and intercedes for us.

3 The value of the Family. Jesus wanted to be born and to have a mother. Our Lady appears as a mother with her Son in her arms. She is the mother of all those who keep the Word. Mary teaches us the importance of Motherhood, the dignity of the woman to whom God himself entrusts such a great mission. Hence, the respect she deserves. The Virgin Mary is the mother of all families. By having recourse to her, the family is strengthened in the authentic charity that she offers us: Jesus Christ.

4 True love of country. Sin has led man to false concepts of what patriotism is. Atrocities are committed in its name. Our Lady teaches us that the true homeland is heaven. The homeland on earth is loved and built up not when we want to "glorify" it according to our human ideas but when we do the will of God. To the extent that a country's children do the will of God, that country is exalted. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven".

Our Lady's way to build the homeland is charity, that is, love. 1 Corinthians 13:3-8 "Even if I bestow all my goods and give my body to the flames, if I have not love, it profits me nothing. Charity is patient, it is obliging; charity is not envious, it is not boastful, it is not puffed up; it is decorous; it does not seek its own interest; it is not irritable; it does not regard evil; it does not rejoice in unrighteousness; it rejoices not in unrighteousness; it rejoices with the truth. It excuses all things. It believes all things. It hopes all things. It bears all things. Love is the force that unites in the good and overcomes all evil. The Virgin entrusts herself into the hands of the three Johns, humble and simple men who count for nothing in the world.  They are the ones who must introduce her to the homeland and encourage her devotion, thus igniting the spark that will be the hope for the history of the homeland.

The Virgin places the future of Cuba in the hands of the humble, those who are not burdened by the arrogance of their own opinions and solutions for everything. Charity must spread through all hearts until it makes us capable of suffering for the good of our brother, even that brother whom I used to call my enemy. In this way we make our homeland. 

PRAYER OF POPE JOHN PAUL II AT THE CROWNING OF THE VIRGIN OF OUR LADY OF CHARITY OF EL COBRE
January 24, 1998 Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre. Patroness of Cuba!

Hail Mary, full of grace!

You are the beloved Daughter of the Father,

the Mother of Christ, our God,

the living Temple of the Holy Spirit.

You bear in your name, Virgin of Charity,

the memory of the God who is 

Lovethe memory of the new commandment of Jesus,

the evocation of the Holy Spirit:

love poured into our hearts,

the fire of charity sent out at Pentecoston the Church,

the gift of the full freedom of the children of God.

Blessed art thou among women 

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus!

You have come to visit our peopleand 

you wanted to stay with 

usas Mother and Lady of Cuba,

throughout your pilgrimagealong 

the roads of history.

Your name and your image are sculptedin 

the minds and hearts of all Cubans,

inside and outside the Homeland,

as a sign of hope and as a center of fraternal communion. 

Mother of God and our Mother!

Pray for us before your Son Jesus Christ,

intercede for us with your maternal heart,

flooded with the charity of the Spirit.

Increase our faith, enliven our hope,

increase and strengthen our love

Protect our families,

protect the young and the children,

console those who suffer.

Be Mother of the faithful and of the pastors of the Church,

model and star of the new evangelization.

Mother of reconciliation!

Gather your people scattered throughout the world.

Make of the Cuban nation a home of brothers 

and sistersso that this people may open wideits mind, 

its heart and its life to Christ, the only Savior and Redeemer, 

who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

forever and ever. Amen.