our most valuable treasure: el Cobre

Today, on the fourth and final day of Pope Francis' visit to Cuba, he celebrated Mass at el Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre, the Basilica of Our Lady of Charity.

Almost by "chance," I stumbled on a video of el Papa Francisco praying silently before Our Lady of Charity last night, and I was moved by this simple and profound image.

As I read the words that Pope Francis prayed out loud with those gathered at the Basilica yesterday, I heard echoes of many others who, like him, understand the power and the hope that this particular image of Mother Mary has for the Cuban people. 

I could hear Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict as they, too, knelt before her. I could hear the awe of Thomas Merton as he described his devotion to la Caridad. I envisioned Ernest Hemingway humbly leaving his 1952 Pulitzer prize medal there. And above all, I could hear my parents telling me once more about their love and confidence in la Caridad, whose shrine they visited together on their honeymoon. 

I can't find an English translation of Pope Francis' words -- but I will translate for you two of the paragraphs I've copied below in Spanish, the ones I have highlighted in bold.

The bottom line... for all cubans, La Cachita is nothing less than a tangible reminder of God's love--and God's presence amidst his Cuban children.

With these words, the Pope of Mercy is once more challenging all Cubans, on the island as well as exiles, to search for and ask for the graces of unity and reconciliation through our Catholic faith, and under the mantle of Our beloved Lady of Charity.

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¡Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre,

Patrona de Cuba!

¡Dios te salve, María, llena de gracia!
Tú eres la Hija amada del Padre,
la Madre de Cristo, nuestro Dios,
el Templo vivo del Espíritu Santo.

Llevas en tu nombre, Virgen de la Caridad,
la memoria del Dios que es Amor,
el recuerdo del mandamiento nuevo de Jesús,
la evocación del Espíritu Santo:
amor derramado en nuestros corazones,
fuego de caridadenviado en Pentecostés sobre la Iglesia,
don de la plena libertad de los hijos de Dios.

¡Bendita tú entre las mujeres
y bendito el fruto de tu vientre, Jesús!
Has venido a visitar nuestro pueblo
y has querido quedarte con nosotros
como Madre y Señora de Cuba,
a lo largo de su peregrinar
por los caminos de la historia.

Tu nombre y tu imagen están esculpidos                          Your word and your image are engraved
en la mente y en el corazón de todos los cubanos,          in the mind and the heart of all cubans,
dentro y fuera de la Patria,                                                  within and outside their patria
como signo de esperanza                                                    (homeland), as a symbol of hope
y centro de comunión fraterna.                                  and as the center of our brotherly communion.
¡Santa María, Madre de Dios y Madre nuestra!            Oh holy Mary, Mother of God and our Mother!

Ruega por nosotros ante tu Hijo Jesucristo,
intercede por nosotros con tu corazón maternal,
inundado de la caridad del Espíritu.
Acrecienta nuestra fe,
aviva la esperanza, aumenta y fortalece
en nosotros el amor.

Ampara nuestras familias,
protege a los jóvenes y a los niños,
consuela a los que sufren.
Sé Madre de los fieles
y de los pastores de la Iglesia,
modelo y estrella de la nueva evangelización.

¡Madre de la reconciliación!                                     Mother of reconciliation!
Reúne a tu pueblo disperso por el mundo.            Gather together your (Cuban) people 
Haz de la nación cubana                                          dispersed throughout the world.
un hogar de hermanos y hermanas                         Make the cuban nation
para que este pueblo abra de par en par                a home of brothers and sisters
su mente, su corazón y su vida a Cristo,                so that as a people they may open wide
único Salvador y Redentor,                                      their mind, heart, and life to Christ,
que vive y reina con el Padre                                   our one and only Savior and Redeemer...
y el Espíritu Santo,
por los siglos de los siglos.

Amén.

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"This is our most valuable treasure (Cobre), this is our greatest wealth and the best legacy we can give: to learn like Mary to leave home and set out on the path of visitation.  And to learn to pray with Mary, for her prayer is one of remembrance and gratitude; it is the canticle of the People of God on their pilgrimage through history.  It is the living reminder that God passes through our midst... he has come the aid of his servant, even as promised to our forebears and their children for ever."

~Pope Francis at the Sanctuary of 

Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre,  

Our Lady of Charity of el Cobre

pray for us, la Cachita, and for Cubans throughout the world

image at Cuban Heritage Collection,
Richter Library, University of Miami

Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, Cuba (Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre) may not be as well known in American culture as Our Lady of Guadalupe. But one can find Our Lady of Charity’s image in churches around the world.

Wherever Cuban refugees have resettled, they have brought with them their devotion to la Caridad.

She is in a side chapel at the pre-eminent Marian shrine in the United States, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

She stands to the right of the altar at the open-air of St. Andrew by the Sea Catholic Church in North Padre Island, Texas.

[Just last year, an image of La Cachita, Cuba's beloved patron, was given a place of honor in the Vatican gardens.]

And in Miami, just south of the downtown skyscrapers, there is a beautiful shrine built in her honor by Cuban exiles 40 years ago.

