Flora Cantábrica

Our Lady of Charity of Cobre

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Our Lady of Charity of Cobre – September 8 – Cuba
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Our Lady of Charity was crowned by His Holiness 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.
Tradition tells that in the early 17th century, two indigenous people and a black slave boy of approximately ten years old set out in search of salt from Barajagua to Nipe Bay.
The two indigenous people were named Juan de Hoyos and Rodrigo de Hoyos, and the boy, Juan Moreno, are remembered as «the three Juans.»
These three people, trying to find salt, were only able to reach the middle of Nipe Bay, to Cayo Francés, where they camped to take shelter from an approaching storm.
After the storm passed, they resumed their journey to the salt mines on the coast. But suddenly, they saw a white object floating on the waves, slowly approaching them. At first, they thought it was a seabird or dry branches, but as they drew closer, they saw that it was an image of the Virgin Mary with the child. The board on which the small statue stood had an inscription that read: «I am the Virgin of Charity.» According to legend, despite the storm and the movement of the waves, neither the image of the Virgin nor her clothes were wet. In 1687, the last eyewitness, Juan Moreno, aged 85, testified to the event as follows: «…One morning the sea was calm, the said Juan and Rodrigo Hoyos and this witness left the said French cay for the said outing before sunrise. Embarking in a canoe and moving away from the said French cay, they saw a white object on the foam of the water, which they could not distinguish what it could be, and as they drew closer, it seemed to them a bird and dry branches. The said Indians said, it looked like a girl, and in these words, upon arriving, they recognized and saw the image of Our Lady the Blessed Virgin with the child Jesus in her arms on a small tablet, and on said tablet some large letters, which the said Rodrigo de Hoyos read, and they said: ‘I am the Virgin of Charity’. Being her garments of clothing, they were amazed that they were not wet, and at this, filled with joy and happiness, they took Only three-thirds of the salt was sent to the Hato de Barajagua.»
Then the three returned to Barajagua, and the statue of the Virgin was installed in a local chapel. However, the image disappeared one night and reappeared in the morning. This happened two or three more times until the townspeople thought the Virgin wanted to move. It was placed on the main altar of the parish church, where it remained for about three years. However, it also disappeared from there on occasion.
One day, a girl named Apolonia climbed the hill where her mother worked in the copper mines and saw the image of the Virgin of Charity at the top. The townspeople then thought she wanted to be there, and some time later, they brought the statue of the Blessed Virgin to its new altar there.
At the request of veterans of the War of Independence, she was declared the patron saint of Cuba by His Holiness Benedict XV in 1916, and her feast day was set for September 8. For more than three centuries, the image of the Virgin has remained in her Sanctuary of El Cobre. Over the years, construction began on a larger temple, which was solemnly inaugurated on September 8, 1927. In 1977, Pope Paul VI elevated it to the status of Basilica.
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