“La Virgen de la Caridad is the most profound symbol of the Cuban nation,” said Bishop Felipe de Jesús Estévez of St. Augustine, FL. “The British have their queen, the Cubans have la Caridad. Even before Jamestown, El Cobre kept this gracious statue.”

Read more about her in my article on Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre here.

And for a personal reflection on what she means to me, drop by here.

Nuestra Señora de la Caridad, pray for Cuba.

Our Lady of Charity, pray for all Cubans, 

in the island as well as exiled throughout the world.

Pray for us, la Cachita, that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.

Island Queen: A reflection on Our Lady of Charity

Today is the feast of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre, patron of Cuba.

From my archives, I am posting here an article I wrote on Our Lady of Charity for U.S. Catholic Magazine a few years ago.  And here's a link to another article about her importance that I published in Columbia Magazine.

Print depicting the apparition, Cuban Heritage Collection,
Richter Library, University of Miami

Our Lady of Charity warms the hearts of Cubans both on the island and dispersed throughout the world.

As Cuban refugees in Puerto Rico, my parents made it a priority in our upbringing for my brother Ignacio and me to learn Cuban history and traditions, from music and family stories to geography and José Martí’s poetry.

It was crucial for my parents that we knew what it meant to be Cuban, especially because we were too young when we emigrated to have our own memories of our home country. An intricate part of this upbringing was our family’s devotion to Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, Cuba’s patron.

Every September 8 our family gathered with other Cubans to honor Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre. This typically entailed a Mass followed by a festive meal, or, as my parents like to say, “de la misa a la mesa,” indicating the Hispanic tradition to continue a eucharistic celebration with a fiesta.

One of my favorite parts of these gatherings was the stories, often involving people whose significance I would recognize only years later. Thomas Merton, for example, had a personal devotion to la Caridad. Ernest Hemingway left his 1952 Pulitzer Prize medal at her shrine in El Cobre.

Having Mary’s image in our home and her presence in my daily life was a comforting reality. Our frequent moves when I was a child made me the perennial new kid in school, the foreign girl with the weird accent. As a grade-schooler I was attracted to the story of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus fleeing to Egypt as refugees. Mary knew what it meant to be an outsider. She was a refugee, like me. She got it.

Like most Marian apparitions, the story of Our Lady of Charity, which dates to 1612, began in a nameless place and involved ordinary, undistinguished people. Three boys were gathering salt needed to preserve the meat of the town’s slaughterhouse, which supplied food for the copper mine workers and inhabitants near Santiago, Cuba. Two of the boys were native Indian brothers, Rodrigo and Juan de Hoyos, and the third was a 10-year-old black slave, Juan Moreno.

On their way back to Santiago del Prado (modern El Cobre, meaning “copper”) and halfway across the Bay of Nipe, they encountered a fierce storm that threatened their frail vessel. Suddenly the waters calmed. In the distance the boys saw a white bundle floating on a piece of wood. It was a small statue of Mary holding the infant Jesus on her left arm and a gold cross on her raised right hand. Inscribed on the wooden board were the words, “Yo soy la Virgen de la Caridad” (“I am Our Lady of Charity”).

Much like the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the statue of Our Lady of Charity that the three youths brought to their village of Barajaguas instantly became a destination for pilgrims, a reminder for the underprivileged that their heavenly mother cared and stood beside them. El Cobre was to be the first place in Cuba where freedom was won for black slaves in 1886.

Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre may not be as well known in the United States as Our Lady of Guadalupe, but you can find her image in churches around the country and the world. Wherever Cuban refugees settled, they brought with them their devotion to la Caridad, or Cachita, as Cubans call her.

In Washington, D.C. she is in a side chapel at our country’s patronal church, the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. She stands to the right of the altar in the open-air Our Lady Star of the Sea church in North Padre Island, Texas, and in the back of the Dallas Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe. In Miami the beautiful Ermita de la Caridad was built by Cuban exiles almost 40 years ago on Biscayne Bay, just south of the downtown skyscrapers.

“La Virgen de la Caridad is the most profound symbol of the Cuban nation,” both exiled and on the island, says Msgr. Felipe de Jesús Estévez, auxiliary bishop of Miami. “The British have their queen, the Cubans have la Caridad. Even before Jamestown, El Cobre kept this gracious statue.”

Across the spectrum of Hispanic groups, Marian piety has been the enduring bond that has maintained the people’s fidelity to the church; at times it has been their only link. Through Mary, those who have become distant from Jesus and the expression of their faith can be born anew.

An example of this took place in Cuba, where the church remains oppressed. In preparation for Pope John Paul II’s 1998 trip, the bishops of the country arranged for the original image of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad to travel the length of the island, with public processions and Masses in as many towns as the government would allow. Even the church was surprised by the outcome, as people who had lived decades uncatechized under communist rule poured out into the streets to see, touch, and openly venerate the image of their beloved Cachita.

Mary came to our Caribbean island to remind us of her son’s eternal love for each of us. As my grandmother Josefa frequently reminded me growing up, “Mary is present to all her children, no matter what language they speak. She comes to her people in their daily need. All you have to do is ask her.”

This article appeared in the September 2011 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 76, No. 9, pages 55-56).

YouTube video presenting the history, and the return of 

public processions with Our Lady of Charity in Cuba